In this blog I plan to include some excerpts from the book titled "The Elements of Mentoring". This book was presented to me by the president of GGC, during my orientation as a full-time faculty in Aug 2011.
Before writing this book, the authros claim to have read more than a thousand research publications from fields related to that of mentoring and consequently more weight has been given to the research aspect of their findings. In addition, bot the authors of this book are certified psychologists and faculty at colleges in USA.
What Excellent Mentors Do?
1) Select proteges carefully:
Juniors who earn the label of fast tracekr based on their pastacheivenements and the preception that they will be successful, usually are appealing to mentors. Communication skills, emotional stability, ambition, initiative, intelligence, and loyalty are other important traits. In addition, mentors generally like seeking proteges who share the same interests and have similar career aspirations.
2) Be There:
In general, human beings become emotionally bonded to those people they frequently encounter and get to know. This exposure effect works much the same way in mentor-ship. Effective mentors are accessible and approachable. They make time for proteges, ensuring more frequent interactions and more opportunity for engagement. Being there increases the frequency of interaction, thereby deepening a mentor's understanding of the proteges strengths, relative limitations, and career dreams. Research on assigned relationships indicates that frequency of interaction is one of the best predictors of whether a mentor-ship will find purchase, gain traction, and ultimately blossom into something meaningful to both parties. Interaction hinges the magic of mentoring.
3) Know Your Proteges:
Research shows that the frequency and the quality of face-to-face interaction can predict mentor-ship success. Mentors are needed to exhibit the skills of listening, caring, communicating openly, giving constructive feedback, and in taking time to truly know proteges.
4) Expect Excellence and Nothing Less:
Mentors never settle for mediocrity. Settling for mediocrity undermines the performance as it lowers the expectations. Most people are more capable than they think and they just need to change their expectations. As a rule, mentors should always expect more of their proteges than their proteges typically expect of themselves. This raises the expectations adn lifts their performance.
Mentors communicate their expectations for excellence. Research on parenting, supervising, and mentoring consistently shows that juniors rise to meet the expectations of mentors, particularly when the mentor-ship is characterized by trust, support, and mutual respect. Mentors communicate high performance expectations through two salient channels: a) their first model confidence, competence, professionalism, and strong adherence to standards of excellence. They understand the importance of asking others only what they first ask of themselves. By demanding excellence of themselves, they indirectly but resoundingly voice their high expectations of their proteges.
Mentors can fail their proteges in following ways: a) setting their expectations low. (b). mentors may make stringent demands for excellence without simultaneously instilling confidence in proteges capacity to meet these challenges. (c). Mentors may intentionally or unintentionally send expectations for perfection.
5). Affirm, Affirm, Affirm, and Then Affirm Some More:
People need to feel good about themselves, and affirmation is the key to a feeling of well-being. Mentors can affirm their proteges in two ways: a). Affirm proteges as people and acknowledge a person's inherent worth. Affirming proteges as people should be unconditional and independent of their performance. (b). Affirm proteges as professionals and acknowledge their performance and achievements. Withholding affirmations until goals are achieved is usually a mistake.
There are two components of affirmations. First, affirming mentors communicate and demonstrate faith in the proteges ability and trust in the protege's judgement. Research indicates that when proteges feel accepted and confirmed by a mentor, they are more willing to trust the mentor, believe in themselves, and accept increasingly challenging tasks.
The second component is more subtle and demanding of the mentor. A mentor works to discern and then nourish a personal dream that the protege harbors. Mentor helps the protege in articulating the dream, and then blesses the protege by affirming that dream is possible. thus setting the protege into a creative flight that offers the confidence and affirmation that protege requires to get started.
6) Provide Sponsorship:
Mentors can endorse their proteges membership in important organizations, invite them to exclusive meetings, and endorse them for work on special high visibility projects. Successful scientists often study under leading researchers and, in turn, themselves sponsors juniors. Sponsorships allows a fledgeling professional to try new behaviors and hone the skills needed for success in any organization. This is critical for early career success, and it could make the difference in how far somehow advances professionally.
