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Mentoring: comments archiveDate: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 01:41:14 +0100 (BST) I have recently taken on a position becoming a mentor for new and fellow employees in the beauty industry. Although it may not be a college teaching position, people are people just the same and thus I took time and read your website. I have had a couple of sessions with our company trainers and have a few more sessions to go and decided to find all that I can on this subject because I am learning that it will be an ongoing learning pprocess actually becoming a mentor and doing it efficiently. I have had 22 yrs of experience with people and want to give something back. Recently my boss revealed somthing to me about a coworker and wanted my response about a behavior problem before my first training session. Since then I want to go back and work in my ideas about how we could make him see how he acted toward another coworker was wrong but yet still make him come out with postive ways to change his actions and feel better about trying again instead of belittling him. You want to know ideas on whether or not we should be included in assesment, and I think yes as long as we can give back ideas on how to work on the person in question in a positive and constructive way to give them a chance or let the mentor provide insight that will constructively help the change before tempers are lost or to give some thought time to. Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 15:23:37 GMT I am a mentor myself, and find myself steering away from assessment or discipline. I feel that pushing this area contradicts the relationship I may have struggled to create. It jeopardises the rapport thats been built up and mentees then question trust. I find that I'm far better positioned to go to the mentee after and discuss with them any issues and in this position I can address the reasons why discipline has taken place or issues involving assessment. This I find builds on the rapport and relationship and also allows for rationalization. Currently I am studying for a degree in social work and have been put in a position of having my own mentor whilst on placement. I have been interviewed by my mentor and they will also be involved in the assessment of my practice and portfolio on completion. This for me goes against what I know and feel about mentoring, for a start with being interviewed, creates a power imbalance which is a big no no! How can true rapport be built with major power imbalances like this. I won't forget who is in the position of power which means I will not let my guard down with regards to the mentor. I also struggle with the idea of confidentiality in this situation. Anyway I hope this makes me better at my role of mentor for the sake of my mentees. Date: 5 November 2002 At Liverpool Hope, we ask the mentors (who are undergraduates) to give a reflective self-assessment. They also maintain paperwork which can be monitored. Confidentiality is always importnat in both forms of feedback, and strictly adhered to.
Date: Mon, 26 February 2001 I think that mentors who become involved in the assessment process are well placed to contribute. I think it is often forgotten that part of the mentoring process is to set out the objectives of the role of mentor and mentee. As long as both are clear on what parts they each play, the mentors contribution to the assessment process cannot be described as 'a conflict of interest' or 'at odds with' or indeed 'breaching the mentor/mentee relationship'. Date: Thurs, 19 October 2000 I think that this would jeopardise the 'critical friend' role and the mentee would consider the mentor as just another individual that they have to impress to progress in the career. The mentor role is more useful if the mentee can feel that their mentor as no axes to grind and can provide unbiased feedback on their development. If the mentor is providing feedback in terms of assessment then the mentee may begin to build barrier and only present the facade of themselves without developments occurring in some parts of the personal development. However some mentees may feel that their mentor knows them better and therefore as someone who is more articulate in presenting their case. Maybe the choice should be left to be mentee and mentor as to what type of relationship they would like to develop. Date: Wed, 3 May 2000 10:49:14 I'm about to embark on the mentoring role for the first time and would welcome any examples of contracts or agreements for this role that people may have developed. Date: 1st March, 1999 I agree with Linda's position (see below), and I would add that, although I know it is fairly common, Heads of Department should not act as mentors for staff in that Dept, nor indeed should other senior staff with a specific course or research leadership role act as mentors for staff who work in these areas. I know the conflict will arise about the necessary subject expertise of any remaining candidates for mentoring, but I think a clear line needs to drawn between the role of a personal mentor and the manager's or other senior staff's role in providing coaching and other advice on professional development. The