A career conversation with your research mentor is essentially a negotiation. It's a time to discuss your career path, what types of support your research mentor is willing and able to offer, and the level of productivity they'll need to see to continue to support you.
We recommend having a career-focused conversation with your mentor at least once per year.
To prepare, view the slide deck below, based on best practices from Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most (Stone, Patton, Heen and Fisher), which covers the steps of preparing for a negotiation (including identifying conversational goals and concerns about the conversation, how to assess your research mentor's position and preferences, etc.), brainstorming different conversational tactics for each stage of a negotiation (including opening the conversation, negotiating different issues, coming to agreement and ending a conversation) and steps to consider post-conversation.
Having a Career Conversation with Your Research Mentor slides