7) Be a Teacher and a Coach:
Excellent mentors provide knowledge, make recommendations, offer consultations, and stimulate motivation with encouragement. In contrast to the reclutant guru who occasionally rewards the dogged seeker with small nuggets of wisdom, the outstanding mentor creates opportunity to give advice, recount relevant experiences, and provide consultation on challenges that lie ahead. At times, salient lessons about life and career are best communicated by sharing one's personal stories of tribulation and triumph.
8) Encourage and Support:
People thrive when they feel safe, valued, and well supported. When a mentor is friendly, open, approachable, and consistently encouraging, proteges are more at ease with risk-taking, more assured that they can succeed, and more comfortable asking for advice and assistance.
9) Shape Behavior Using Reinforcement:
When a protege makes a fledgeling effort at a novel task, takes a risk, or shows slight improvement in some area of performance, the attentive mentor is quick to deliver a well-matched reinforcement. An appropriate reinforcement may include a proud smile, a high-five, verbal praise, a public announcement, or an invitation to assume a larger role in some project. Waiting until a protege masters a skill set or proforms a task at a level expected of a professionals before delivering reinforcement is unwise. Each sign of progress or improvement should naturally elicit some approving and encouraging response for the mentor. Use praise as a development tool and avoid punishment.
10) Offer Counsel in Difficult Times:
While counseling the mentor must be discrete and supportive - helping without parenting and protecting without smothering the protege. Skills such as active listening, accurate understanding of others feelings, clarification of decision-making strategies, and assistance in goal setting help proteges to accept and overcome inner doubts and personal obstacles. Moreover, effective mentors, listen, convey acceptance, normalize the existence of problems and distress, and facilitate problem-solving.
11) Protect When Necessary:
A mentor who fails to respond wisely to the threats like: bureaucratic entanglements, conflict with colleagues, hostile criticism, assignment to tasks likely to sabotage success, and one's own poor decision making, etc. renders the protege vulnerable to a range of negative outcomes- including career failure.
Mentor protection may take many forms such as publicly advocating for the protege, directly confronting hostile parties, creating short-cuts through bureaucratic red tape, and preventing the assignment of the protege to low-visibility roles, or to roles that are likely to overwhelm the protege.
While it is essential to protect protege, it is equally important to give honest feedback and confront protege when necessary.
12). Stimulate Growth with Challenging Assignments:
Before writing this book, the authros claim to have read more than a thousand research publications from fields related to that of mentoring and consequently more weight has been given to the research aspect of their findings. In addition, bot the authors of this book are certified psychologists and faculty at colleges in USA.
What Excellent Mentors Do?
1) Select proteges carefully:
Juniors who earn the label of fast tracekr based on their pastacheivenements and the preception that they will be successful, usually are appealing to mentors. Communication skills, emotional stability, ambition, initiative, intelligence, and loyalty are other important traits. In addition, mentors generally like seeking proteges who share the same interests and have similar career aspirations.
2) Be There:
In general, human beings become emotionally bonded to those people they frequently encounter and get to know. This exposure effect works much the same way in mentor-ship. Effective mentors are accessible and approachable. They make time for proteges, ensuring more frequent interactions and more opportunity for engagement. Being there increases the frequency of interaction, thereby deepening a mentor's understanding of the proteges strengths, relative limitations, and career dreams. Research on assigned relationships indicates that frequency of interaction is one of the best predictors of whether a mentor-ship will find purchase, gain traction, and ultimately blossom into something meaningful to both parties. Interaction hinges the magic of mentoring.
3) Know Your Proteges:
Research shows that the frequency and the quality of face-to-face interaction can predict mentor-ship success. Mentors are needed to exhibit the skills of listening, caring, communicating openly, giving constructive feedback, and in taking time to truly know proteges.
4) Expect Excellence and Nothing Less:
Mentors never settle for mediocrity. Settling for mediocrity undermines the performance as it lowers the expectations. Most people are more capable than they think and they just need to change their expectations. As a rule, mentors should always expect more of their proteges than their proteges typically expect of themselves. This raises the expectations adn lifts their performance.
Mentors communicate their expectations for excellence. Research on parenting, supervising, and mentoring consistently shows that juniors rise to meet the expectations of mentors, particularly when the mentor-ship is characterized by trust, support, and mutual respect. Mentors communicate high performance expectations through two salient channels: a) their first model confidence, competence, professionalism, and strong adherence to standards of excellence. They understand the importance of asking others only what they first ask of themselves. By demanding excellence of themselves, they indirectly but resoundingly voice their high expectations of their proteges.