mentor must be outside of day to day concerns for effectiveness and (especially) efficiency. The focus in mentoring should, I feel, be on the long term development, the sense of perspective, the 'where am I and where am I going' type of discussion. Of course, short term concerns are discussed and advice is given, but in so much as the manager might be concerned with problem solving, the mentor is concerned with deep learning - which is slow and needs room for reflection. If there are concerns with the outcomes and timescales etc then this time and sense of detachment may be compromised. Specific subject based academic development should not be confused with the role of the personal mentor - although I am sure that the two are not incompatible provided the subject expert/mentor do not have conflicting interests in terms of role. Stuart Hunt, Training and Development Section, Personnel Services Date: 26th February, 1999 In my opinion mentoring and assessing are two different tasks and should not be viewed as one. A mentor is a guide, advisor, etc. To assess the mentees work having worked so closely and collaboratively with the mentee is surely a conflict of interests. Should the student fail, or be deemed not yet competent, how does that reflect on the mentor's role and effectiveness? A mentor, if s/he is doing the job well will be too close to the content to be objective. The two must remain separate. I would be interested in what other people have to say on this. Have a good weekend. Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 Can you help? We are holding our first Black/Minority Mentoring conference on Nov 14th 1997. Minority mentoring is at its embryonic stages in Scotland. You can find out more about us on http://www.mihie.ac.uk/~ceres/index.html We will be running a workshop on mentoring in HE. HE in Scotland has been very slow in taking up this concept despite severe underrepsentation of minorities on the majority of HE programmes. The business community have been more forthcoming. In the workshop, we would greatly appreciate any practical start-up info you may have eg: contracts mentors/mentees would have to sign up to, person specs for mentors - how do you select and match people? Do you match across ethnicity or is there black on black mentoring etc. If you can help, my e-mail is ae092@dial.pipex.com for attachements etc. If you require snail mail address, please e-mail. Your contribution will be acknowledged during conference and also in our conference report. Thanks Date: Thu, 25 Sep 1997 I am delivering a Seminar Series on mentoring and have been trying to locate copies of the book by Linda Phillips-Jones, "Mentors & Proteges." It is now out of print, and the original publisher doesn't know anything about it. Can you help me locate the author or anyone who may know where to get copies. Thanx in advance, Shelley J. Horwitz Date: Wed, 13 Aug 1997 18:26:02 GMT In my work training mentors of new teachers, the following areas have emerged as most beneficial:
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 1997 As a consultant to Hi Ed and corp trng, I have recently encountered the dilemma of "faculty peer-mentoring" -- and whether collaborative peer assistance can/should be called mentoring. The situation arises when we focus on "learner-centered" teaching and accept the concept that "no one knows everything and everyone can learn something from others." When it is accepted that no teacher has experienced it all and all teachers can learn from others -- do we establish a "mentoring" role between two faculty members? Or should we be describing this "helping" relationship in some other way? This discussion will be facilitated at an ISETA conference this fall -- your comments and thoughts would be appreciated. Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 As a PGCE student who has been working in HE, I have come to the conclusion that a mentor need not be a single individual but can be a Gestalt. Different aspects of the mentor role can be attributed to different individuals within an institution with the mentee effectively selecting the 'expert' for each function. Whilst this view may be difficult to build in to an organisational chart, it allows the mentee to build a network at the place of employment, using that network for both acculturation and support. Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 I have developed a syallabus for a graduate course on Mentoring for Life. It includes some good definitions and resources for helping person engaged in ministry professions look at Mentoring as a stategy for multiplying influence and leaving a spiritual legacy. We have also produced three video lectures on Mentoring that feature Bobb Biehl of Masterplanning International, author of a 1996 book on Mentoring. The title is Mentoring, Confidence in Finding a Mentor and Becoming One. Nashville, Tennesee Broadman & Holman Publishers. For anyone interested I would be glad to share the syllabus, and powerpoint lecture material, and bibliography. We have taught the course to two groups and have had some good feedback from those who have sought mentors and proteges. Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 It strikes me that prevention is better than cure and some form of Mentoring Contract between mentor/mentee at the start of the relationship would help sort out the processes and objectives for the relationship. Even if this was not done at the start, it would still be worth the mentor and mentee agreeing each others roles, boundaries, contributions and methods. I always recommend the establishment of such contracts whenever advising organisations on system design or individual mentors/mentees during initial training. Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 One issue which is often overlooked in any debate, research or literature around mentoring is the role of the mentee him or herself. Much time, effort and space is devoted to the selection, training, skills and attributes of effective mentors but very little about the mentees. My experience shows that some mentoring relationships are UNsuccessful not through the mentor's actions but the mentee's actions, inactions, knowledge, skills or attitudes. I feel that more attention needs to be given to understanding the mentee before we can really feel confident in designing effective systems and reaping the full potential. What research or information has anyone else uncovered or undertaken in this field - I would be very interested to receive details. Date: Thu, 27 Mar 1997 As an inexperienced new supervisor of graduate students in a new postgraduate degree in Art and Design, I am anxious to absorb as much as I can to ease the transition towards first experiences with my students. I would be interested to know how experienced supervisors, particularly in the Art and Design field, view the difference between mentoring practices and supervision. Nancy de Freitas, Date: Mon, 24 Mar 1997 I have found this debate very interesting as I am currently trying to gather information from other institutions on mentoring in order to look at the applicability of such schemes to Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education. What I have discovered so far is very interesting and I believe that schemes such as mentoring and proctoring may be a way forward for institutions to expand without compromising the education of its students. I believe that the skills that can be gained from being a mentor can be crucial for a student to assess and aid their own learning. Any further information on such schemes, especially related to how credit is gained and the implementation of schemes, would be very gratefully received. Date: Wed, 26 Feb 1997 Returning to this country after a time abroad, I found a bewildering number of interpretations of the word 'mentor' and the, often assumed, roles... The journal 'mentoring and tutoring', for example, has articles talking about processes that belong under 'pedagogy' rather than mentoring, to my mind... So, Hazel Fullerton and I who were doing some work on mentoring, decided to have a go at seeing what people mean. I think Phil's definition above is fine when it comes to a focus on the 'acculturator', 'sponsor' and 'support' roles - which are maybe in the fore in HE mentoring. ITT mentoring, though, would tend to bring 'model', 'educator', roles to the fore. What do people make of this attempt at 'unpacking' mentoring? Most mentors will be involved to greater or lesser degree in all 5 roles, and different authors favour one particular combination often, but I think it is important to be specific in each context .. It then of course raises all sorts of further implications - for mentor training and so on.
Date: Mon, 24 Feb 1997 Should there be a section on the medium for the delivery of mentoring/mentor training? I am involved in training and supporting subject mentors in Further Education, who in turn mentor our student teachers on the PGCE(FE) before and during their teaching practice. It is increasingly difficult to offer the quality of training and support to new and existing mentors using face to face contact due to decreasing contact hours and general underfunding. I would like to add to the debate by posing a couple of questions:
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1997 12:27:02 GMT I think that experienced teachers also benefit from a mutual mentoring relationship. It is a useful way to keep quality in one's work fresh, and it also refreshes enthusiasm. I'm not sure whether this would fall into the category of mentoring. Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996 14:39:10 GMT We attempted a mentoring scheme for graduate trainees in the library, assigning each of them to an academic-related member of staff. We deliberately chose people who had some experience; two were between six and ten years older than the trainees, two were about fifteen years older. The scheme was not particularly successful, not because the individuals failed to get on, but because, in all but one case, there was a feeling that there was little to talk about. It is possible that the intention to give new entrants to the profession some view from practitioners, was unrealistic; that mentoring only starts to be possible after training and when a job is being done "for real". (I don't myself think this is really true). Date: Tue, 8 Oct 1996 More categories of mentors:
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