Allow for changes in strategy if needed, but make them intentionally and purposefully. God's grace is the real power for personal growth. The learning contract merely sets the stage for God to work. Structure and strategy help us be more attentive to what God is doing and retain the growth. We bring with us from our previous experience and work a variety of influential assumptions and habits.
Some blind spots can be terribly destructive.
In other blind spots lay untapped gifts which the world desperately needs. The power of mentoring is in helping students see what resides in those blind spots, then manage or invest those issues wisely. Think, for instance, of how previous work experience molds us. That vocation had made him accustomed to having work come to him. Initiative, a key to effective ministry, was a trait he did not possess.