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The Key Questions for Developing
Effective Mentoring Programs
© 2008, Barry Sweeny
WHAT IS PRESENTED ON THIS WEB
PAGE?
What follows are all the major questions that
a mentoring program should answer if it wants to ensure that its
participants' performance improves and the desired results are
achieved as an outcome of the program.
Asking these questions provides a potential
structure for the process of program development. However,
ANSWERING these questions in ways which will ensure program
effectiveness is not so simple. It is a long, but rewarding process.
- First, you need the advice which research and
best practice provide when there is one right answer.
- Second, you need to select from those choices
which research and best practice suggest, but do not provide
one right answer.
- Third, you need to collect your own local program
data which will inform future evaluation and reconsideration
of these same questions.
- Fourth, you need to refine your conclusions
and develop your own local sense of best practices to guide
your own program.
Doing all of these is often more than a mentoring
program planning group can possible undertake alone. It just takes
so long to collect all the needed information and to synthesize
it to allow members to learn best practices when consensus does
exist and the various options when simple solutions do not exist.
That is why many mentoring programs choose to employ an expert
mentoring consultant (like the author). Simply stated, most mentoring
programs recognize the value of a mentor for THEMSELVES!
Since effective mentoring is a complex professional
practice, the programs that develop and support mentors and their
proteges could not be anything other than complex as well. That
is the case. In fact, to start, using this entire web site will
be necessary for any program to develop answers which are effective
and appropriate to the range of needs of your participants and setting.
Although such a task may seem daunting, consider this. All the
information and guidance you need to actually accomplish the four
tasks described above IS AVAILABLE here on this web site and through
work with Barry. You don't have to spend a lot of time researching
and hunting the web to find it. It's already collected and
in these two resources for you. That's because facilitating your
learning and success and that of your mentoring program is Barry's
goal. Let's begin.
INDEX to the Categories of the Questions:
The Key Questions
to Answer in Mentor Program Development
Mentor Program Leadership
- What Mentor Program Leadership, Advisory, or
Governance Group is needed?
- Do we need a formal, written governing agreement
for our mentoring program?
- If so, who should be the parties to this
agreement?
- What stake holders should be involved in designing
& governing the mentoring program?
- Mentors?
- Proteges?
- New but experienced employees?
- Managers (at what levels)
- Board members?
- Union or association leaders?
- Community members?
- University faculty?
- Retired employees?
- Others?
- In what ways can each stake holder group be
meaningfully involved in program design?
- Who will develop selection & matching criteria
and processes?
- Is a Mentor Program Leader needed?
- What are the roles and tasks of a mentor program
coordinator ?
Program Partners
- Should we develop and run the program by ourselves?
- Do we need partners from other organizations
to ensure our success?
- What partners might contribute to our program's
success?
- How might university preservice programs prepare
their students so their participastion in OUR mentor program
is more effective?
- How and at what point in the process can we
establish any needed partnerships?
- What would potential partners gain form our
partnerships?
The Program's Conceptual
Foundation
- How can we be sure that the mentoring program
is designed to professionally develop proteges to be effective
employees?
- What research-based model of human development
should we use as the basic structure for planning the mentoring
program?
- How would that same conceptual framework effect
program implementation, evaluation, or improvement?
- How would that same conceptual framework shape
the mentoring process?
Process for Program Design
& Development
- What process is best for developing an effective
mentoring program?
- Who should be involved in the program development
process?
- What research do we need for an effective program
development process?
- Do we need expert guidance during the process?
- If we need expert guidance for program development,
how do we locate and select the right expert?
Data-Based Planning
- What data do we have and need to get to effectively
plan?
- How do we use data to build an effective plan?
- How do we design a program to ensure that identified
needs are effectively addressed?
Program Approach
- For Whom Will the Mentoring Be Provided? (See
"The Participants" below)
- Novice employees just starting in their
careers?
- Experienced but new hires?
- Existing, high potential employees?
- Is informal mentoring enough, or do we need
Formal Mentoring?
- What are the pros and cons of Full or Part
Time Mentoring?
- What Should Be the Configuration of the Mentoring
Support? 1 to 1? Team?
Protege Needs Assessment
- What research is there on protege needs and
what does it tells us?
- What local research do we have or need to do
on our own proteges' needs, and what does it tells us?
- What is an effective yet feasible needs assessment
process?
- How do we use needs assessment data and research
for effective program planning?
- What needs are best addressed with training?
With mentoring? With other program strategies?
- What methods do mentors need to help
them assess and address the specific needs of their specific
protege?
