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Mentoring: What Makes Successful Mentors and Protégés?
Dennis L. MolfeseDepartment of Psychology
Victoria J. MolfeseChild, Youth and Family Studies
Mentoring Questions From Noah
What is good mentorship and what does that mean?
What should both parties commit to for success?
How do the Mentor and Protégé gain maximum utility of the relationship?
How do we reconcile differing work styles?
What difference do teachers make?
Charles Schultz Philosophy(Cheatham,2008) Test #1
• Name the world’s five wealthiest people.• Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.• Name the last five Miss America contest winners.• Name ten people who have won the Nobel or
Pulitzer prize.• Name the last 6 Academy Award winners for best
actor and actress.Test #2• List a few teachers who aided your journey through
school.• Name three friends who have helped you through a
difficult time.• Think of a few people who have made you feel
appreciated.• Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.• Name half a dozen heroes whose stories have
inspired you.
The lesson: The people who make a difference in your life are the ones you knew cared about you.
How do role models, teachers & mentors differ?(Cheatham, 2008)
Role Model Teacher MentorAn ideal to
which one can aspire
Transmit knowledge
Guide a protégé to learn
attitudes and difficult skillsCharacteristics:
Moral/ethicalCourageVisionEnergy
Often famous/well-
known (at least within the
community)
Characteristics:Empathy
The ability to “engage”Subject matter expert
Selflessness
Often quite anonymous
Characteristics:Moral/ethical
EmpathyHonesty
Selflessness
Variable recognition
within/outside the community
What is good mentorship?
Understanding that Mentors and Protégés are working as a team
They are on the same side
They are working toward the same goals
They encounter the same challenges and successes
So – What’s different?
The Mentor is further along the path
The Protégé is seeking guidance
Good Mentoring Behaviors
Meet with the Protégé regularly
Help the Protégé identify GOALSDiscuss how to set clear objectives to meet those goalsAdjust meeting intervals as necessary
Discuss with the Protégé strategies for research, teaching, service activities
Introduce the Protégé to others at meetings (on campus, professional meeting, when talking to colleagues)
Encourage the Protégé to follow up introductions with email to colleagues
What Is Good Mentorship?
Both members of the team understanding that each can learn from the other.
There were statistics invented after we mentors left graduate school and the Protégés have learned those statistics!
There are new methods, measures, data acquistion devices, and lots of published literature - Protégé have often been exposed to those new things!
Protégés have creative energy, aspirations, and terrible sleep habits all of which can produce lots of output.
We Mentors need those newbies!!
Common Mentoring Topics
1. The activities faculty should be engaged in.
Teaching (courses, advising, and supervising students), Research (engaged in active scholarly work, writing manuscripts and grants, presenting at conferences), Service (department, college and university committees, professional organizations, community agencies, etc.)
2. Understanding why one should engage in these activities:
Promotion and Tenure, compensation, reputation, personal satisfaction (this is your career), etc.
Manuscript and grant reviewing can strengthens knowledge of successful writing and enable the Protégé to be known to decision makers in the field.
Service to the community gives back to our neighbors and tax payers who fund our salaries, and insights come through being active
Common Mentoring Topics
3. Understanding what activities to limit or avoid
Activities that do not fit our work plan (too much service, extra teaching responsibilities that takes time from research, etc.), repeated activities that are not growth experiences, work that does not target a professional purpose (teaching, research, service)
4. Understanding time management
Use all writing for multiple tasks (sections of grant applications and posters yield manuscripts, review papers flow from scholarly work in course preparation, etc.)
Concentrate on results, not on being busy; set aside time just for you to get organized each day
Common Mentoring Topics
5. Discuss strategies for multi-tasking
Work on different tasks over day
Plan some tasks while executing others while writing yet others
Keep a “to do” list and check off items as completed
Do mindless tasks when numb at end of day and mentally taxing tasks for in the morning
Check E-mail ONLY twice/day (noon, night).
Discuss Realities
Responsibilities will vary across your career: Graduate Student to Post-Doc to new Assistant Professor to Associate Professor to Full Professor
Responsibilities vary across the life cycle: single, married, family with young children, family with older children, family with teenagers…..
Responsibilities vary with your employer: course load, research and service expectations, joining the Big Ten!
Balancing responsibilities – you CAN do it all !!!