In this Tent Talks session, Kara Fitzpatrick, former Director of Experience Design in the Obama White House, breaks down the essentials of mentorship—structured versus unstructured, common pitfalls, and the tools that make mentorship impactful. She shares personal experiences from government, corporate, and community-based mentorship, offering practical ways to create meaningful mentor-mentee relationships. Through thoughtful guidance, adaptable strategies, and an emphasis on trust, Kara provides a roadmap for professionals at any stage to engage in mentorship effectively.
Structured vs. Unstructured Mentorship: Key Differences & Impact
• Mentorship generally falls into three types: casual “coffee chat” mentorship, semi-structured engagements, and fully structured mentorships with defined goals.
• A structured mentorship starts with a clear understanding of objectives, expectations, and a mutual agreement on what success looks like.
• Setting clear goals from the beginning ensures both mentor and mentee gain value from the experience.
Common Pitfalls in Mentorship & How to Avoid Them
• Many mentorship relationships fail due to unspoken expectations and misunderstandings.
• Setting expectations early—writing down goals, success measures, and ground rules—prevents miscommunication.
• Open and flexible communication is key; mentors should create a space where mentees feel comfortable voicing concerns.
• A midpoint check-in allows for adjustments, ensuring both parties stay aligned.
Effective Tools & Practices for Mentorship
• There’s no single correct mentorship framework; different approaches work for different people.
• Simple tools like a shared Google Doc or Word Doc help track progress and keep both parties accountable.
• Small, confidence-building assignments between meetings can help mentees grow without overwhelming them.
• A mentorship should end with reflection—one mentee even created a six-slide PowerPoint highlighting growth, reinforcing the value of structured tracking.
• Mentors should serve as professional hype people—pushing mentees forward without making them feel inadequate.
Applying Mentorship Principles in Community & Social Impact Work
• The most important principles in community mentorship: adaptability and meeting people where they are.
• Mentors must respect different cultural and logistical realities—what works in corporate environments may not work for microentrepreneurs or under-resourced communities.
• A humbling lesson from working with Indian microentrepreneurs: technology-based solutions don’t always fit the reality of power outages and paper-based record-keeping.
• The key to effective mentorship in diverse environments is listening, understanding, and adapting mentorship methods to fit the mentee’s world.
Mentorship’s Role in Career Growth & Navigating Pivots
• Career paths aren’t always linear—mentorship helps individuals navigate unexpected opportunities and changes.
• One of Kara’s mentors encouraged her to remain open to new paths, shaping her eclectic career spanning government, tech, and entertainment.
• Flexibility is crucial; sometimes, the best opportunities are the ones you didn’t plan for.
• Another mentor emphasized work-life balance: “Vacation time is all made up—take what you need.”
• A key leadership lesson from Obama and Biden: “You can be kind and still get shit done.”
• A mentor’s impact extends beyond one-on-one guidance—it includes advocating for mentees, ensuring they use resources like training budgets, and supporting their broader professional development.
Notable Quotes
• “If I’m going to invest my time in you and you’re going to invest your time in learning, we should both get something great out of it.”
• “The number one reason mentorships fail? Unspoken expectations.”
• “Your most important tools as a mentor are adaptability and empathy.”
• “You can be kind and still get shit done.”
• “Your life can be so much more spectacular than you ever imagined—if you stay open to opportunities.”
Reference Materials
• Brene Brown’s concept of “The story I’m telling myself” (for addressing unspoken assumptions in relationships).
• The Three C’s, Five C’s, and Four A’s of mentorship (various informal mentorship frameworks).
• Open Source & Feelings (OS Feels) Conference – a space for discussing humanity in technology.
About Tent Talks
Chicago Camps hosts irregularly scheduled Tent Talks with people from all across the User Experience Design community, and beyond. Who really likes limits, anyway--If it's a cool idea, we'd love to hear about it and share it!
What is a Tent Talk? That's a great question, we'd love to tell you.
Tent Talks are short-form in nature, generally lasting from 10-20 minutes (ish) in a recorded format--we like to think of them as "S'mores-sized content" because that's pretty on-brand. Tent Talks can be a presentation on a topic, a live Q&A session about the work we do, or the work around the work we do, or really just about anything--we don't want to limit ourselves, or you.
You should send along an idea or topic of your own so we can learn from you, as well! You don't have to be a published author or a professional speaker on a circuit to be good at your job, so please, put yourself forward, and let's have some fun, talk, and share your experience with others!