Organizational Needs Assessment
- What organizational needs are there which are
appropriate for the mentoring program to address?
- What organizational needs are there which programs
other than mentoring should address?
- What calendar issues and events should be considered
when planning a mentoring program?
Other Contextual Issues
to Consider
- Do we have existing state or local mentoring
policies to consider & are these effective?
- What policies and practices are barriers to
mentoring and how can these be overcome?
- What operational changes need to be made in
our schools to make mentoring possible?
- Do we need to change the nature of new teachers'
initial assignments?
- Do mentors and proteges have ready access to
email and telephones?
- How will mentors interact with non participants
in the organization and others to ensure that proteges have
appropriate access to needed professional development opportunities
and support?
The Participants
- Which employees will receive mentoring?
- First time, young employees right out of
college?
- Novice employees entering from another
career?
- New to the organization?
- New to a grade, job level, or specific
assignment?
- New to a site, but experieced in the organization?
- New hires with previous, but not recent
experience?
- Persons in disadvantaged minorities?
- Underrepresented minoriities and women?
- Veterans who are experiencing difficulties?
- High potential junior managers?
- Managers selected for future executive
positions?
- Will participation in the mentoring program
be mandatory or voluntary?
- How long will a protege participate in a mentoring
program?
- What and who will determine how long a protege
should be mentored?
- Meeting a minimum a performance standard?
- Protege self-assessment?
- Mentor assessment & judgment of protege
need?
- Manager assessment of protege need?
- A fixed time line, such as a year? Two
years? Three years?
- Externally set time line for certification
or other compliance?
Program Purpose and
Goals
- What is the difference between purpose &
goals?
- Do we also need a mission and vision for the
mentoring program?
- What goals and results can our program realistically
expect to attain?
- What are the options for mentor program goals
that make the most sense for our employees and local needs as
an organization?
- Which combination of goals will address the
needs we have identified?
- Goal Permanence? Will our program's
goals be:
- Far-reaching and valid for a long time?
(requires foresight or psychic powers.)
- Shorter term (2-3 years) and expected to
change as the program evolves?
- If the latter choice,
- What changes do we expect to occur?
- What time line do we expect those changes
to follow?
- How can we ensure that decisions at
those later times are made in light of both our existing
goals & emerging, different goals?
- Are the different goals we have chosen for
the mentoring program complimentary or counter to each other?
- Do our mentor program goals compliment and
not conflict with the goals of other improvement efforts?
Program Structures &
Components
- What components for our mentor program are
necessary to accomplish our goals?
- What other support components besides mentoring
do proteges need?
- Can several program components address the
same goals to ensure the goals are met?
Program Implementation
- Should we implement the whole program design
at once or phase it in?
- How can we phase-in the implementation of a
complex program model to keep it managable and successful?
- What parts should be implemented first? Later?
- How can we get any needed initial funding to
support the program?
Time & Timing
- How frequently should mentoring activities
occur?
- What is the best way to provide time for mentoring?
- Will our mentors be full-time or will they
have other work duties, too?
- How can we estimate how much time is needed
to effectively mentor?
- Is there research about the impact of time
available for mentoring and it's impact on mentors' effectiveness?
- Should we and how could we measure how much
time mentors give to mentoring?
- How long will mentors serve?
- If the mentor is released from some or all
work duties to serve as a mentor, how will we facilitate a mentor's
eventual return to work full-time?
Roles & Tasks
- What's the difference between mentor charcteristics,
roles & tasks?
- Mentors
- Given our goals, what are the roles and
tasks that every mentor should ideally be able to fulfill?
- Which mentoring tasks are the same for
every protege?
- Which mentoring tasks are unique to different
people, or people with different levels of experience?
- Which mentoring tasks will most mentors
already know?
- Which tasks are not likely to already be
known?
- What check lists can be developed
(or found & adapted) that include typical mentoring
tasks?
- How can checklists be refined to focus
early mentoring on priorities, so proteges are not
overwhelmed?
- Proteges
- What do effective proteges need to be able
to do regarding the mentoring program?
- Supervisors
- What do effective supervisors of proteges
need to be able to do regarding the mentoring program?
- How should mentors and supervisors determine
which tasks each needs to play?
Recruitment of Mentors
- What relationship should there be among the
mentor recruitment, selection, and matching processes?
- What are the best methods for recruiting mentors?
- What must we do to attract the better candidates
for mentoring?
- Should we use incentives to attract mentors?
- Can mentors nominate themselves or should mentors
be chosen?
- Can retired temployees become mentors?