Mentors can fail their proteges in following ways: a) setting their expectations low. (b). mentors may make stringent demands for excellence without simultaneously instilling confidence in proteges capacity to meet these challenges. (c). Mentors may intentionally or unintentionally send expectations for perfection.
5). Affirm, Affirm, Affirm, and Then Affirm Some More:
People need to feel good about themselves, and affirmation is the key to a feeling of well-being. Mentors can affirm their proteges in two ways: a). Affirm proteges as people and acknowledge a person's inherent worth. Affirming proteges as people should be unconditional and independent of their performance. (b). Affirm proteges as professionals and acknowledge their performance and achievements. Withholding affirmations until goals are achieved is usually a mistake.
There are two components of affirmations. First, affirming mentors communicate and demonstrate faith in the proteges ability and trust in the protege's judgement. Research indicates that when proteges feel accepted and confirmed by a mentor, they are more willing to trust the mentor, believe in themselves, and accept increasingly challenging tasks.
The second component is more subtle and demanding of the mentor. A mentor works to discern and then nourish a personal dream that the protege harbors. Mentor helps the protege in articulating the dream, and then blesses the protege by affirming that dream is possible. thus setting the protege into a creative flight that offers the confidence and affirmation that protege requires to get started.
6) Provide Sponsorship:
Mentors can endorse their proteges membership in important organizations, invite them to exclusive meetings, and endorse them for work on special high visibility projects. Successful scientists often study under leading researchers and, in turn, themselves sponsors juniors. Sponsorships allows a fledgeling professional to try new behaviors and hone the skills needed for success in any organization. This is critical for early career success, and it could make the difference in how far somehow advances professionally.
7) Be a Teacher and a Coach:
Excellent mentors provide knowledge, make recommendations, offer consultations, and stimulate motivation with encouragement. In contrast to the reclutant guru who occasionally rewards the dogged seeker with small nuggets of wisdom, the outstanding mentor creates opportunity to give advice, recount relevant experiences, and provide consultation on challenges that lie ahead. At times, salient lessons about life and career are best communicated by sharing one's personal stories of tribulation and triumph.
8) Encourage and Support:
People thrive when they feel safe, valued, and well supported. When a mentor is friendly, open, approachable, and consistently encouraging, proteges are more at ease with risk-taking, more assured that they can succeed, and more comfortable asking for advice and assistance.
9) Shape Behavior Using Reinforcement:
When a protege makes a fledgeling effort at a novel task, takes a risk, or shows slight improvement in some area of performance, the attentive mentor is quick to deliver a well-matched reinforcement. An appropriate reinforcement may include a proud smile, a high-five, verbal praise, a public announcement, or an invitation to assume a larger role in some project. Waiting until a protege masters a skill set or proforms a task at a level expected of a professionals before delivering reinforcement is unwise. Each sign of progress or improvement should naturally elicit some approving and encouraging response for the mentor. Use praise as a development tool and avoid punishment.
10) Offer Counsel in Difficult Times:
While counseling the mentor must be discrete and supportive - helping without parenting and protecting without smothering the protege. Skills such as active listening, accurate understanding of others feelings, clarification of decision-making strategies, and assistance in goal setting help proteges to accept and overcome inner doubts and personal obstacles. Moreover, effective mentors, listen, convey acceptance, normalize the existence of problems and distress, and facilitate problem-solving.
11) Protect When Necessary:
A mentor who fails to respond wisely to the threats like: bureaucratic entanglements, conflict with colleagues, hostile criticism, assignment to tasks likely to sabotage success, and one's own poor decision making, etc. renders the protege vulnerable to a range of negative outcomes- including career failure.
Mentor protection may take many forms such as publicly advocating for the protege, directly confronting hostile parties, creating short-cuts through bureaucratic red tape, and preventing the assignment of the protege to low-visibility roles, or to roles that are likely to overwhelm the protege.
While it is essential to protect protege, it is equally important to give honest feedback and confront protege when necessary.
12). Stimulate Growth with Challenging Assignments:
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