Angela Barron McBride, PhD, RN, FAAN, FNAP

Distinguished Professor and University Dean Emerita

Indiana University School of Nursing

Goals for Webinar

Review the meaning of mentoring in 21st century

Discuss what we currently know about peer mentoring, and address questions that have surfaced in first year of peer- mentoring program

Decide on improvements that need to be made in peer-mentoring program

Overview of Presentation:

Mentoring—a historical perspective Mentoring—a 21st-century view Building a mentoring culture Peer mentoring

“…mentorship and sponsorship are essential for the integration of the scholarly role in the self…”

May, Meleis, & Winstead-Fry, 1982, p. 22

Mentoring

Mentoring refers to the broad range of developmental relationships whereby more experienced individuals work to promote the careers of less experienced individuals

Mentoring over the course of a career takes many forms—guiding, advising, facilitating, recommending, challenging, supporting, coaching, sponsoring, and so forth

A Historical Perspective

Many now-famous nurses were encouraged by mentors to develop professionally—Florence Nightingale, Linda Richards, Mary Adelaide Nutting, Annie Goodrich (Fields, 1991)

However, many nurses have traditionally thought “if I went through this, you should to”—an approach that is, to say the least, non-generative

Mentors often described in quasi-magical, perhaps even romantic, terms—the senior person sees in junior person self at a younger age and thereby wants to help individual blossom

Mentoring historically provided to men during their formative years (20-45), ending with BOOM—becoming one’s own man (Levinson et al., 1978)—after which you start serving as a mentor rather than needing one

Women and minorities disadvantaged because of prevailing belief that mentor and mentee needed to be alike, and dearth of women and minorities in senior positions

Historically, cross-gender mentoring complicated by romantic innuendo

Mentoring: Paradigm Shifts

20th Century 21st Century

A nicety

Prompted by mentor’s generosity of spirit

Instinctive kindness Top-down approach Mentor=like mentee Only one and one-to-one

Early in career

A professional responsibility

Expectation of organizational culture

Learned behavior Reciprocal relationship Mentor≠like mentee Multiple mentors and

many forms Throughout career

The Goal of Mentoring: Leadership Development

Benner’s From Novice to Expert confirmed that one is not fully developed at licensure

Formal education isn’t enough to help you get prepared to meet professional demands over the course of a career

You need mentoring whenever you are undergoing a major transition and moving into unfamiliar territory

Leadership implies full career development, not only achieving licensure and certification, but learning to be a preceptor, educator, committee chair, researcher, administrator, author, reviewer, board member and so forth

If nurses are going to exert inter-professional leadership, then having nurse mentors isn’t enough

Over the course of a career, you learn by mentoring others

Building A Mentoring Culture

The only way nurses will be able to exert the transformational leadership expected of them by the various IOM reports is to ensure that leadership is mentored at every career stage

The only way organizations will become the “learning communities” that they increasingly seek to be is through establishing a mentoring culture

Mentoring—valued and rewarded institutionally Mentoring—the key to successor preparation

In a mentoring culture, mentoring will take many formsPeer mentoring (Glass & Walter, 2000)Alumni/ae mentoringOne-to-one formal relationships, shaped by an

individual development plan (IDP)Committee mentoring, e.g., a small group of

senior faculty help a junior faculty member prepare for promotion/tenure

Nominating individuals for programs that provide leadership opportunities

Creating mentoring structures, e.g., orientation programs that extend over the first year rather than just the first few weeks, journal clubs, brown bag exchanges about teaching strategies, writing groups, programming on dossier preparation for tenure-probationary faculty, programming and socialization experiences geared to the particular concerns of minorities and men in nursing, university-wide programs for new department chairs and deans

Contracting for an external mentor (Mundt, 2001)Distance mentoring via e-mail, phone calls, skype

Beware the dangers of negative mentoring (Elby et al., 2000)Lack of interest/commitmentUnrealistic expectationsControlling behaviorsQueen Bee behaviors—inappropriate delegation;

using mentee’s labor/ideas for own purposes; taking inappropriate credit for mentee’s work

