WPDN Mentoring Program Resources
What is Mentoring?
There are many definitions of mentoring:
a process of an integrated approach to advising, coaching and nurturing, focused on creating a viable relationship to enhance individual career, personal or professional growth and development." Adams (1998)
"a nurturing process in which a more skilled or more experienced person, serving as a role model, teaches, sponsors, encourages, counsels, and befriends a less skilled or less experienced person for the purpose of promoting the latter's professional and personal development." Anderson and Shannon (as cited in Colwell, 1998)
Mentoring is a relationship of generosity in which one person assists another person to learn something that the learner would otherwise not have learnt so easily or as well.
Mentoring is the process in which successful individuals go out of their way to help others establish goals and develop skills to reach them.
The focus of the mentoring relationship must be on helping the mentoree become strong not on helping them to feel better about being weak.
Effective mentors are enablers not experts.
WPDN Mentoring Program
The Women's Professional Development Network (WPDN) at the University of Adelaide has coordinated a mentoring scheme for professional staff women since 1997. The aim of the program is to equip the participants (the mentorees and mentors) with skills and strategies to enter into a mutually beneficial and empowering mentoring relationship to assist women professional staff to take control of their own direction and aid in the removal of personal and institutional barriers which prevent them reaching their personal and professional potential.
Structure
- Applications sought professional staff women
- Matching of applicants with mentors completed by the mentoring steering committee
- Program is approximately 6 months in duration
- Semi structured in nature
- Initial 1/4 day training session for both mentors and mentorees
- Interim mini session 3 months into program
- Final evaluation session at the end of 6 months.
- Closing morning tea with presentation of certificates
- Optional skills development sessions for mentors and mentorees
Key points the structure:
- Confidentiality - what you say in your mentoring relationship is confidential
- This is a "Mentoree driven" program - it is up to mentoree to make and maintain contact
- Support - the mentoring steering committee are available for support
Benefits
Benefits gained by Mentoree
- Increased self confidence and valuing their personal skill set/strength
- Increased knowledge of the university system and how it work
- Increased network across the whole university/ increased support network/ new contacts and friendship
- Increased visibility through networking
- Improved communication and interpersonal skills
- Increased clarity of personal and professional goals.
Benefits gained by Mentors
- Personal satisfaction from helping and watching someone grow and develop
- Knowledge of the institution from a different perspective (that of the mentoree)
- Skills in the sharing of information and appreciation of the process
- Improved listening, counselling and coaching skills
- An opportunity for personal reflection on their own career/ personal aspirations
- Recognition and appreciation of their own skills and increased confidence
Benefits of Mentoring for the organisation
- Staff retention (research indicates that employees who receive effective coaching and mentoring plan to stay with the company for at least the next 5 years)
- More effective staff
- Demonstrates a commitment to training and development
- Tangible and measurable gains if work tasks or projects are used as developmental tools
- Improved communication across the organisation Increased motivation
What happens in a mentoring relationship that enables personal and professional growth to occur?
- The power of the mentor BELIEVING in the mentoree's ability and encouraging the mentoree to do what they think they cannot do
- The power of the mentor LISTENING to the mentoree
- The power of receiving TRUTH in the form of constructive feedback.
Expectations
Use this list as thought starters, it is far from exhaustive. The important thing is to own your expectations for this mentoring relationship and communicate them clearly to your partner. If it helps print this list and select or modify the expectations that are important for you, including these in your Mentoring Contract.
