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A Guide for Mentees and Mentors

What is a Mentor?
Benefits of Mentoring
Why Mentoring for Women?
Strategies for Creating Successful Mentoring Relationships
Additional Hints for Mentees and Mentors
Further Information
Readings on Mentoring

1. What is a Mentor?

A mentor is someone more skilled or experienced who offers advice, support, and guidance to facilitate the learning and development of a more junior or less experienced person. Mentoring relationships occur in all aspects of life but are often a key feature of the organisational life where more senior staff take on the role of being a role model, trusted adviser, coach, and teacher to their junior colleagues. In the work environment, mentors can play an important role in the career advancement of more junior staff by offering on-the-job support, career advice and access to networks and organisational knowledge (both formal and informal). Many successful people have had mentors help them along the way.

2. Benefits of Mentoring

Mentoring can benefit the mentee, the mentor and the organisation within which they work.

Benefits to mentees may include:

Developing new skills
Identifying areas for professional growth
More strategic career planning
Gaining or increasing knowledge of organisational culture, structure and processes
Access to new networks and contacts
Finding new ways to approach old problems
Increased confidence in abilities
Increased job satisfaction
Enhanced career opportunities

Benefits to mentors may include:

Developing skills in coaching, modelling, and listening
Enhanced self-esteem through recognition of professional abilities
Increasing organisational knowledge, especially from the viewpoint of the mentee
Developing and demonstrating management skills
Enhancing leadership skills
Gaining a sense of satisfaction in assisting a more junior colleague to develop
Increased job satisfaction
Enhancing interpersonal skills

The benefits to an organisation in which mentoring relationships are encouraged and supported include:

Retention and development of talented staff
Cost effective way of developing employees' skills
Developing potential leaders internally with good organizational knowledge
Utilisation and advancement of staff within the organisation
Increased productivity from staff who feel motivated and supported
Enhanced relations amongst staff

3. Why Mentoring for Women?

Historically, women have had less access to mentors and mentoring relationships. Research on women and mentoring suggests that this is because those senior enough to take on the mentoring role have traditionally been men and they have been more likely to choose younger men to mentor. Additionally, matches between senior men and junior female colleagues may not provide the sort of support needed as women often face different sorts of career issues to men (Quinlan, 1999).

4. Strategies for Creating Successful Mentoring Relationships

4.1 A Framework for Working Together

This guide recommends that the mentoring relationship primarily be one that focuses on developing the work skills and abilities of the mentee. While mentoring relationships sometimes involve psycho-social support, the main focus of the mentoring relationship should remain on enhancing the professional abilities of the mentee by providing on-the-job support and assistance with task-based activities such as developing a research proposal, updating a CV, applying for promotion, or learning about the organisation.

This guide also recommends that the relationship be 'mentee-driven'. That is, while all aspects of the mentoring relationship should be negotiated and agreed upon by the mentee and mentor, the mentees' developmental goals should be the guiding principle in negotiating a plan of action and the mentee should be the one to initiate meetings and contact between meetings.

4.2 Qualities of A Good Mentee or Mentor

Mentoring relationships work well when both the mentee and mentor bring to the relationship certain qualities.

Mentees achieve more when they are:

Interested in developing their careers
Able to take responsibility for their own development
Open to receiving feedback
Willing to accept challenges
Positive about change and growth
Able to set goals and work towards them
Committed to working through on-the-job issues
Hungry for greater organisational knowledge

Mentors are most effective when they are:

Committed to helping more junior colleagues develop their potential and skills
An effective listener
Willing to share their knowledge of the organisation
Patient and encouraging
Able to provide the mentee with contacts within the organisation
Able to provide feedback in a way that challenges and supports development

4.3 Clarifying the Goals of the Mentee

Mentees can prepare for the mentoring relationship by thinking about and identifying areas where they would like some assistance. Some suggestions are listed below

Understanding promotion criteria & procedures
Knowing & using organisational structures
Management and leadership issues
Conflict resolution
Financial management skills
Strategies as a member of committees
Chairing meetings
Communication skills
Balancing teaching, research and administration
Career planning and development
Preparing a resume/interviewing skills
Research skills
Grant application writing
Teaching skills
Policy analysis and development
Time management
Balancing work and family
Staff supervision

4.4 Working Out a Time Commitment

Both the mentee and mentor need to think about the time they have available for and are willing to devote to the mentoring relationship. This includes:

the length of the relationship (e.g. 3 months, 6 months, 1 year),
the frequency of meetings (e.g. every two weeks, monthly),
availability for other sorts of contact (e.g. phone and email)

The time you have available should be thought about before the first meeting with your mentee/mentor. It is at this meeting that you will negotiate and agree upon a time commitment that suits both of you.

