mentorship-goal-setting

---

name: mentorship-goal-setting
description: "Creates research and career development plans using the SMART framework, AAAS MyIDP structured self-assessment, and Bloom's Taxonomy (revised) to set appropriate, measurable, and developmentally sequenced goals. Use when establishing mentee development plans (IDPs), creating promotion packets, preparing for performance reviews, or transitioning mentees to independence."
license: MIT
---
<!-- metadata:
  category: mentorship-teaching
  oversight: medium
  version: 1.0.0
  author: Pradyumna Jayaram
  tags: [mentorship-teaching, research]
  difficulty: intermediate
-->

## Version Compatibility

Reference frameworks: AAAS MyIDP v2023+, Bloom's Taxonomy Revised (Anderson & Krathwohl 2001), Backward Design (Wiggins & McTighe 2005), UDL 3.0 (CAST 2024).

The frameworks are stable. Adapt templates to your institution's review format and discipline-specific milestones. The Bloom's levels and MyIDP categories are durable; institutional forms change.

# Mentorship Goal-Setting

## Hard rules

1. **No fabricated citations.** Every cited work must resolve to a verifiable
2. **No claim without provenance.** Every quantitative or factual claim
3. **No silent failure.** Every script invocation, API call, or tool use must declare its exit status and what to do on non-zero. A skill that silently swallows errors is a violation.

## When to use

Load this skill when the user asks a question that matches its declared
trigger conditions (see the frontmatter `description` for the most common
ones). Do not load it for questions outside its scope — defer to the
appropriate ORS skill instead.

## When NOT to use

Do not load this skill if the question is in a sibling skill's domain
(see `## Cross-references`), if the user explicitly asks for a different
tool, or if the task is outside the skill's declared category.

## When to Use This Skill

| Scenario | Application |
|-----------|-------------|
| New mentorship relationship | Set 6-month and 1-year goals |
| Annual review preparation | Update IDP, document progress |
| Project milestone planning | Sequence technical and skill goals |
| Independence transition (postdoc to faculty) | Build independence-focused goals |
| Career pivots (industry vs academia) | Tailor goals to target sector |
| Grant application mentoring plans | Align with NSF/NIH requirements |

## The AAAS MyIDP Framework

The AAAS MyIDP tool organizes mentee development around four broad skill categories that apply across scientific careers:

| Category | Examples | When to prioritize |
|----------|----------|---------------------|
| Research/Technical | Wet/dry lab skills, methodology, study design | All early-career researchers |
| Communication | Writing, presenting, teaching, listening | All levels, often deprioritized |
| Management/Leadership | Project planning, mentoring, lab management | Mid-career and beyond |
| Career Development | Networking, job search, negotiation | Last 1-2 years of training |

**Activity:** Mentee should complete MyIDP self-assessment first. Mentor reviews results with mentee, not in isolation, to ensure goals are co-constructed rather than imposed.

## The SMART Framework for Goal-Setting
"
Every mentee goal should be SMART. Vague goals ("get better at writing") cannot be evaluated or actioned.

| Criterion | Definition | Weak example | Strong example |
|-----------|------------|--------------|----------------|
| Specific | Concrete and unambiguous | "Improve writing" | "Write first-author paper draft by Month 9" |
| Measurable | Quantifiable success criterion | "Understand statistics" | "Complete and apply multilevel model in R to dataset" |
| Achievable | Within mentee's reach given resources | "Publish in Nature" | "Submit to top-tier specialty journal" |
| Relevant | Aligned with mentee's career path | "Learn a new technique" | "Master flow cytometry for planned thesis chapter" |
| Time-bound | Clear deadline | "Eventually" | "By end of semester; checkpoint at Week 8" |

### Goal Hierarchy

Goals should be nested across time scales:

**1-year vision:** Career direction (e.g., "academic faculty position in computational biology")

**6-month strategic goals:** 2-3 high-level outcomes
- "Complete qualifying exam requirements"
- "Submit first manuscript"
- "Establish thesis committee"

**3-month operational goals:** 4-6 specific deliverables
- "Draft methods chapter"
- "Run analysis on Chapter 2 dataset"
- "Attend 2 conferences, present at one"

**Weekly/monthly tasks:** Daily actions
- "Read 2 papers on [topic] per week"
- "Schedule data discussion with collaborator"

## Bloom's Taxonomy for Skill Progression

Use Bloom's revised taxonomy (Anderson & Krathwohl 2001) to set goals at the appropriate cognitive level. As mentees progress, goals should climb the hierarchy:

| Level | Action verbs | Example goal |
|-------|--------------|--------------|
| Remember | Define, list, recall | "Define precision and recall" |
| Understand | Explain, summarize, interpret | "Explain the assumptions of linear regression" |
| Apply | Implement, execute, use | "Implement ROC analysis on classification results" |
| Analyze | Compare, contrast, diagnose | "Compare three clustering methods on benchmark data" |
| Evaluate | Justify, critique, assess | "Critique the statistical approach of paper X" |
| Create | Design, synthesize, develop | "Design a new experimental protocol to test hypothesis Y" |

**Pitfall:** Many mentee goals default to "Apply" or "Understand" because those are easy to plan. Push for higher-level goals as mentees demonstrate competence at lower levels.