- What can we do if there are insufficient numbers
of people willing to be mentors?
- What job descriptions, applications, or contracts
do we need to use during recruitment?
Selection of Mentors
- Who can become a mentor?
- What are the pros and cons of the exclusive
or inclusive selection approaches?
- If the inclusive approach is best, how can
we ensure that only appropriate people serve as mentors?
- Can supervisors also be mentors?
- Is use of retired persons an effective mentoring
approach?
- Who has a valued view point on mentor skills
and should have input on selection?
- What selection criteria should we establish
to select mentors?
- How can the criteria reflect the program's
goals?
- How can the criteria be reasonable and
not burdensome, while setting a fair standard for acceptance
as a mentor?
- What selection process should we use to apply
the criteria?
- What process will ensure that we make fair
and appropriate decisions?
- What steps should the process include?
- What time line will the process need to
follow so it works with recruitment, hiring practices, mentor
training, etc.?
Matching Mentors &
Proteges
- What are appropriate criteria for matching
criteria?
- How important is close proximity to the mentor?
- Is it appropriate to match based on personality,
working, learning, or philosphical styles?
- What is an appropriate matching process?
- What time line for matching do we need to follow?
- Who should coordinate the matching process
& communication?
- Who has a valued view point on mentor skills
and should have input on mentor-protege matching?
- How many proteges can/should a mentor work
with at the same time?
- What proactive steps can be taken to avoid
mismatches?
- What should we do if a mismatch occurs?
Initial Training
- Mentor Training:
- What are the implications of mentor roles
and tasks for their training?
- What are the goals-outcomes for the mentor
training?
- How can we train every mentor so they can
successfully accomplish the program's goals?
- How should we train & assist mentors
in learning & mastering needed tasks?
- What mentoring strategies do most excellent
employees already know and what strategies will mentors
probably need to learn during training?
- When will the training take place and how
many times should we train each year?
- What should be the agenda, sequence and
length of training?
- Will mentors be required to participate
in the training?
- Should proteges attend any parts of the
mentoring training?
- What roles will other stake holders have
in the training?
- What will be the optimal way for mentors
to learn the skills they have not yet mastered?
- What employee already has the necessary
knowledge that could teach it to the mentors?
- What employee might already have the skills
that could model and teach the skills to mentors?
- If no employee has the needed knowledge
or skills, who does, and how can we arrange to learn it
from them?
- Should we learn to be effective trainers
from an outside mentoring expert rather than try to do it
ourselves?
- What effective, proven mentor training
materials are available which we might access to give us
a starting place?
- Protege Training
- What are the implications of protege roles
and tasks for their training?
- What are the goals-outcomes for the mentor
training?
- What needs assessment research and local
data have we to inform planning this training?
- What local needs assessment data do we
need to obtain and how will we obtain it?
- How should we train & assist proteges
to learn & master needed tasks?
- How should we train proteges to work effectively
with their mentors?
- What should be the agenda, sequence and
length of training?
- What employee already has the necessary
knowledge that could teach it to the proteges?
- What employee might already have the skills
that could model and teach the skills to proteges?
- What effective, proven proteges training
materials are available which we might access to give us
a starting place?
- Supervisor Training
- What are the implications of supervisor
roles and tasks for their training?
- What are the goals-outcomes for the supervisors'
training regarding the mentor program?
- What needs assessment research and local
data have we to inform planning this training?
- What local needs assessment data do we
need to obtain and how will we obtain it?
- How should we train & assist supervisors
to learn what they need?
- How should we train supervisors to work
effectively with the mentors?
- What mentoring skills do effective supervisors
need?
- What should be the agenda, sequence and
length of training?
- What supervisor already has the necessary
knowledge that could teach it to the supervisors?
- What supervisors might already have the
skills that could model and teach the skills to supervisors?
- What effective, proven supervisors training
materials are available which we might access to give us
a starting place?
On-Going Support &
Training
- What is the relationship between initial and
on-going training and follow up support?
- What on-going support activities and groups
are needed for effective mentoring?
- What on-going support activities and groups
are needed for proteges?
- What on-going support activities and groups
are needed for supervisors?
- What should be the balance between expert versus
peer support for each stake holder?
- How often should support groups meet for each
stake holder?
- What should be the goals of the support groups
for each constituent group?
- Mentoring of Mentors
- Why is the "Mentor of Mentors"
role needed?
- What is the support role of a Mentor Program
Coordinator as "Mentor of Mentors"?
- What is the actual process of mentoring
the mentors?
- What written program materials and handbooks
are needed for each stake holder group?