Be critical of ideas not of me
Accept and value me as being different from you
Have realistic expectations
To seek out and be receptive to feedback
To tell me when things aren't working
To keep an up-to-date journal
When we meet to give me your full and undivided attention
To take risks
Don't look to me for all the answers
Be responsible for your learning's and actions
Keep your commitments
Tell me how I can be more helpful
Be willing to try new things
Be open and honest with me
Participate as a partner in the mentoring process
Be willing to change your mind
Be willing to consider alternatives
Try to understand all sides of an issue
Listen to and understand me
To openly disagree without being disagreeable
To trust me
To recognize me
To collaborate with me in the mentoring process
To set goals and actively work toward accomplishing these
To take appropriate actions
To do what you say you will do
To practice new skills
To not have any hidden agendas
To help me figure things out for myself
To give me the space to be myself
To help make our discussions positive
To be supportive
To offer help
To be flexible
To discuss issues in a specific, descriptive, non-judgmental manner
Don't point blame
Be willing to ask questions and gather information
Be patient
Allow for and give me choices
To honor when I think the relationship needs to be terminated
Consider different opinions
Actively seek feedback from others
Roles
Mentor's role in career development
Communicator
- Encourage two-way exchange of information
- Listens to career concerns and responds appropriately
- Establishes an environment for open interaction
- Schedules uninterrupted time to meet with mentoree
- Acts as a sounding board for ideas and concerns
Counsellor
- Works with the mentoree to identify and understand career related skills, interests and values
- Helps mentoree evaluate appropriateness of career options
- Helps mentoree plan strategies to achieve mutually agreed upon goals
Coach
- Helps to clarify performance goals and developmental needs
- Teaches managerial and technical skills
- Reinforces effective on job performance
- Recommends specific behaviours that need improvement
- Clarifies and communicates organisational objectives and goals
- Serves as a role model to demonstrate successful professional behaviours leads by example
Advisor
- Communicates the informal and formal realities of progression witin the organisation
- Recommends opportunities for training
- Recommends appropriate strategies for career direction
- Reviews development on a regular basis
- Helps mentoree identify career obstacles and the appropriate action to overcome them
Broker
- Expands the mentoree's network of professional contacts
- Helps bring together mentorees who might mutually benefit helping one another
- Helps link mentoree with appropriate educational and employment opportunities
- Helps mentoree to identify resources required for career progression
Referral Agent
- Identifies resources to help mentoree with specific problems
- Follows up to ensure effectiveness of resources
Advocate
- Intervenes on the mentoree's behalf and represents his/her concerns on specific issues to higher level managers
- Arranges for mentoree to participate in highly visible activities within the organisation and outside of it
Mentoree
The role of the Mentoree requires them to:
- Accept direction
- Challenge preconceived ideas and positions
- Be open to new challenges and ideas
- Accept change
- Set an objective career plan
- Undertake challenging developmental activities
- Receive open and honest feedback
- Establish effective networks
- Have a commitment to continual self-learning
- Take responsibility for their own feelings and outcomes
- Stretch their thinking
- Develop a self-management mindset
- Actively develop trusting and open relationships
- Actively seek to increase their organisational awareness
Overall, Mentorees must accept that it is their role to manage their own career!
The Role of the Manager/Supervisor in Mentoring Programs
It is important to consider the role of the Managers/Supervisors in Mentoring Programs.Sometimes they may feel that a certain measure of control has been taken from them in regard to overseeing the performance of the Mentoree. It is vitally important that they understand that they still have the day to day operational performance management of the Mentoree. It is the future career of the Mentoree, with all of its questions and development activities, that becomes part of the brief of the Mentor.
The role of the Manager/Supervisor of a Mentoree in this Program requires him/her to be:
- Supportive and flexible
- Wiling to allow time for meetings with the Mentor
- Committed to the overall development of the Mentoree
- Still concerned with day to day operational performance
Mentorees need to:
- Keep the Line Manager informed of their progress
- Let their Line Manager know in plenty of time of any commitments made to Mentors
- Be aware of their duties to their current role
Mentors need to:
- Be aware of potential Line Manager concerns and work through them together
- Assist with any conflicts that may arise, where mentoring activities may interfere with day to day work
Characteristics of Effective Mentors
Mentors need to exhibit the following characteristics! Consider those characteristics in which you feel you could use some development.
- Ability to generate trust
- Strong communication skills
- Willingness to be responsible for another person's growth
- Willingness to take risks
- High self-confidence
- Patience and tolerance
- Being innovative
- Being accessible
- Having a good understanding of the organisation
- Ability to handle conflict
- Knowledge of both implicit and explicit rules being a visionary
- Being honest when giving feedback
- People oriented
- Value their organisation and their work
- Respect subordinates
- Care about others
- Trust others and can be trusted
Characteristics of Effective Mentorees
Mentorees need to exhibit the following characteristics! Your mentoree should be able to identify they posses these.
