The Mentoring
of Mentors (MoM) Process
© 2008 by Barry Sweeny
PAGE INDEX:
Half-time
Manager & Half-Time Mentor Program Coordinator
From 1988 to 1992 Barry Sweeny was the Coordinator
of the Mentor and Guide* Programs in a west suburban Chicago area
organization. During those years he worked in the morning in his
regular job and in the afternoons as the program coordinator.
This dual role had its positive side in
that he was challenged to implement in his own practice each day
the effective practices he advocated for others during each after
noon. Also, he was able to immediately implement in his work the
day-to-day professional growth and insights he experienced each
afternoon working with mentors and proteges. The half-time roles
also allowed him to try out the role of a staff developer without
completely leaving his regular job. He eventually did become a
full-time staff developer in 1992.
On the negative side, the two half-time
jobs often expanded into two full-time responsibilities. Also,
he had no secretarial assistance and often felt he aggravated
the department secretary who had to take mentor program messages
for him, etc. when he was not near a phone. He ended up getting
permission to clean out half of a storage room to make an office.
However, people never knew where to find him or how to communicate
with him. However, keep in mind the general lack of availability
of technology in 1988-92. What's available now days is quite a
bit more, and brother, e-mail access would have helped a lot then
too.
BARRY'S
JOB DESCRIPTION 1988-1992 - MENTOR PROGRAM COORDINATOR
THE MENTOR COORDINATOR / LEAD MENTOR WILL:
- 1. COORDINATE THE WORK OF THE MENTORS WITH
THEIR PROTEGES BY...
- INTERVIEWING NEW EMPLOYEES TO DISCUSS THE
MENTOR PROGRAM AND TO COLLECT INFORMATION TO FACILITATE
SELECTION & MATCHING WITH A MENTOR
- PLANNING, PUBLICISING AND CONDUCTING THE
"INTRODUCTION TO MENTORING" MEETING FOR THOSE
INTERESTED IN LEARNING ABOUT THE WORK OF THE MENTORS.
- PLANNING, CONDUCTING AND EVALUATING THE
MENTOR TRAINING SESSIONS
- MEETING INDIVIDUALLY WITH MENTORS TO MENTOR
THEM, GIVING THEM ON-GOING SUPPORT AND TRAINING AS NEEDED
- MEETING INDIVIDUALLY WITH PROTEGE SUPPORT
GROUPS TO MONITOR THE PROGRAM, DETERMINE ANY UNMET NEEDS,
AND MODIFY THE PROGRAM TO BETTER SUPPORT PROTEGES.
- 2. COORDINATE THE WORK OF THE MENTOR COMMITTEE
BY...
- CHAIRING & FACILITATING THE MENTOR
PROGRAM COMMITTEE
- FACILITATING & COORDINATING THE MENTOR
PROGRAM EVALUATION PROCESS
- INFORMING MENTOR CANDIDATES OF THE RESULTS
OF THE SELECTION PROCESS AND DISCUSSING RESULTS WITH THOSE
WHO WERE NOT SELECTED AS MENTORS
- 3. WORK AND COMMUNICATE WITH MANAGEMENT
BY...
- MEETING WITH MANAGERS TO FACILITATE MENTOR
MATCHING WITH PROTEGES. CONFER WITH THE DIRECTOR OF STAFF
DEVELOPMENT ON THE MATCHING PROCESS & RESULTS.
- COMMUNICATING WITH AND BUILDING ADDITIONAL
SUPPORT FOR MENTORING WITH STAFF, DEPARTMENTAL, SITE, AND
CORPORATE MANAGERS, THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS.
- REGULARLY CONSULTING WITH THE DIRECTOR
OF STAFF DEVELOPMENT TO REPORT ON THE PROGRESS OF THE MENTOR
PROGRAM. REPORT ANNUALLY IN WRITING ABOUT THE PROGRAM.
- 4. COORDINATE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE
MENTOR PROGRAM BY..
- PREPARING AND DISTRIBUTING PUBLICITY MATERIALS
DESCRIBING THE PROGRAM
- PREPARING & DISTRIBUTING MATERIALS FOR
USE IN THE IMPLEMENTATION AND MAINTENENCE OF THE MENTOR PROGRAM
- MAINTAINING RECORDS ON THE MENTOR PROGRAM
AND ITS PARTICIPANTS
- CONTINUALLY EVALUATING THE MENTOR PROGRAM,
SEEKING SUGGESTIONS FROM STAFF AND SUPERVISORS AND PREPARING
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENTS
- AT LEAST ANNUALLY, FORMALLY CONDUCTING A
PROGRAM EVALUATION PROCESS AND REPORTING IT'S RESULTS.
- USING PROGRAM EVALUATION RESULTS TO GUIDE
PROGRAM IMPROVEMENT PLANNING AND DOCUMENT IMPROVEMENT.
- CARRYING OUT THE POLICIES ESTABLISHED BY
THE MENTOR COMMITTEE, MANAGEMENT, AND THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
SO AS TO ENSURE THE PROGRAM FUNCTIONS ACCORDING TO THE BEST
PRACTICES OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT.