Personal-professional enmeshment Be aware of the role SES status may play in the

needs mentees have, e.g., not knowing how to dress for some occasions or dealing with the mysteries of cutlery

Understand that in mentoring others you do not lose but gain advantage—expanding your reputation beyond your personal abilities, creating threads of connection that can advance your work, ensuring your own staying power

Helping others achieve regional, national and/or international reputation is an undervalued part of mentoring; it is important to remember that the issue is less writing a letter of support to help an individual compete successfully for some honor and more getting the profession the recognition it deserves

Building an effective mentoring culture requires that all concerned know how to give criticism in an ego-enhancing fashion and how to take criticism as the key to professional growthBe specific and considerateThe focus of feedback should be on learning, as

opposed to correcting discrete performanceAvoid attributing poor performance to internal causes

that cannot be easily changedUse “and” more than “but” in linking two pointsAsk the person “If you had to do it all over again, what

would you do differently?”

Some Characteristics of A Good Mentor

Sets clear goals, building on an initial assessment

Schedules regular meetings (meeting only when there is a problem is problem solving not mentoring)

Encourages and models good communication Appreciates individual differences Facilitates networking Celebrates achievements

Some Characteristics of A Good Mentee

Is considerate Shows appreciation Doesn’t spend the rest of his or her

career assuming that helpfulness only goes in one direction

“Pays it forward” by mentoring others

Mentoring in RWJF Nurse Faculty Scholars Program

Primary mentoring—senior individual within school of nursing who helps the scholar understand how to be effective within culture of that university and college

Research mentoring—senior individual within home university, but preferably outside of nursing, who helps the scholar develop program of research and embed that nursing-generated problem within larger research context

National mentoring—senior nurse scientist not at home institution who helps person think larger thoughts (beyond confines of own university)

Peer mentoring—interactions within and across cohorts provide support and opportunities for engaging across institutional boundaries

Peer Mentoring

A developmental relationship with the clear purpose of supporting an individual to achieve her/his professional goals

Peer mentoring, not a substitute for faculty mentoring, but a complement

Teaches collegiality

Peer vs. Faculty Mentoring

Peer Mentoring Faculty Mentoring

Mentor is only slightly more senior/experienced

Horizontal relationship Results of relationship

not graded Emphasis on forging

scholarly identity

Mentor appreciably more senior/experienced

Hierarchical Output of relationship

formally evaluated Emphasis on set

outcomes

In your own experience, do these distinctions hold?

In what other ways does the peer mentor role differ from the BAGNC faculty mentor role?

Should the peer mentor and faculty mentor communicate with each other? If so, how? When?

What should one do if the mentee seeks advice about something that is in conflict with the BAGNC faculty member?

Benefits to Mentor Gains from the energy and enthusiasm

of the scholar Discussions with scholar may bring new

insights into some aspect of mentor’s research

It is personally and professionally gratifying to teach others what one has learned and to help them advance towards satisfying careers

Benefits to Mentee Offers the “been there and done that”

support that family members and friends don’t know how to give and faculty mentors may be too removed to give

Can help the individual problem solve without the inexperienced person having performance anxiety

Provides tips that can only be gained from experience, e.g., around time management and dealing with writer’s block

Components of Successful Peer Mentoring

Confidentiality Regular meetings Expectations specified on both sides, e.g.,

around professional development, emotional support, career planning, enhancement of personal awareness, skills building, a shared project

Success criteria Relationship can end without

recriminations if not good fit

How did you initiate the peer mentoring relationship?

What did you decide that your role as peer mentor should be?

Did the role evolve over time? How? What do you think the peer mentor’s role

should be after the formal peer mentoring period? Do you intend to stay in contact?

Learning from The First Year

How should we continue to match mentor with mentee?

Do you think that expectations and/or procedures should be formalized in some additional way for clarity’s sake?

Is program addressing what it was meant to tackle?