Dear John et al,
I have copied your summary of the mentoring debates into a separate file 
(LDHEN Mentoring debate Feb 06 - summarised by John Hilsdon, Plymouth 
University - attached)... for I thought that it was an excellent summary 
- with useful links - and for which many thanks.
I do hope that is okay John?
Best,
Sandra

John Hilsdon wrote:

> Hi All
> 
>  
> 
> In this discussion, our varying understandings / assumptions about the 
> purposes of mentoring and its definition; and how it fits into our 
> institutional contexts, will be important in influencing our views. I 
> think there are some fundamental issues around how mentoring is set up 
> that can determine its usefulness … in my mind, the ideal situation 
> would be where mentoring arises from a ‘real’ choice (insofar as such a 
> thing is possible) made by someone to seek the mentorship of another – 
> rather than from, say, a course requirement or a managerial practice.  
> This is not to say that mentoring under the latter conditions could not 
> ‘work’ or be useful … indeed, they may be the only way to get started 
> for some.
> 
>  
> 
> Offering (versus requiring?) mentoring for staff; integrating mentoring 
> within a training or CPD programme without it becoming (seen as) to a 
> certain extent/primarily a management tool (and therefore having its 
> integrity undermined!); these seem to be difficult balancing acts, if 
> they can be accomplished at all … And yet, my own experience tells me 
> that involvement in mentoring (from both ‘sides’) is one of the best 
> things about professional life …and yet …
> 
>  
> 
> In my original posting I asked about ‘experiences of mentoring’ mainly 
> because I am interested in how people have experienced (thought, felt 
> about, responded to) the process in their professional roles. E.g. how 
> easy was it to find a suitable mentor – or was it possible at all? For 
> me, having some mentoring type relationships has been highly significant 
> and valuable at certain points in my career … and the absence of anyone 
> I felt able to seek advice from has been equally significant at times 
> when I have been in that situation … In stating above that involvement 
> in mentoring has been one of the best things in my professional life, I 
> am aware that most of these ‘mentoring’ experiences have not been from 
> formally constituted mentoring schemes at all, but from informally 
> established (usually fortuitously arrived at) collegial relationships! 
> Is this just common sense? Can mentoring arrangements model such 
> voluntaristic/adventitious relations?
> 
>  
> 
> The HEA Business, Management and Accountancy Subject Centre 
> http://www.business.heacademy.ac.uk/  has an interesting section on 
> mentoring in HE contexts – see:
> 
> http://www.business.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/support/working/mentor/process
> 
> there are some useful, brief notes on the mentoring relationship, 
> process and a code of practice there.
> 
>  
> 
> I also discovered that there is a Mentoring and Coaching Research Group 
> at Sheffield Hallam http://www.shu.ac.uk/schools/sbf/mentcoach.html but 
> I could find no readily available materials linked from their site.
> 
>  
> 
> I’ve had a look at some other materials relating to mentoring and found 
> the following site interesting. It takes a largely 
> commercial-cum-personal-development (and at times ‘therapeutic’) tone 
> which has implications for terminology (e.g. use of ‘client’) but has 
> some content you may want to look at.
> 
>  
> 
> http://www.coachingnetwork.org.uk/Default.htm
> 
>  
> 
> I reproduce below an extract that may stimulate further thoughts:
> 
>  
> 
> That’s enough rambling from me for today!
> 
>  
> 
> All the best
> 
>  
> 
> John
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  From The coaching and Mentoring Network website:
> 
>  
> 
> “Coaching and mentoring share many similarities so it makes sense to 
> outline the common things coaches and mentors do whether the services 
> are offered in a paid (professional) or unpaid (philanthropic) role.
> 
>  
> 
> ·       Facilitate the exploration of needs, motivations, desires, 
> skills and thought processes to assist the individual in making real, 
> lasting change.