- A desire to learn
- Goal oriented
- Conceptual ability
- Determination to achieve
- Self-confidence
- Initiative
- Assertiveness
- People oriented
Stages of Mentor Relationship
Stage 1 - Initiation of contract and getting to know one another
Stage 2 - Exploring the nature of the relationship and topics for discussion
Stage 3 - Testing the strengths and limits of the relationship to see what reactions follow
Stage 4 - Stabilising the relationship as each settle for what they can expect from each other
Stage 5 - Reassessing the relationship due to the change in needs growing with the relationship
Stage 6 - Ending the relationship as goals are reached
Here are the four stages of a typical formal mentoring partnership and some tips for each stage.
1. Building the Relationship
During the first few weeks, mentors and mentees could concentrate on getting to know each other rather than upon the specifics of what they'll accomplish. They can certainly talk about possible goals and ways of interacting but don't have to rush into the "business" part of the relationship.
Potential discussion topics: Why each is participating in this formal relationship; contact information and preferences; effective and ineffective mentoring each experienced in the past; job histories; hobbies and other leisure interests; favourite sports, movies, and travels; funny lessons learned.
2. Negotiating Agreements
After at least a couple of informal meetings, the pairs can move into the more formal part of the arrangement. They should discuss and agree on how and what they'll actually do together during the rest of their formal relationship. The exchange should be exploratory with both the mentor and mentee proposing possibilities, discussing expectations and preferences, and finally agreeing what to try.
Potential discussion topics: How frequently, when, and where, to meet; who'll manage the relationship including topics discussed and logistics; how to give each other feedback; the role of the mentee's manager; what is and isn't confidential; any limitations such as travel schedules; how the two will measure the success of the relationship.
3. Developing the Mentee
This is the longest phase of the partnership. It includes setting specific goals and objectives and helping the mentee gain knowledge, build skills, and/or modify attitudes with the help of the mentor. During this phase the mentor acts as a learning broker, sounding board, and sometime instructor/coach for the mentee.
Potential discussion topics: One or two major goals the mentee wants to achieve; specific objectives that will help the mentee reach those goals; how to measure the mentee's progress; learning activities that will be the most powerful; potential resources; a feasible and desirable time line for reaching each objective and goal. As the pair proceeds, topics can include: what the mentee is doing well and what he/she could do even better, how to solve challenges that arise, what the mentor is observing, and how they both feel about the relationship.
4. Ending the Formal Relationship
Near the end of the formal partnership, the two should have a discussion about what they've experienced and what comes next.
Potential discussion topics: What's worked well in the relationship; what the mentee and mentor have gained; lessons learned; how they'd both like to end or continue the relationship (thanks and goodbye; continue the formal; move to an informal arrangement; build a friendship).
Meetings - nitty gritty
Suggested formats
Initial meeting
- Spend time getting to know your mentoree, establish rapport. This meeting needs to be fairly informal.
- Ascertain what your mentoree wants to gain from the relationship, their personal aim/s from being a part of the program.
- Clarify both your roles; what you can and can't do in relation to their aims and objectives.
- If appropriate get mentoree to talk about their strengths and areas for improvement, career and personal aspirations.
- Decide on where and how regularly you will meet. Give your mentoree your direct lines so that she doesn't have to go through an assistant.
- Finish meeting with agreed actions for both of you.
Subsequent meetings
- Follow up on actions/outcomes on what the mentoree is working on.
- Reinforce/praise as appropriate. Ask mentoree to self assess progress made, what they have learnt etc.
- Give constructive feedback and confront mentor appropriately.
- Challenge and redirect, always encouraging personal accountability and responsibility.
- Listen, listen, listen!
- Ask questions always to assist your mentoree to gain clarity re. what they want and what action they need to take.
- Always conclude with the specific actions or next steps that are to be made in the period between the next meeting.
Possible Issues for First Meeting between Mentor and Mentoree
-
Availability and frequency of meetings
- Confidentiality
- Communications between meetings
- Address all hopes and fears
- Setting objectives
- Work vs personal vs social issues
- Expectations of each other
|
