Steve Lee, PhD

Graduate Diversity Officerfor STEM Disciplines

May 8, 2014

Learning to pro-actively manage your relationship with your research mentor

Mentoring Up:

Group Discussion #1

How’s the relationship with your research professor?

How would you describe their mentoring style?

2

In what specific ways is it helpful and effective?

In what specific ways does it conflict with your

own communication or working styles?

What exactly is mentoring?

Traditional Mentoring

3

MentorMentee

Advice, etc

● broad range of effectiveness in mentoring relationships

● unclear criteria for evaluating mentoring

● lack of training for mentees/mentors based on research

Multipleproblems:

Can mentoring be informed by

“Managing Up”?

4

BossManager

The concept of managing up came from

Gabarro and Kotter, Harvard Business Review, 1980, p 92.

Questions, input, etc

What core skills are critical in managing up?

5

Gabarro and Kotter interviewed managers, and discovered core skills among effective managers:

1. You have a good understanding of the other person and yourself

2. You use this information to develop a healthy working relationship

Assess

Apply

Why do I need to assess myself?Don’t I know myself?

6

� In a Gallup

survey:

97% said their leadership skills

are at or above average (!)

� Many don’t assess their strengths accurately

� Points to importance of developing metacognitive skills

Most students aren’t aware of their strengths and weaknesses

Kruger and Dunning, 1999 and 2003.

7

0

20

40

60

80

100

Bottom

quartile

2nd

quartile

3rd

quartile

Top

quartile

%

Actual Test Score

Perceived Test Score

8

We can improve our metacognitive skills by:

� being aware of the context of our peers,

� and by improving our competence.

Many don’t assess themselves accurately, but there’s hope!

Kruger and Dunning, 1999 and 2003.

How do we assess ourselves?

How do we apply our assessment to “mentor up”?

9

� Please refer to the handout.

� Complete the individual and group activities

� Spend ~20 min

Activity #2

Are students sufficiently trained?

employers

alumni

faculty

students

10

discipline knowledge

technical skills

professional soft skillscommunicationdecision makingself-managementteamworkprofessionalismleadership

In a national study, people were asked what’s important.

There’s clearly a conflict of priorities.

What principles are important in mentoring relationships?

1. Communication

2. Aligning expectations

3. Assessing understanding

4. Ethics

12

Handelsman, Pfund, Branchaw, etc at U of WI

Entering Mentoring and Entering Research

5. Addressing equity and inclusion

6. Fostering independence

7. Promoting professional development

What skills are needed in mentoring up?

� Assess yourself and your mentor� Myers-Briggs, StrengthsFinder,

myIDP website

� seek research-based,

multiple assessments

� Apply the assessment� refer to principles in mentoring relationships

13

� identify your needs:� trust� compassion� hope� stability

Mentoring up is NOT

� false-flattery

14

� manipulating your mentor

Mentoring up includes:

Acting with confidence

� actively engage with your mentor

� seek to understand your mentor’s expectations

� communicate your goals and expectations

15

Treating with respect

� actively listen

� practice “follow-ship”

� determine and fulfill your responsibilities

� adapt to your mentor’s needs

&

Our workshops will address:

1. Intro to Mentoring Up

Communicating Effectively

2. Aligning Goals and Expectations

3. Addressing Diversity

4. Fostering Independence

16

May 8

May 15

May 22

May 29

Suggested activities to developyour metacognitive skills

17

� Take an unofficial, free Myers-Briggs test� humanmetrics.com

� Self-reflection exercises� 7 success stories and 40 year vision� fiveoclockclub.com

� Write and keep a journal

Resources

� for mentors:� Handelsman, et al; Entering Mentoring

� for mentees:� Branchaw, et al; Entering Research

� Lee, McGee, Pfund, Branchaw� “Mentoring Up” chapter; accepted

� “The Mentoring Continuum”; Glenn Wright, ed

� This workshop’s slides and handouts:� posted in Slideshare

18

19

1. assess yourself and your superior

2. apply this assessment to develop a mutually beneficial relationship

1

Mentoring Up: Learning to pro-actively manage your relationship

with your research mentor

Steve Lee, PhD

Graduate Diversity Officer

for the STEM Disciplines

stnlee@ucdavis.edu

May 8, 2014

Activity #1:

• Group Discussion

How is your relationship with your primary research professor/advisor? How would you describe your

professor’s mentoring style? In what specific ways is it helpful and effective? In what specific ways does it

conflict with your own communication or working styles? Try to be as specific as possible, as opposed to

simply saying that it’s good or bad.

