Mentoring, Coaching & Buddy System Understanding Mentoring & Coaching w Mentoring is widely recognized today as an extremely beneficial career development tool. w Studies have shown that having a mentor is a top factor affecting a mentee’s success, career satisfaction, and whether they stay with an organization. w Mentoring for students increases [a] the likelihood of success and [b] the level of achievement. w We’ll talk about … F What is mentoring? What is it not? what does the mentoring process strive to achieve? F Reasonable and unreasonable expectations for both mentee and mentor F How does this process work? F How do we know whether we are successful? >>> or since this is a gradated, rather than binary, assessment, how do we assign success measures?

Origin of the word Mentor It has originated from Greek mythology Odysseus who was fighting the Torjan war had appointed “mentor”, who was his friend to groom his son ‘Telemachas’ into a future king and warrior.

organization / fresher Role Definition ... Protege career success Junior member of organization / fresher Mentor shares values & career counselling w The ultimate metric is that the student progresses into a high level of career success. w But that is somewhat removed into the future. At a nearer term, we look for the students to graduate from their selected SMET program. w Even that is in the future for students earlier in their college careers; so, a more pragmatic measure is that the student continues in his or her SMET program. w For the mentor, the reward is the personal and professional satisfaction of contributing something valuable to the profession and to society. satisfaction

What is Mentoring is all about? The mentoring partnership is an agreement between two people sharing experiences and expertise to help with personal and professional growth.

“Mentoring is …”? an unstructured association between an experienced person and one less experienced that assists the junior person in extracting more value from experience “mentor” >>> an experienced, thoughtful, caring person who passes on lessons of experience to someone less experienced w a common definition of mentoring: process whereby hard-earned wisdom is passed on w a non-structured process >>> with guidelines, rather than rules

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN A MENTOR AND A PROTEGE PHASE DEFINITION TURNINGPOINT INITIATION Six month to a year Fantasies become concrete expectation CULTIVATION Period of two to five years Opportunities and relationship becomes more meaningful . SEPERATION - Significant change in the relationship - Emotional experience in the relationship Wants to put learning into practice RE-DEFINITION In definite period after the separation Stresses of separation diminish and new relationships are formed Plz read the notes for the explanation of the above

Why mentoring? full opportunity to access the exciting and fulfilling career spectrum available more informed decisions more confidence in decisions made fewer catastrophic mistakes w These are are highly responsible professions -- often impacting the lives of thousands of people. w Thus, SMET education is demanding, and students are held to the highest standards. w SMET is not for the faint-of-heart. w Just about everyone who goes through this process encounters doubts and uncertainty form time-to-time >>> why am I doing this to myself? w With a good mentor, there will be … F more informed decisions F more confidence in decisions that are made F fewer catastrophic mistakes F better shot at a full opportunity for the students to learn of the vast spectrum of exciting and fulfilling career opportunities -- and to position themselves for achievement

What Does It Take to Be a Mentor? Desire Time Reality check Individual career development plan Most importantly, mentors need to have the desire to share what they have learned during their careers with their partner (the mentee). Mentors must be willing to spend time with the mentee to develop a good working relationship that is trusting and honest. Nothing worthwhile is ever free. How much time does it take? >>> How much time does it take to be a friend? Good mentors will offer a “reality check” when necessary. It takes time and experience to develop an unerring sense of what is realistic -- in terms of, say, how many credits are enough; how much time is needed for “x”. In a career position, the mentor would help the mentee to develop an Individual Career Development Plan. In an undergraduate academic setting, such a plan is likely to be less formal. The gist here is for the student to understand and appreciate the short term actions that lead to a long term goal. >>> Why do I take calculus? Or thermodynamics? Or statistics?

FUNCTIONS OF A MENTOR Coaching Role modeling Counseling Friendship Exposure and visibility

What Does the Mentor Get Out of It? Pass on successes Practice interpersonal & management skills Become recognized Expand their horizons Gain more than the protege does Mentors get a chance to pass on their successes, which can give great personal satisfaction. Mentors get an opportunity to practice their interpersonal and management skills on an ongoing basis >>> which can help the mentor to refinehis or her career skills. Mentors often become recognized as positive role models and are sometimes sought out by others. Many mentors find that being in a mentoring partnership helps them expand their own horizons and keep them in touch with what’s going on at other levels of the organization. Mentors often insist that they gain more from the mentoring partnership than their mentee does. >>> There is something to be said for “psychic income”.

