Howard GoldsteinAssociate Dean for Research

September 10, 2013

Facilitating Success among New Faculty: Approaches to Mentoring

What is mentorship?

A journey into business, education, and nursing literature

A mentor provides “a brain to pick, a shoulder to cry on, and a kick in the pants”

Josefowitz, 1980

Mentoring is 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/or personal development. Mentoring functions are carried out within the context of an ongoing, caring relationship between the mentor and protégé.

(Anderson, 1987)

MENTORING RELATIONSHIP• Role Model: X is a model for Y• Nurture: X nurtures Y• Care Giver : X cares for Y

FUNCTIONS OF MENTORING

TEACH:• model• inform• confirm/disconfirm• prescribe• question

SPONSOR:• protect• support• promote

ENCOURAGE:• affirm• inspire• challenge

COUNSEL:• listen• probe• clarity• advise

BEFRIEND:• accept• relate

MENTORING ACTIVITIES• Demonstrate lessons• Arrange for practice of skills• Observe and provide feedback• Arrange support meetings

MENTORINGDISPOSITIONS

MENTORINGDISPOSITIONS

Opening Ourselves

Expressing Care and Concern

Leading Incrementally

Mentoring Model(Anderson & Shannon, 1988)

ADVANTAGES TO PROTEGES

• Advice on career goals• Encouragement; build-self confidence• New or improved skills and knowledge• Models how to handle difficult situations• Provides opportunities and resources• Increased exposure and visibility• A bridge to maturity

The Appeal of Mentorship

• Mentoring can further own development • Feelings of alienation could be alleviated if

there were more people like ourselves• Belief that the nurturing of interest and

desire, and the development of skills are most likely to be accomplished through close, caring, productive relationships

• Proteges return investments through their future contacts, advise, expertise, etc.

Potential Problems• Excessive time and energy commitments• Inappropriate choice of mentor or protégé• Unrealistic expectations• Expectations of protégé failure• Protégé’s feelings of inferiority• Unfair manipulation by a mentor or a

protégé• Excessive jealousy from others• Overdependence on mentors or protégés

Meerkat Roundup

• Weekly meeting with asst professors• Tenure prep or not• Accountability for writing projects• Feedback• Problem solving

Developmental Model of Mentorship

Network Mentoring

• Mentors rarely are capable and comfortable with all mentoring functions

• A network of mentors helps meet the needs and provide diverse perspectives

• Potential for reciprocal and non-hierarchical relationships

• Combining new perspectives with empowerment of networking likely to yield more creative departures from status quo

The mentor takes the protégé under his/ her wing, invites the protégé into a new occupational world, shows the protégé around, imparts wisdom, cares, sponsors, criticizes, and bestows his/her blessing. The teaching and the sponsoring have their values, but the blessing is the crucial element.

Levinson, 1976

Reference

Goldstein, H. (1993). Perspectives on research mentorship. In N. Minghetti, J. Cooper, H. Goldstein, S. Warren, & L. Olswang, (Eds.), Research mentorship and training in communication sciences and disorders (pp. 51-66). Rockville, MD: American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation.