Although the mentoring relationship does not guarantee agreement about all problems or issues, it does encourage a rational means of reducing misinterpretation due to unfounded assumptions or naïve expectations. Important differences that might impact the mentoring relationship, such as ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, and socio-economic background, should be approached from several perspectives. Those differences that foster stereotyping by either participant will obviously require exploration, because they can limit the development of a meaningful mentor-protégé relationship, and thereby detract from the accomplishment of the protégé's goals. The recognition that people contain a multitude of legitimate, positive, and exciting differences should be considered an intrinsically valuable part of the learning experience.

For you as a mentor, attention to the development of your own competence in interpersonal behavior will enable you to utilize the mentoring dialogue with enhanced knowledge and sensitivity. By your own example, you can demonstrate for a protégé the critical skills that enable individuals to discuss a variety of ideas, attitudes, and positions, and to work through different views of a problem, solutions, and decisions in the complex environment of workplaces and campuses. The PPC module Communication Skills offers a detailed discussion of this.

This approach can create an extremely valuable context for constructive debate, and even when the inevitable occurs-when all concerned do not share mutual views or agree that every idea is feasible workable, or even desirable, they can still engage in serious discussion without reducing differences of opinion to merely insincere or suspicious motives.

Mentoring Underrepresented Minorities

African Americans, Hispanics, and American Indians as a group make up about 23% of the US population, but only about 6% of the Engineering workforce. Many minority-group students are deterred from careers in science and engineering by inadequate preparation, a scarcity of role models, low expectations on the part of others, and unfamiliarity with the culture and idiom of science and engineering. Mentors can often be effective through a style that not only welcomes, nurtures and encourages questions, but also challenges students to develop critical thinking, self discipline, and good study habits.

Expectations for minority group students in science have traditionally been too low, and this can have an adverse effect on achievement. If you have an opportunity to mentor a minority young person, make it clear early on that you consider them capable of and expect the highest level of achievement. Be aware of minority support organizations such as NACME, GEM, AICES, and NSBE, and of appropriate role models in your own company or professional associations, and encourage your protégé to become involved in them.

On campuses, students from historically underrepresented groups can feel particularly isolated and alienated from other students in their departments, especially if the composition of a program is highly homogenous. While you may be limited in your ability to resolve or even understand all the feelings of isolation that a student of color may feel, there are things you can do to lessen these feelings and, by doing so, strengthen your relationship with the student:

	Be aware of students who seem to be finding it particularly difficult to take active roles in academic or social settings and find ways to include them. Take the initiative to talk with them. Ask them about their research interests, hobbies and activities outside of school.
	Introduce your student protégé to your own colleagues or acquaintances with complementary interests.
	Assist your student protégé identify the wealth of organizations within or outside the University that might provide them with a sense of community. Some examples are cultural and religious groups, as well as professional associations.
	Be mindful of some the potential for differences between your experiences and background and those of your student protégé. Instead of assuming that certain experiences are the norm, question whether race, gender, or other characteristics provide different perspectives from what you may be accustomed to or often hear expressed.
	Take an inventory of your own cultural biases, and be sensitive to the potential of stereotyping to seriously impact the building of a positive, productive relationship with your protégé. The Diversity in the Workplace module contains some exercises you can use to take a personal inventory.