> 
> ·       Use questioning techniques to facilitate client's own thought 
> processes in order to identify solutions and actions rather than takes a 
> wholly directive approach
> 
> ·       Support the client in setting appropriate goals and methods of 
> assessing progress in relation to these goals
> 
> ·       Observe, listen and ask questions to understand the client's 
> situation
> 
> ·       Creatively apply tools and techniques which may include 
> one-to-one training, facilitating, counselling & networking.
> 
> ·       Encourage a commitment to action and the development of lasting 
> personal growth & change.
> 
> ·       Maintain unconditional positive regard for the client, which 
> means that the coach is at all times supportive and non-judgemental of 
> the client, their views, lifestyle and aspirations.
> 
> ·       Ensure that clients develop personal competencies and do not 
> develop unhealthy dependencies on the coaching or mentoring relationship.
> 
> ·       Evaluate the outcomes of the process, using objective measures 
> wherever possible to ensure the relationship is successful and the 
> client is achieving their personal goals.
> 
> ·       Encourage clients to continually improve competencies and to 
> develop new developmental alliances where necessary to achieve their goals.
> 
> ·       Work within their area of personal competence.
> 
> ·       Possess qualifications and experience in the areas that 
> skills-transfer coaching is offered.
> 
> ·       Manage the relationship to ensure the client receives the 
> appropriate level of service and that programmes are neither too short, 
> nor too long.
> 
>  
> 
> Useful definitions
> 
> The common thread uniting all types of coaching & mentoring is that 
> these services offer a vehicle for analysis, reflection and action that 
> ultimately enable the client to achieve success in one more areas of 
> their life or work.
> 
>  
> 
> Here are some published definitions we particularly like...
> 
>  
> 
> Coaching is…
> 
>  
> 
>   "a process that enables learning and development to occur and thus 
> performance to improve. To be a successful a Coach requires a knowledge 
> and understanding of process as well as the variety of styles, skills 
> and techniques that are appropriate to the context in which the coaching 
> takes place"
> 
>   
> 
>  
> 
> Eric Parsloe, The Manager as Coach and Mentor (1999) page 8. Eric is a 
> respected author and Director of the Oxford School of Coaching and 
> Mentoring
> 
>  
> 
> Mentoring is...
> 
>  
> 
>   "off-line help by one person to another in making significant 
> transitions in knowledge, work or thinking"
> 
>   
> 
> Clutterbuck, D & Megginson, D, Mentoring Executives and Directors (1999) 
> page 3 (available in the bookshop). David Clutterbuck & David Megginson 
> are both directors of The European Mentoring Centre and highly respected 
> authors, academics and consultants in the mentoring arena.
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> The difference between coaching and mentoring
> 
> As can be seen above, there are many similarities between coaching and 
> mentoring! Mentoring, particularly in its traditional sense, enables an 
> individual to follow in the path of an older and wiser colleague who can 
> pass on knowledge, experience and open doors to otherwise out-of-reach 
> opportunities. Coaching on the other hand is not generally performed on 
> the basis that the coach has direct experience of their client’s formal 
> occupational role unless the coaching is specific and skills focused.
> 
>  
> 
> Having said this, there are professionals offering their services under 
> the name of mentoring who have no direct experience of their clients' 
> roles and others offering services under the name of coaching who do. So 
> the moral of the story is, it is essential to determine what your needs 
> are and to ensure that the coach or mentor can supply you with the type 
> and level of service you require, whatever that service is called.”
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> John Hilsdon
> Co-ordinator, Learning Development
> University of Plymouth
> Drake Circus
> Plymouth
> PL4 8AA
> 
> 01752 232276
> 
> [log in to unmask]
> 
> http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/learn
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> *From:* Weatherald, Cal [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> *Sent:* 21 February 2006 16:37
> *To:* John Hilsdon; [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* RE: Experiences of Mentoring
> 
>  
> 
> Mentoring schemes and approaches clearly vary according to context. Our 
> Education Guidance Service operates what could be described as 
> a mentoring system on two levels. (A broader university peer review 
> scheme is being developed, but the two don't really connect.)
