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
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-----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
Drake Circus
PL4 8AA
01752 232276
http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/learn