The mentoring process Jane Stubberfield E mentoring What preparation will you want to do before starting mentoring? We will examine that in this session ‘ preparing for the meeting’.

Objectives By the end of this session you will be able to: Identify the need for e-mentoring Assess the differences between face-to-face mentoring and e-mentoring Evaluate the effectiveness of e-mentoring By the end of this session you will be able to: Identify the need for e-mentoring Assess the differences between face-to-face mentoring and e-mentoring Evaluate the effectiveness of e-mentoring

Computer-mediated mentoring E-mentoring Names E-mentoring Computer-mediated mentoring Telementoring Email mentoring Internet mentoring Online mentoring Virtual mentoring There are many names given to this type of mentoring, here are the most common ones found by Bierema and Hill. E-mentoring is using computer resources to carry out the mentoring. E-mail is largely used. Based on Bierema, L. L. & Hill, J. R. (2005) Virtual mentoring and HRD, Advances in Developing Human Resources 2005 7:556

E-mentoring “I am, I have to admit, a converted sceptic about mentoring at a distance. Having invested so much time and research into the virtues of face-to-face developmental dialogue, I could not see how the mentoring relationship could possibly be as meaningful when the primary form of communication was e- mail. Experience as an e-mentor and interviews with participants successful e-mentoring relationships have convinced me that e-mentoring is not an inferior substitute for ‘real’ mentoring. Rather, it is simply a different approach to mentoring and can be as effective – and in some cases, potentially more effective – than traditional approaches” David Clutterbuck starts his chapter on e-mentoring with this statement. It is an interesting statement that begs the question is e-mentoring a tool to use when traditional mentoring is not possible because of logistical or time constraints or is it a development tool that should be considered equally to traditional mentoring. Clutterbuck, D. (2004) Everyone needs a mentor, fourth edition. London, CIPD

Differences to traditional mentoring Virtual mentoring Traditional mentoring Communicating via computer Communicating face-to-face Mentoring is asynchronous Mentoring is synchronous Time is not a major issue Time can be a major issue Location is not an issue Location can be an issue No personal touch All personal touch Can be inexpensive Can be expensive Is recorded so cannot be confidential Is not recorded so can be confidential Here is the summary made by Kirk and Longer in their study of moving from traditional to virtual mentoring. Based on Kirk, J.J. & Olinger, J. (2003) From traditional to virtual mentoring,

Advantages and disadvantages exercise  What are the advantages and disadvantages of e-mentoring? Based on the previous slide and your own thinking here is an exercise to get you starting to think about the advantages and disadvantages of e-mentoring? Write down your answers

Example answers - Advantages Mentoring can be carried out despite the distance between the mentor and the client Don’t have to be in the same place at the same time Greater pool of mentors to match with More time to consider replies Can go back over conversations and re-read People sometimes find it easier to talk about difficult situations or to give feedback in email than face-to-face People who enjoy emails, often enjoy email mentoring Easy access to other information via hyperlinks etc Less time between communications Here are some answers that you may have thought of. Firstly with e-mentoring, the mentoring can be carried out without the need for travel for either party and despite the distance between the mentor and the client. This also means that they don’t have to be in the same place at the same time, so the client can write an email at one time and the mentor reply later when it is convenient for them. It is asynchronous communication. With e-mentoring there is potentially a much greater pool of mentors to choose from. The mentor and client do not have to be situated near each other. This also means that a client can choose from experts all over the world and very specialised in their own particular field. E-mails allow both mentor and client to take more time over replies and so allows for more considered thoughts on both sides. Linked to this is the fact that because e-mails are written then it is possible to go over conversations and look back on what has been said in the past. There are some people who find it easier to have more difficult conversations by email because they are distanced from the person Research has found that the person’s attitude to computers can have a big impact on their acceptance of e-mentoring. So those who enjoy e-mails and social networking are found to enjoy e-mentoring much more. E-mentoring does mean that each person can access information much more easily, through attachments, hyperlinks etc. With traditional mentoring meetings, they may take place, say once a month. With e-mentoring the time between communications can be far less. What other advantages did you find?

Example answers - Disadvantages Depends on computer literacy Requires access to computers Can’t see body language or hear changes in tone of voice Not so easy to help people with emotional and deep seated issues May be less easy to build rapport Needs frequent emails to maintain relationship Matching without seeing E-mail is recorded, so can be issues of confidentiality Training may not be so easy Some fairly obvious disadvantages are that the mentor and client need to be computer literate and have access to computers. This is increasingly less of a problem in organisations. The main disadvantage of e-mentoring is that neither party can see or hear each other and so miss on all the valuable information that brings to a relationship. This may lessen the richness of the communication and may make it less easy to build rapport. As we are 40 years plus into emails though, people have found some ways of compensating for this using things such as emoticons and the way they use language and matching style of writing and words etc. Some mentoring programs like to start with a face-to-face meeting and then e-mentoring, or having a combination throughout for this reason. It has been found that frequent e-mails are needed to maintain the relationship. Matching mentor and client may not be so easy, because the matching is usually solely based on written information. And finally training for clients and mentors may not be as easy because of the distance between them. E-mail is recorded and so can lead to issues of confidentiality, particularly in organisations that track e-mail for misuse etc. What other disadvantages did you think of? What ways of overcoming these disadvantages can you think of?

 E-mentoring exercise E-mentoring is an inferior method of mentoring and should only be used as a last resort. Discuss. How could face-to-face and e-mentoring be successfully combined? This exercise is to help you think carefully about the use of e-mentoring

References Bierema, L. L. & Hill, J. R. (2005) Virtual mentoring and HRD, Advances in Developing Human Resources 2005 7:556 Clutterbuck, D. (2004) Everyone needs a mentor, fourth edition. London, CIPD Kirk, J.J. & Olinger, J. (2003) From traditional to virtual mentoring, Washington, DC: Eric. Click to add notes

©University of Plymouth, 2010, some rights reserved This resource was created by the University of Plymouth, Learning from WOeRk project. This project is funded by HEFCE as part of the HEA/JISC OER release programme. This resource is licensed under the terms of the Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/). The resource, where specified below, contains other 3rd party materials under their own licenses. The licenses and attributions are outlined below: Slide 3: based on Bierema, L. L. & Hill, J. R. (2005) Virtual mentoring and HRD, Advances in Developing Human Resources 2005 7:556 Slide 5 : based on Kirk, J.J. & Olinger, J. (2003) From traditional to virtual mentoring, Washington, DC: Eric. The name of the University of Plymouth and its logos are unregistered trade marks of the University. The University reserves all rights to these items beyond their inclusion in these CC resources. The JISC logo, the and the logo of the Higher Education Academy are licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution -non-commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK England & Wales license. All reproductions must comply with the terms of that license. Author Jane Stubberfield Institute University of Plymouth Title What is mentoring Description Defining mentoring Date Created 06/06/2011 Educational Level 6 Keywords UKOER, Learning from WOeRK, LFWOERK, UOPCPDLM, Work-Based Learning, WBL, Continuous Professional Development, CPD, Mentoring, learning, development, coaching, training, advising ©University of Plymouth, 2010, some rights reserved Back page originally developed by the OER phase 1 C-Change project