Mentor in the Corporate World It is a relationship where an experienced person assists the junior level employees to become potential managers of tomorrow The mentor also facilitates career development and psycho-social development by providing a vehicle for accomplishing the development task

What Are the Protege’s Responsibilities? Willing to learn Able to accept feedback Willing to “stretch” Able to identify goals Mentees must be willing to learn. They must be able to accept constructive feedback. Mentees must be willing to “stretch” to try new things and take risks. Many say they achieved success because someone encouraged them to aim higher. I can personally attest to this aspect. I would never have gone to graduate school had it not been for a mentor (in this case, my upper division advisor) who insisted that I had the capability to succeed in post-graduate engineering study. That action altered my entire career path -- for which I am eternally thankful. They must be able to learn to identify short term and long range goals -- and to accept that those goals may change.

What Does the Protege Get Out of It? Listening ear Valuable direction Gaps filled in Doors opened Different perspective Every one of us is ultimately responsible for our own career. For students, … it is your career; it is your life; it is your education; you must be in command! However, it can help tremendously to have someone to talk with who can provide a listening ear and share what they’ve learned about how to succeed -- organization, perspective, proportion, self-discipline, learning. Every now and again, it is more than just helpful. Mentors can provide valuable direction and clarification at times when the mentee “can’t see the forest for the trees.” Mentors can help the mentee figure out what they need to do to fill in the gaps between where they are now and where they want to be in the future. Mentors can sometimes serve as “direction pointers” -- e.g., where does one find out what is it like to be a (fill in the blanks about a career choice). The most valuable and important assets mentors contribute are a listening ear and a more developed perspective.

An approach to management - how. one An approach to management - how one carries out the role of being a manager. Is a set of skills for managing employee performance to deliver results Is a person to person technique – takes place informally

To develop individual knowledge, skills & attitudes Is a skill of facilitating the learning, the development & performance of another person

Your Aims as a Coach – A directive approach Provide guidance on how to carry out specific tasks – towards learning Help people become aware of how well they are doing and what they need to learn Use whatever situations arise as learning opportunities

The Coaching Sequence Identify areas of knowledge, skills or capabilities where learning needs to take place Ensure that the person accepts the need to learn Discuss with the person what needs to be learnt & the best way to undertake learning Get the person to manage their own learning Provide encouragement & advice Provide specific guidance when required Agree how progress should be monitored & reviewed

The GROW Model G – Goals = agree on coaching aims R – Reality = address real issues O – Options = identify & evaluate approaches available W – Will = help person to work out how learning will be applied

MENTORING, COACHING & BUDDY SYSTEM Highlighting their Salient Features & Differences

Relationship to Learner MENTOR COACH BUDDY Private, Individual Private or Public Individual or Group Partly Private but some aspects can be Public. E.g. paper work

Relationship to Learner’s Manager MENTOR COACH BUDDY Line Manager cannot be the mentor The line manager can be the coach Line manager normally appoints B. from amongst his / her own team

Contact with Learner MENTOR COACH BUDDY Intermittent, medium to long term. Can be very short term as well as medium to long term Short term & frequent during induction period. May take considerable time.

Main Agenda MENTOR COACH BUDDY Context within which Learner’s work is done i.e. help person plan & decide the future Content of work to improve job performance Build confidence of learner, e.g. know their way around, who does what

Proximity MENTOR COACH BUDDY Need not always involve face to face contact Difficult to achieve without face to face contact. Must be face to face, the two people should ideally work in close proximity

Outcomes MENTOR COACH BUDDY Persons better prepared to progress their own Development & Career Improved job performance Person has completed induction successfully

Choose two very different approaches that a manager could use for the following scenarios. Indicate which approach you would use: Staff telephone bills are too expensive for the second month in row and you mentioned it last month. Michael is not being proactive about his new assignment. You believe that he should be doing better regarding his attitude and his productivity. You need to address the fact that a department continuously submits incorrect paper work to your office.

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