Mentoring & Career Development 10/15/12 Victoria A. Parker, Ed.M., D.B.A. Associate Professor, Health Policy & Management

Learning Objectives Understand the different functions that mentoring relationships play in career development Assess your mentoring needs and the adequacy of your developmental network Develop a plan for managing your developmental network

What is mentoring? Sharing knowledge, skills, information and perspective Fostering personal and/or professional growth of someone else

What is mentoring NOT? One-way only One-at-a-time only The only thing needed for career success

Mentoring dimensions Formal Informal Episodic Relational Hierarchical... Peer Functional.... Broad-based Career Psychosocial Dyadic Network

Mentoring functions Career ▫Sponsorship ▫Exposure & visibility ▫Coaching ▫Protection ▫Challenging assignments Psychosocial ▫Role modeling ▫Acceptance & confirmation ▫Counseling ▫Friendship

Mentor roles & responsibilities Clarity on time/effort boundaries Role model career and relational skills Empathic listening Maintain awareness of mutual benefits & risks Maintain self-awareness about attitudes towards this relationship

Mentee roles & responsibilities Actively manage the connection(s) Don’t expect it all from one person/mentor Ask clearly for what you need and consider if you are asking for the right thing from the right person Strive for mutuality when feasible Pay it forward…

Reflections from past program participants “I did not put enough thinking into how to work with my mentor… and didn’t set up regular meetings…it would have helped … scoping the project… then with setting deadlines” “there were different kinds of mentoring.. Peers one-on- one, small group meetings… amongst the other faculty in the small groups” “..it is a two way relationship wherein both the mentor and mentee need to be interested and committed” “worked for a number of reasons… mentor extremely organized… clear outline and deadlines, common interests, engagement…”

Building on your network map Identify an opportunity or challenge that you would like to pursue going forward. Given what you are trying to accomplish, how will your current network help you achieve your goal? What type of help is missing in your current network? How can your leverage your current network to enhance existing relationships and/or initiate new ones?

Sources K.E. Kram, Mentoring at work, University Press of America, 1988 B.R.Ragins & K.E.Kram, The Handbook of Mentoring at Work, Sage Publications, 2007