The Coordinator
Role as "Mentor of Mentors"
Once the initial mentor training was over, a large
part of Barry's role as Mentor Program Coordinator included supporting,
challenging, and "Mentoring the Mentors" (MoM). Basically
this was defined as supporting the mentors' professional growth
and continual improvement as employees and as mentors. The focus
of this supporting and challenging was 1-2 professional growth
goals that the mentors had developed from self-assessments done
during Barry's mentor trainings.
The assumption was that mentors have rarely ever
personally experienced the kind of "High Impact" mentoring
we were trying to get them to do. We felt that it was unfair to
ask mentors to "give others a gift they had never received
themselves". By mentoring the mentors, this problem was eliminated
and mentors knew exactly what great mentoring was. However, Barry
found he also had to teach mentors how to translate their personal
experience as his protege into practices they could do as mentors
with their own proteges. That is why part of the MoM role meant
continually modeling for mentors what the desired practices of
mentoring looked like and THEN asking mentors questions to get
them to reflect on their own application of those practices in
their work as mentors and as employees. See two sections below
for more information on this process.
In addition to the above-mentioned MoM conversation,
Barry recommends program leaders use several other strategies that
can all be categorized under the title...
Required Mentor-To-Program Communication
Options: Mentors were given their choice of 2-3 of
the following communication options to keep the Mentor Program
Coordinator informed of their work and to provide the structure
to maintain support for mentor professional growth. Each of these
activities were initiated by the mentor, if not already set at
a previous meeting between the mentor and the Program Coordinator.
- Email contact (a range of once a week to about
2-3 times a month)
- Telephone call (a range of once a month to
once a quarter)
- Personal conference using an "action research"
cycle to promote mentor growth (a range of once a quarter to
once a year)
- Dialogue Journal in which the mentor writes
about the mentor's experience on the left hand page and periodically
sends the journal to the coordinator. The coordinator writes
on the right hand page & returns the journal to the mentor.
(A range of once a quarter to three times a year.)
- Observation of the mentor at work and a conference,
such as while the mentor observes and confers with the protege.
This option requires the consent of the protege too. (A range
of twice a year to every quarter.)
The combination of these choices could shift to
create a balance suitable to the mentor's preferences. Examples
include:
- Mentor A - Email every month and a personal
conference each semester
- Mentor B - A phone call each month and the
dialog journal each quarter
- Mentor C - The dialog journal each quarter
and an observation and conference each semester
The
MoM Process - The Structure Used to Promote Mentor Growth
Each of the interactions described as a MoM conversation
above were essentially a coaching session for the mentor in that
the following steps were used (as appropriate) to promote reflection,
goal setting and professional development for the mentor:
1. Set some standard for quality
mentoring practice. (Barry did this in his initial mentor
training by defining the "ideal" mentoring roles and
tasks, mentor-protege relationship, and mentoring process.)
2. Identify the current level
of practice of the mentor. (Barry did this originally in
his initial mentor training by giving the mentors a self-assessment
for Tasks, Relationship, and "Mentoring Styles". This
info was updated each time there was a conversation with the mentor.)
3. Identify "areas for
growth" to improve mentoring practice. (Barry led mentors
to do this originally in his initial mentor training and the info
was updated each time there was a conversation with the mentor.)
4. Set goals for mentor
development. (Barry did this originally in his initial mentor
training and the info was updated each time there was a conversation
with the mentor.)
5. Create an action plan
to implement the goals. This included identifying the ways in
which the Mentor Program Coordinator could support the mentor's
growth, as well as possible roles for the protege, other peers,
the principal, etc. It also included the Communications Options
described above. (Barry did this originally in his initial mentor
training and the info was updated each time there was a conversation
with the mentor.)
6. Implement the action plan
and collect data and artifacts to promote reflection and allow
monitoring of activities and growth.
7. Periodic meetings or
conversation between the Mentor Program Coordinator and the mentor,
using the communication tools described above, to update the info
on the goals, reflect on artifacts and the data collected as evidence
of growth, modification of the action plan to improve progress,
etc.
The most critical steps of all were the
last two.
8. Debrief the seven steps
just described to promote the mentor's growth realization of learning
form the mentoring of mentors experience, and discussion of how
the mentor can facilitate the use of those same seven steps to
promote the protege's growth.
9. Discuss how effective mentors
use those same seven steps to promote his/her own growth
and improvement in his/her own job.
DEFINITIONS:
GUIDE: Orients and supports people in transition to a new assignment
or site which is similar to what they have already experienced,
such as, an experienced lab technician in a new department, an
experienced manager in a new facility, or a new hire but experienced
trainer in HR.
MENTOR: Orients, supports, guides, and develops people that are
in transition to an assignment with which they have no prior experience,
or who are preparing themselves for increased responsibility and
achievement, such as, new hires with a year or less experience
in their career, a worker who wants to become a supervisor, a
manager who wants to become an executive, or a struggling student
who wants to go to college.
PROTEGE: The person who works with and learns from a Guide or
Mentor.
|
