UCU Continuing Professional Development. Mentoring. A practical activity guide

Transcription

1 A practica activity guide

2 What is mentoring? TRADITIONAL MENTORING The idea of a mentor is an od one which has become popuar in the ast 20 years. In workpaces, more senior or experienced staff are offered mentoring training to enabe them to offer support to ess experienced coeagues. Typicay, the aims of the mentoring wi be to enabe the mentee or cient to gain a better understanding of the way an organisation operates or to gain new knowedge reevant to their work. Traditiona mentoring often happened in an ad-hoc way, for exampe, when a mentor identifies a promising new person and offers to support them. Mentor is: Mentor: Mentor reationship is: oder advises unequa more experienced supports hierarchica guide and champion teacher encourages a younger person heps them to earn schemes do not necessariy require the mentor to be more experienced or knowedgeabe. According to this view, the mentor s roe is to support and encourage a mentee through a time of change sponsor heps them to navigate in the workpace MODERN MENTORING Other mentoring schemes however do not necessariy require the mentor to be more experienced or knowedgeabe. According to this view, the mentor s roe is to support and encourage a mentee through a time of change. This encompasses the idea of peer mentoring when two or more peope mentor one another. Mentor is: Mentor: Mentor reationship is: someone who faciitates the persona growth and deveopment of another supportive not an expert who is expected to give advice. comparabe with a coach, abe to ask questions, isten, and signpost fosters deveopment asks questions, istens to the mentee, heps the mentee deveop options encourages refection and earning increases awareness identifies aternatives initiates action one-to-one between equas dynamic reciproca a process of engagement refective 2 JOIN YOUR UNION ONLINE: join.ucu.org.uk

3 Traditiona mentoring definitions An oder more experienced person who advises, supports and encourages a younger person Coin, A (1988) Industria & Commercia Training A reationship between a young adut and an oder, more experienced adut, that heps the younger individua earn and navigate in the adut word and the word of work Kram K (1988) at Work, New York: University Press of America A good enough mentor is a transitiona figure who invites and wecomes a young man into the adut word. He serves as guide, teacher and sponsor The protégé has the hope that soon he wi be abe to join or even surpass his mentor in the work they both vaue Levinson D et a (1978) The Seasons of a Man s Life, New York: Baantine Books A true mentor fosters the young adut s deveopment by nourishing the youthfu Dream and giving it her or his bessing, beieving in the young woman, heping her to define her newy emerging adut sef in its newy discovered adut word, and creating a space in which she can move towards a reasonaby satisfactory ife structure that contains the Dream Levinson D & Levinson J (1996) The Seasons of a Woman s Life New York: Baantine Books Modern mentoring definitions The one-to-one reationship that evoves through reasonaby distinct phases between the mentor and an adut earner Cohen N (1995) Adut Learners Maabar, Forida: Kreiger Pubishing Someone who provides an enabing reationship that faciitates another s persona growth and deveopment. The reationship is dynamic, reciproca, and can be emotionay intense. With such a reationship, the mentor assists with career deveopment and guides the mentee through the organisationa, socia and poitica networks Morton-Cooper A & Pamer A (1993) and Preceptorship 3, Oxford: Backwe Science A formaised process whereby a more knowedgeabe and experienced person actuates a supportive roe of overseeing and encouraging refection and earning within a ess experienced and knowedgeabe person, so as to faciitate that person s career and persona deveopment Roberts, A (2000) & Tutoring 8 (2)

4 A reationship between equas in which one or more of those invoved is enabed to - increase awareness - identify aternatives - initiate action to deveop themseves Hay J (1995) Transformationa : Creating Deveopmenta Aiances for Changing Organisationa Cutures, Watford: Sherwood Pubishing is a process of engagement successfu mentoring is a refective practice mentoring focuses on the earners, the earning process and the earning Zachary L (2000) The Mentor s Guide San Fransisco, CA: Jossey-Bass activity: practising asking questions Identify a rea issue or diemma reevant to your roe. It coud reate to a situation where you want to make a difference. It shoud be something which you are prepared to tak about. One of your coeagues wi be practising asking you questions, and the session wi be observed, so don t choose an issue which is highy persona the purpose of the exercise is to give everyone the chance to try out some key mentoring skis. You wi be asked to work in groups of three. In each group, take turns to fi the foowing roes: mentor cient or mentee observer You wi have the opportunity to swap around and try different roes. Each mentoring session wi ast no more than 10 minutes, foowed by short feedback to the mentor from the observer. MENTOR ROLE Your roe is to get the mentee taking about a rea issue which they have identified, with a view to encouraging them towards an outcome. You shoud avoid offering advice. You shoud start by asking questions and istening, summarise reguary, and then encourage the mentee to reach a decision about their next steps, using chaenging questions. OBSERVER ROLE Your roe wi be to isten, observe, and practice giving feedback based on what you have seen and heard to the mentor, immediatey foowing the session you have observed. At the end of the three sessions, as a group agree the feedback you wish to share with the whoe group about what you have earnt (not about the detais of any session). Be prepared to report back. 4

5 References Brockbank and McGi (2007) Faciitating Refective Learning Through & Coaching Argryis and Schon, (1996), Organizationa Learning II: Theory, Method and Practice, Cohen N (1995) Adut Learners Coin, A (1988) Hedberg, B. (1981). In P. Nystrom Handbook of Organizationa Design Morton-Cooper A & Pamer A (1993) and Preceptorship Kram K (1988) at Work Levinson D et a (1978) The Seasons of a Man s Life Roberts, A (2000) Revisited Senge, P (1990) The Fifth Discipine: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization Zachary L (2000) The Mentor s Guide Buid the Union: Want to get more invoved in your union? Visit btu.web.ucu.org.uk 5