## IDP Template

The following IDP structure aligns with AAAS MyIDP and NSF PAPPG mentoring plan requirements:

```
INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Mentee: [Name]
Mentor: [Name]
Date: [Date]
Review Date: [Next review, 6 months out]

== 1-YEAR VISION ==
[Career direction and 12-month aspirations]

== RESEARCH/TECHNICAL SKILLS ==
Current strengths: [from MyIDP]
Growth priorities: [2-3 priorities]
Goals:
1. [SMART goal, time-bound]
2. [SMART goal, time-bound]

== COMMUNICATION SKILLS ==
Current strengths: [from MyIDP]
Growth priorities: [2-3 priorities]
Goals:
1. [SMART goal, time-bound]
2. [SMART goal, time-bound]

== MANAGEMENT/LEADERSHIP SKILLS ==
Current strengths: [from MyIDP]
Growth priorities: [2-3 priorities]
Goals:
1. [SMART goal, time-bound]

== CAREER DEVELOPMENT ==
Target sector: [academia/industry/government/...]
Goals:
1. [SMART goal, time-bound]
2. [SMART goal, time-bound]

== RESOURCE NEEDS ==
Training: [courses, workshops]
Funding: [grants, travel]
Mentorship beyond primary: [committee, advisors]
Time: [percent FTE for various activities]

== SIGNATURES ==
Mentee: [signature, date]
Mentor: [signature, date]
```

## Backward Design for Goal Setting

Apply Wiggins and McTighe's backward design to goal-setting by working backward from the desired end-state:

1. **Identify desired results:** What does the mentee need to be able to do at the end of this period?
2. **Determine acceptable evidence:** How will we know they've achieved it? (publications, talks, methods mastery)
3. **Plan learning experiences:** What activities will build toward these outcomes?

**Example:**
- End-state: "Independent researcher who can run a self-directed project from question to publication"
- Evidence: "First-author paper submitted with mentee as corresponding author-equivalent on project"
- Learning experiences: "Lead weekly journal club; co-mentor a rotation student; lead project meetings"

## Common Goal-Setting Pitfalls

| Pitfall | Why it fails | Prevention |
|---------|--------------|------------|
| All goals are technical | Neglects communication/management/career | Use MyIDP four categories |
| Goals are mentor's, not mentee's | Mentee lacks ownership | Co-construct in conversation |
| Too many goals | Cognitive overload, none get done | Limit to 6-8 active goals |
| No measurable criteria | Cannot evaluate success | Apply SMART to every goal |
| Bloom level too low | Mentee stays in comfort zone | Push toward Evaluate/Create |
| Goals don't account for setbacks | Failure demotivates | Build in revision plans |
| No link to career path | Effort feels unmoored | Tie every goal to career vision |

## Goal Review Cadence

Goals should be reviewed regularly and revised as needed:

| Frequency | Activity |
|-----------|----------|
| Weekly | Progress check during regular meeting |
| Monthly | Adjust operational tasks |
| Quarterly | Review operational goals against strategic |
| Semi-annually | Comprehensive IDP review and revision |
| Annually | Full IDP rewrite aligned with career stage |

## Connecting to Grant Requirements

For NSF and NIH mentees, align IDP with mentoring plan requirements:

**NSF PAPPG Chapter V Mentoring Plan requires:**
- Description of mentoring activities
- Expected time commitment
- Mentor qualifications
- Resources for mentee development

**NIH BEST programs require:**
- Broadening experiences outside the lab
- Exposure to diverse career paths
- Skill development beyond bench science

**Activity:** When writing mentoring plans for grants, draw on IDP categories to demonstrate structured support.

## References

- AAAS MyIDP: https://myidp.sciencecareers.org/
- Anderson & Krathwohl (2001), *A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing*
- Wiggins & McTighe (2005), *Understanding by Design*
- NSF PAPPG 24-1: https://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/pappg/
- NIH BEST: https://www.nih.gov/best-programs
- CAST UDL Guidelines: https://udlguidelines.cast.org/
- CIMER Entering Mentoring: https://cimer.wisc.edu/

## Related Skills

- mentorship-teaching/ors-mentorship-onboarding - Setting up mentor-mentee relationship
- mentorship-teaching/ors-teaching-course-design - Course-level learning outcomes
- mentorship-teaching/ors-teaching-syllabus - Course syllabus construction

## Cross-references

Other skills in this category:

- mentorship-onboarding
- teaching-course-design
- teaching-syllabus

## Changelog

- **1.1.0** (migration) — Bulk-migrated to v0.4.0 schema: canonical
  metadata block, base Hard rules, Cross-references. Body content
  unchanged; author should review and fill in any domain-specific
  extensions to the Hard rules.
- **1.0.0** — Initial release.