- What technological or other forms of support
should be developed and provided to each stake holder group?
Resources For Mentors
- What resources and expertise should be available
to mentors because they will need them as mentors?
- Ongoing counsel from others?
- a mentor program coordinator?
- higher education faculty?
- a mentor of mentors?
- other mentors?
- external mentoring expert?
- Office space?
- Phone? Email? Fax?
- Laptop computers and other equipment?
- Other resources?
The Mentor-Protege Relationship
- What are the critical factors in the M-P relationship?
- How can a program support development of an
effective M-P relationship
- What are the roles of participants in building
the M-P relationship?
- How can participants build trust into their
relationship?
- Exactly what does "confidential"
mean?
- How will we ensure that the mentor-protege
relationship remains confidential?
- How does the M-P relationship change over time?
How SHOULD it change?
- What should mentors do if proteges need to
change a key behavior and won't?
- What should mentors say or do with supervisors
if protege behaviors that MUST change but haven't?
Mentor-Protege Communication
- What strategies and skills do mentoring partners
need for effective communication?
- How can participants learn what they need to
maintain effective communications?
- What communication with supervisors is appropriate?
- What communication with a Mentor Program Leader
is appropriate?
- What communication is appropriate with non
mentor program colleagues?
The Developmental Mentoring
Process
- How long does the mentoring process take?
- What are the typical phases that proteges go
through as they gain experience and skill as employees?
- How long does each separate stage of the mentoring
process take?
- What are the parallels or overlaps between
the mentoring PROCESS and M-P RELATIONSHIP?
- Do the changes need mentor facilitation to
occur, or do they happen naturally?
- How will the focus of mentoring change during
the course of a protege's involvement in the program?
Mentoring Styles
- What different mentoring strategies will mentors
need at various times and points in the mentoring process?
- Do all mentors have all the tendencies needed
to be effective mentors at each stage of the process?
- How can mentoring styles be effectively assessed
and how is that data used?
- How can mentors predict where they will be
naturally strong and appropriate, because of their personality
and style of mentoring, and where they may not automatically
respond the best way?
- What are the implications for mentor training
of mentoring styles?
Incentives & Recognition
for Mentoring
- How does recognition fit with or compare to
incentives for mentoring?
- What is the link between motivation and incentives?
- Is it better to use extrinsic or intrinsic
motivators as mentoring incentives? What are the pros &
cons?
- What incentives will attract the best candidates
to serve as mentors?
- Modified/reduced work assignments and schedules?
- Leadership opportunities?
- Relicensure/recertification credit?
- Stipends?
- Other incentives?
- Should we provide a mentoring stipend or other
forms of incentives and recognition?
- In what other ways can mentors be compensated
for their additional work and participation?
- What amount of mentor choice is needed in any
incentives approach?
Evaluation of Program
Participants
- Should we, and if so, how and for what can
we appropriately hold Mentors accountable
- How can we ensure that mentors make a big
impact on protege performance?
- What can we do if mentors don't seem to
do their job like we think they should?
- Should, and if so, how and for what will mentors
be assessed?
- Should, and if so, how and for what will proteges
be assessed?
- Should, and if so, how and for what will the
mentor program coordinator be assessed?
- Who will be involved in making any mentor,
protege, or program coordinator assessment?
- What evidence will be needed to evaluate and
document the effectiveness of the participants?
Program Evaluation and Improvement
- Should the evaluation be formative to guide
improvement or summative to document impact?
- What evidence will be used to evaluate and
document the effectiveness of the program?
- What's the difference in evaluating for Quality
versus Effectiveness?
- What data can we collect to demonstrate we
are accomplishing our program's goals?
- How can we show the mentor program contributes
to OTHER improvement efforts?
- What BASE LINE data can we collect NOW to demonstrate
later on that desired results have occurred and even increased
with time?
- How can we capture and demonstrate the value
of mentoring when their conversations are confidential?
- How could we help decision makers understand
our program's value even if they have never experienced the
value of a mentor themselves?
- Who should be involved in evaluating and documenting
the mentoring program?
- An independent external program evaluator?
- Mentors?
- Proteges?
- Managers? At what level?
- Union leaders?
- Others?
- Do we need an expert evaluator or can we do
it ourselves. Should we do it ourselves?
Supporting and Sustaining
the Program Over Time
- How can we assemble the funding needed to support
and grow the program?
- How can we build support for the program with
key decision makers?
- How can we build support for the program with
others who are nonparticipants in mentoring?
- What are the program pitfalls that we need
to avoid to keep building a better program and how can we avoid
them?
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