The purpose of this question is to encourage us to reflect on our relationship with our research mentor,

and to begin to assess the relationship. We will discuss some means of how we can assess working and

communication styles.

Activity #2:

• Individual Assessment: adapted Myers-Briggs test from www.humanmetrics.com

o Select the answer that more accurately reflects your preferred behavior for introverts/extroverts.

Yes No

� You enjoy having a wide circle of acquaintances.

� You’re usually the first to react to sudden events and surprises.

� You easily tell new people about yourself.

� You spend your leisure actively socializing with groups of people, attending parties,

shopping, etc.

� You rapidly get involved in the social life of a new workplace.

� The more people with whom you speak, the better you feel.

� It is easy for you to speak loudly.

� You enjoy being at the center of events in which other people are directly involved.

� You feel at ease in a crowd.

� It is easy for you to communicate in social situations.

Totals

o Scoring: add up the number of statements with which you answered “Yes” and “No”. Extroverts

will tend to answer Yes to most of these statements, and Introverts will tend to answer No.

2

• Success Types by John Pelley < http://www.ttuhsc.edu/SOM/success/ >

Well-developed type skills Underdeveloped type skills Extraversion

Active approach

Bring breadth

Introversion

Reflective approach

Bring depth

Extraversion

Hyperactive

Superficial

Introversion

Withdrawn & secretive

Overly serious

What the Types Can Offer Each Other EXTRAVERTS

• Provide the outwardly directed energy

needed to move into action

• Offer responsiveness to what is going on in

the environment

• Have a natural inclination to converse and to

network

INTROVERTS

• Provide the inwardly directed energy

needed for focused reflection

• Offer stability from attending to deep ideas,

and listening to others

• Have a natural tendency to think and work

alone

• Group Discussion: read the case study and answer the following questions

Dan’s start in graduate school has not been as auspicious as he had hoped. He had applied to multiple

top-tier research universities, but wasn’t admitted into any of his favorite schools. He was finally

admitted into his “safety school” that was his last resort, and was grateful for the opportunity. But even

here he struggled to find a research advisor. He spoke with many professors, but was disappointed when

most faculty told him that tightened research budgets limited the number of students that they could

accept. Things seemed to finally turn a corner when Dan met Dr Nevan, a new assistant professor who

invited him into her research group.

After Dan joined Dr Nevan’s group, he began having trouble understanding her expectations and goals

for his research. This is particularly frustrating for Dan, because he’s very friendly and gets along with

most people. He has weekly meetings with her, where he tells her all about his ups and downs from his

research progress, along with complications and successes. Dan is aware that he’s communicative and

talkative, so he believes that he’s doing a good job with informing her about his research progress.

But recently she asked him questions that surprised him, because he didn’t realize that she had wanted

something else. Dan just wishes that she would explain more clearly what she wants and expects, so that

they can work better together. But she doesn’t seem to say much during their meetings, and seems

withdrawn from Dan’s perspective.

Questions:

o Share your results from the test for introverts and extroverts. Do you think the test and the tables

helped you to determine or confirm your preference to be an introvert or extrovert?

o From the case study, do you think Dan is an introvert or extrovert? Explain your reasoning,

referring to details mentioned in the case study.

o Do you think Dr Nevan is an introvert or extrovert? Explain your reasoning.

3

o How might Dan adapt to improve his understanding of Dr Nevan’s expectations for his research?

How might Dan use his strengths from his MB type?

─ What underdeveloped type skills (see tables above for some ideas) might Dan need to

address as he considers how to improve communications with his research mentor?

o What hints from the case study indicate that Dan isn’t accurately assessing himself?

o How might this situation be different, if Dan and Dr Nevan had their MB types switched? What

are some possible consequences of having switched types?

Suggested activities to develop your metacognitive skills

• Take an unofficial, free Myers-Briggs test

o humanmetrics.com

• Self-reflection exercises

o 7 success stories and 40 year vision

o fiveoclockclub.com

• Write and keep a journal

Resources

• Gabarro, John and Kotter, John. "Managing Your Boss." Harvard Business Review, 1980, pp 92-100. • The slides and handouts from this workshop are available in my account in Slideshare.net.

Schedule

• Part 1: Communicating Effectively Thu May 8, 3:30-5 pm, SCC, Rm D

• Part 2: Aligning Goals and Expectations Thu May 15, 3:30-5 pm, SCC, Rm E

• Part 3: Addressing Diversity Thu May 22, 3:30-5 pm, SCC, Rm D

• Part 4: Fostering Independence Thu May 29, 3:30-5 pm, SCC, Rm D