4.5 The First Meeting

The first meeting is an important meeting where mentors and mentees get to know a bit about each other and negotiate the parameters for working together. It is vital at this stage to communicate to each other clearly and honestly.

Exchange information about background, careers, interests
Discuss each other's expectations about the mentoring relationship. Be as clear and specific as possible. If expectations don't match, negotiate a mutually agreeable plan
Discuss and agree on the time length of the relationship and an end date, the frequency and length of meetings, and the location of meeting
Discuss the issue of confidentiality
Begin a plan of action by discussing the mentee's goals. Very often, the initial needs expressed by mentees are general. It is important to spend adequate time discussing the issues together to clarify the work situation and the real needs of the mentee.

4.6 Subsequent Meetings

Subsequent meetings should occur as agreed between the mentee and mentor in their first meeting.

At the second meeting, a more detailed plan of action can be developed, where goals for the mentee can be broken down into specific tasks. Agree on the tasks for the mentee to complete by the next meeting.
At the third and subsequent meetings, the mentee should present the results of the set tasks.
Mentor and mentee should then discuss the progress made by the mentee (and include obstacles met in trying to achieve desired goals).
The mentor can then provide feedback and analysis of issues, and offer advice and guidance for future actions
The mentor and mentee then negotiate the next tasks to be undertaken and decide on the next meeting date

4.7 Winding Up

It is important to have a process in place for concluding the mentoring relationship even if it has only been one of short duration. Having worked together for a number of weeks, months or more and with the end date approaching, a final meeting should be set. This meeting marks the formal ending of the relationship and can be used to review the process and outcomes.

Mentor and mentee should discuss:

Were goals initially stated by the mentee achieved?
Were goals redefined during the mentoring relationship and were these new goals met?
What other outcomes were achieved during the relationship?
Was organisational knowledge of Monash increased?
Were problem-solving skills enhanced?
What professional gains were made by mentee and mentor
What personal gains were made by mentee and mentor
What aspects of the mentoring relationship did you appreciate?
What aspects did you find challenging?

5. Additional Hints for Mentees and Mentors

The length of the mentoring relationship should be decided on at the first meeting and there should be no expectation that it will continue longer than this time. However, should both parties wish to continue with the relationship, then new time frames should be discussed.

A record of the meetings should be kept by the mentee in order to aid memory and to provide the mentor and mentee with a record of progress and achievement, and to assist in monitoring the process.
It is important that both the mentor and the mentee keep the other informed of any planned periods of absence from the University, so that this can be considered in planning tasks and meetings.
Feedback works best if it occurs reasonably soon after a task is completed, as impressions are still fresh.
Some information concerning your mentor's/ mentee's workplace/profession may be confidential. Please respect this confidentiality and also understand that your mentor/mentee may not be able to disclose certain details.
Please seek permission/support from your supervisor to attend any mentoring-related activities during normal working hours.

6. Further Information

For further information, advice and support about mentoring, please contact the Coordinator, Women's Leadership and Advancement Scheme on 9905 6804 or Barbara.Dalton@adm.monash.edu.au.

7. Readings on Mentoring

Blake-Beard, S. D. (2001) Taking a hard look at formal mentoring programs: a consideration of potential challenges facing women. Journal of Management Development, 20 (4) pp 331-345.
Burke, R. J. & McKeen, C. a. (1990) Mentoring in organisations: implications for women. Journal of Business Ethics, 9, pp 317-32.
Carruthers, J. (1993) "The Principles and Practice of Mentoring" in The Return of the Mentor: Strategies for Workplace Learning, eds BJ Caldwell and E. Carter, Falmer, London.
Catalyst. (1993). Mentoring: A Guide to Corporate Programs and Practices. Catalyst, New York, NY.
Cullen, D & Luna, G. (1993) Women mentoring in academe: addressing the gender gap in further education. Gender and Education, 5(2), pp. 125-137.
Harnish, D. & Wild, L. A. (1994). Mentoring strategies for faculty development. Studies in Higher Education, 19(2) pp. 191-201.
National Staff Development Committee. (1996) A Guide to Mentoring. The Australian National Training Authority. Melbourne, Victoria.
NSW Ministry for the Status and Advancement of Women. (1994) Guidelines on Mentoring for Women. NSW Ministry for the Status and Advancement of Women. Woolloomooloo, NSW.
Quinlan, K. M. (1999) Enhancing mentoring and networking of junior academic women: what, why and how? Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 21 (1), pp 31-42.
Ragins, B. R. & Cotton, J. L. (1996) Jumping the hurdles: barriers to mentoring for women in organisations. Leadership & Organisation Development Journal, 17(3), pp 37-41.