Academic Mentoring

Academic Mentoring

Overview • What do we mean by ‘Mentoring’ • Rationale • Principles underpinning the process • Mentor Role vs Manager Role • What ‘zone’ is the Mentee in? • The Mentoring Cycle • Mentor Skills • How you can prepare for your Mentoring Meetings?

Mentoring Definition • ‘Off-line help by one person to another in making significant transitions in knowledge work or thinking’ (Clutterbuck 1990) • ‘To help and support people to manage their own learning in order to maximise their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and become the person they want to be’ (Parsloe, 1992)

Rationale The rationale for Academic Mentoring is to support the professional growth of the individual who is in the early stage of their career and to promote excellence in teaching & learning, research and academic leadership

Mentoring Principles • The Mentee drives the Mentoring agenda • Engagement is on a voluntary basis for both the Mentor and the Mentee • The Mentoring relationship is confidential • Mentoring is non-directive in its approach • It is a relationship built upon trust and mutual respect • The Mentor empowers the Mentee to take responsibility for their own learning and career development • The relationship places no obligation on either party beyond its developmental intent • It is distinct and separate from the Performance Management Development System (PMDS) in UCD

Manager vs Mentor • It is not the role of the Mentor to interfere with Mentee’s day to day activities or objectives • The Mentee may however, wish to discuss how they can improve daily activities with the Mentor • The relationship between Mentee and Mentor is confidential

COMFORT ZONE DEAD ZONE PANIC ZONE STRETCH ZONE Zones

Mentoring Cycle Phase 3 Maturation & Closure Phase 1 Clarifying Expectations Phase 2 Productive Phase

The Mentoring Cycle • Rapport-building: Developing mutual trust and comfort • Contracting/Ground Rules: Exploring each other’s expectations of mentoring • Direction-setting: Agreeing initial goals for the relationship • Progress making: Experimentation and learning proceed rapidly • Maturation: Relationship becomes mutual in terms of learning and mentee becomes increasingly self-reliant. • Closure: Formal relationship ends, an informal one may continue

Skills Required By Mentors • Ability to build rapport with the mentee • Communication skills • Feedback skills • Questioning skills • Listening skills • Interpersonal skills

Questioning StylesFor Mentors • Assertive • Opening horizons • Creating insight • Unfreezing • assumptions, • values and beliefs Challenging Probing • Building values and beliefs • Drawing together • Setting boundaries • Creating confidence Testing Confirming

How Mentors Help Others Learn • ‘The Guide’Hands on guidance, explaining how and why; creating opportunities to learn • ‘The Challenger’ ‘Making Waves’; challenging, stimulating, questioning, probing • ‘The Role Model’ Unseen, largely unfelt. The Mentee unconsciously adopts aspects of the mentor’s thinking behaviours and/or style

Key Points • ‘Contracting’ at the beginning of the partnership e.g. • Discuss and clarify each other’s expectations • Be clear about roles • Agree logistics such as meeting arrangements (location, frequency etc.) • Maintain a structure i.e. clear goals, actions between meetings • Review relationship regularly – is it still of value? • Continue only as long as there are goals to achieve • Mentor style is guiding and facilitative • Keep it confidential

Academic Mentoring