Identity Crisis: Mentor Program or Connecting Activity?

All connecting activities are not mentoring activities, but all mentor activities require connection.

Recently, a Gallup Poll indicated a strong correlation between the satisfaction of a college degree and if a student had a mentor at the institution.

BOOM

Everyone is creating mentor programs. Well, they think they are.

Be sure to see the section below on “Institutional Commitment”. If there is no institutional commitment, we have connecting programs (and possibly chaos). Connecting activities are great, but they are not mentoring programs.

Here is the problem. Not every connecting activity is a mentoring activity, but every mentor activity requires a connection, at a deep level. It would be wise to not get mentoring activity and connecting activity confused. Too often, that is the case.

I was fortunate enough to be chosen for a Chancellors Leadership Academy experience. Part of that extensive 16-week experience was training about how to set up a mentorship program, how to be a good mentor, and how to be a good mentee. As we will discuss, each role has a definition and parameters.

Connecting activities are critical. Connect is the first word in my department’s mission statement and we take that very seriously. Mentorship is a critical activity. However, not every connecting activity is at a level to be called a mentorship activity.

Here is how to tell the difference between a mentoring program and a connecting activity:

Here is the difference between a connecting activity and a mentor program

Connecting Activities:

The low commitment between parties and short-term in nature are signs of a connecting activity. Informational interviews, networking, providing opportunities for people to connect through technology for a short-term one and done conversation or just to simply connect digitally are just a few valuable connecting activities. However, they are not mentoring activities.

• Creating experiences empowering groups of people to meet
• Connecting lots of people with the hopes of good things happening
• Networking
• Multiple short-term connections with multiple people hoping for longer-term opportunity

Mentor Programs:

High commitment between parties and longer term in nature are signs of a mentoring activity. Confidentiality, defined rules, defined expectations, defined roles, and a date the relationship is to be reviewed for continuation or conclusion are a few components of a mentor program.

• Relationships are developed
• Learning and development occurs for both parties
• Defined roles each party agrees to and understands
• Longer term, usually with a defined length
• Intentional matching process
• Labor intensive support needs from professionals trained in mentorship programs

 

Phases of Mentorship

My mentor program training included lessons from Lois Zachary and her book, The Mentor’s Guide. I recommend this book to anyone interested in being a mentor, a mentee, or starting a mentor program.

Zachary outlines the four phases of mentoring. Having an understanding of these phases helps create the best environment for a positive mentorship engagement. The phases include:

1. Preparing
2. Negotiating
3. Enabling
4. Closing

Just a little about each phase:

Preparing – exploring personal motivation (why mentor or mentee?), assessing skills and readiness to engage in mentoring activities (are we ready for the learning that will occur?), and verifying expectations from the mentor relationship.

Negotiating – This is time to discuss the business of mentoring. Process, timing, content, and learning goals are parameters set during this stage

Enabling – This is the longest phase as it is also the implementation phase. Trust building, good communication, and the empowerment of learning as well as being open to learning are important components of this phase

Closing – This phase actually spans the entire process. Having closing protocols in the mentoring agreement (preparing phase), anticipating obstacles along the way and negotiating how they will be handled (negotiating phase), and the end – ensuring that positive learning has occurred no matter the circumstances.

 

Roles

The role of the mentor

Mentor does not mean “Authority”. This is not a title game. Mentors are facilitators of learning. And yes, people other than faculty can facilitate learning. Faculty are great mentors. So are others. Facilitation of learning happens every day in the workplace.  A mentor creates and monitors the learning engagements and environment to empower the mentee to get the most out of the experience. There is much more to the role of the mentor, but not enough room in this blog to explore this in its entirety.

The role of the mentee

Mentee does not mean that someone will feed information and the information will be consumed. A mentee is an active partner in the learning process. They are involved in visioning their learning, planning engagements and are accountable to the process. The mentee drives the process.

 

Institutional Commitment

Everyone wants a mentor program, but few understand the institutional commitment required. What kind of institutional commitment? Well, the most important ingredient is not what you might think. It is not money, a directive from someone with position power, or even willingness from others.

The most important ingredient is the most difficult to foster, to grow, to lead. It is, however, the most powerful thing an organization has.

CULTURE.

There must be a plan to embed a culture of mentoring in the organization. See my post on creating workplace culture on this blog. There needs to be a strategic process which is intentional, getting the right people in the right seats on the bus before we even begin.

Then resources and directives are needed. Champions are needed. Someone accountable is needed. Then real mentoring can begin and be sustained.

Otherwise, we are throwing money and human resources at programs. Programs come and go. Mentoring is a culture element which sticks around through employee transition.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Mentor programs require a tremendous investment. The personal nature of the relationships, the training which needs to occur, the follow-up and follow-through require talented personnel and systems to properly execute experiences.

After all, that is what we are creating. Experiences. In higher ed, these are experiences for our students and alumni creating a cycle of service. One day mentees become mentors and the cycle begins again.

Much of what I wrote here comes from my experiences serving as a mentor through our professional associations, being mentored, and the training I received.

I encourage you to review Lois Zachary’s writings and workbooks about mentoring.

Good luck with your mentoring programs. Let us know what you think about the difference between mentor programs and connecting activities. We all would love to learn more from you.