> 
>  
> 
> a. An induction mentor role with new staff beginning to work in the 
> Education Guidance team. The role supports a detailed academic and 
> professional induction set out in the professional development handbook 
> which we put together as part of our quality framework. The role now 
> has primarily been taken on by the Lead Adviser, who may or may not be 
> the line manager, but is sometimes shared with other members of the team.
> 
>  
> 
> b. We have annual peer review based on a one-to-one discussion and 
> interview observation. All advisers participate as peer reviewers, 
> including relatively new staff. This is written up, agreed by both 
> parties and fed into annual review.
> 
> Again, the process is laid out in the PD Handbook
> 
>  
> 
> This may sound a little formal for a 6 person team who already work very 
> closely together. However, for this very reason, it has been important 
> for us to establish clear and explicit academic and professional 
> principles underpinning our work as a basis for the development and the 
> introduction of new staff.  We have developed a quality 
> assurance/enhancement framework for the Service, and have found 
> professional as well as academic frameworks to be useful in this 
> respect. As we offer pre-entry as well as on-course academic guidance, 
> we have been through the //matrix// accreditation process. Although the 
> //matrix// accreditation visit itself was quite superficial, we found 
> the framework for preparation extremely useful across the full range of 
> our work, on-course and pre-entry.  
> 
>  
> 
> If the purpose of mentoring is staff development, I think for us 
> here the most useful developmental activity is our monthly case study 
> meeting where we all meet and contribute. This also gives us the basis 
> for monitoring patterns in queries arising, interrogating particular 
> complex academic or problems in the application of university 
> regulations, and sharing our individual approaches.
> 
>  
> 
> Cal Weatherald
> 
> Education Adviser
> Sheffield Hallam University Education Guidance Service
> Student Services Centre
> Floor 5, Owen Building
> Sheffield Hallam University
> SHEFFIELD
> S1 1WB
> 
> Tel     0114 225 3743
> Fax    0114 225 2161
> E mail [log in to unmask]
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> *From:* learning development in higher education network 
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] *On Behalf Of *John Hilsdon
> *Sent:* 19 February 2006 15:10
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* Experiences of Mentoring
> 
> Dear All
> 
>  
> 
> I would be interested to hear from those who have experience, thoughts 
> or opinions about the role and/or value of mentoring in our general 
> field of work. 
> 
>  
> 
> What arrangements, if any, exist to regulate / facilitate mentoring in 
> your institution?
> 
> Does mentoring feed-in to any managerial functions such as appraisal?
> 
>  
> 
> Have you been / are you working with a mentor?
> 
> Did you establish your own mentoring relationship or was it offered to 
> you by the institution?
> 
> If there is a scheme at your workplace, is it offered to all staff or 
> just to those on academic contracts?
> 
> How useful has the experience been for you?
> 
>  
> 
> Have you been / are you a mentor?
> 
> Were you given any training or preparation for the role?
> 
> What has the experience of being a mentor been like for you – do you 
> have any advice or thoughts to share about it?
> 
>  
> 
> Does anyone have thoughts about the value of ‘mentoring’ type 
> relationships when those involved are colleagues from different areas of 
> practice or disciplines?
> 
>  
> 
> Your replies may be useful to other list-members so, if you are prepared 
> to share, please hit ‘reply all’ to post to the whole list.
> 
>  
> 
> Best wishes
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> John
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> John Hilsdon
> 
> Co-ordinator, Learning Development
> 
> University of Plymouth
> 
> Drake Circus
> 
> Plymouth
> 
> PL4 8AA
> 
>  
> 
> 01752 232276
> 
>  
> 
> [log in to unmask]
> 
>  
> 
> http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/learn
> 
>  
> 

-- 
Sandra Sinfield
Co-ordinator (North) Learning Development
LC213, Learning Centre
London Metropolitan University
Holloway Road
London N7 6PP
020.7133.4045