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Entering a research environment can be overwhelming, frightening, or intimidating to a student, particularly if they have never worked with a research professional or worked in that setting before. Without trust, a student will struggle to make their own decisions or cope with challenges. They may not be able to take risks or speak up if they have an idea. Mentors who work to build trust with their mentees create a relationship that helps students feel comfortable and able to contribute. Trust makes it possible to grow through failure or take steps towards independence without constantly checking in with the mentor for every step.
Mentors can build trust through clear norms, consistent commitments, and productive feedback. Some example of this may include:
Modeling how to fail or steps to recover
Consistently following through on commitments for meetings, communication, or support
Giving positive feedback that acknowledges your mentee’s strengths and encourages their successes
Giving growth-oriented feedback with actionable steps for areas to improve
Requesting and acknowledging feedback from the mentee
One common way to build trust is to share stories from your own research experiences. Sharing your own motivation or career pathway into research can help your student relate and open up about their own goals. This is an especially good way to model the “messiness” of research or show how you’ve adapted when things went wrong. It also helps humanize the research process for students.
Trust lets students feel like they belong, both in the research space with you and in the profession as a whole. A sense of belonging may be defined as feeling of connectedness, or of mattering to others. (Rosenberg & McCullough, 1981, Strayhorn 2015) A lack of belonging in academic environments will affect students’ academic performance, and in a research experience it can make them less likely to continue working in the field. This can be especially true for students who come from families without higher education backgrounds or students from under-represented groups, who may already worry that they have a harder time fitting in or belonging. Trust and belonging will foster your mentee’s success and even increase the likelihood they will pursue a research career in the future.
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