Mentoring
Those who seek mentoring, will rule the great expanse under heaven. Those who boast that they
are greater than others will fall short. Those who are willing to learn from others, become
greater. Those who are ego-involved, will be humbled and made small. - Shu Ching
Mentors are: “Advisors, people with career experience willing to share their knowledge;
supporters, people who give emotional and moral encouragement; tutors, people who
give specific feedback on one’s performance; masters, in the sense of employers to
whom one is apprenticed; sponsors, sources of information about, and aid in obtaining
opportunities; models of identity, of the kind of person one should be…- Zelditch, 1990
In Homer’s The Odyssey, Mentor was a trusted friend of Odysseus the King of Ithaca. Before
leaving for the Trojan Wars, Odysseus asked Mentor take charge of the royal household and raise
Telemachus, the king's young son. Mentor had to be a parent, teacher, role model, counselor,
trusted adviser, challenger, and encourager to the young Telemachus in order that he become a
wise and good ruler. Athena, Goddess of Wisdom, would sometimes assume the form of Mentor
to guard and teach Telemachus. At other times, took on her owl form to watch from a distance,
stepping in only when Telemachus needed to be rescued.
Mentor derives from the Indo-European root men-, meaning “to think” and probably meant
“advisor” in ancient Greek. Today, the word connotes not only the personal functions served by
Mentor, it also includes a career function. A career mentor helps to guide one's entry into the
profession and steer a course on the career path.
Preliminary Questions
for Mentors
• What kind of mentoring did you receive?
• What did you like about the mentoring you received?
• What did you dislike about your mentoring?
• How well did your mentors prepare you for your
career?
• How well did your mentors help progress through
your career?
• What did you not receive as a mentee that would
have been helpful to you?
for Mentee’s
• What are my objectives?
• What type of training do I desire?
• What are my strengths?
• What skills do I need to develop?
• What kinds of projects interest me?
• Do I want to work independently or
collaboratively?
• What type of career do I want to pursue?
The Basics of Good Mentoring Relationships
for Mentors
• Engage mentees in ongoing conversations
• Demystify the profession, organization, or
business
• Provide constructive and supportive feedback
• Provide encouragement and support
• Help foster networks
• Look out for your mentee’s interests
• Treat your mentee with respect
• Individualize and personalize your interactions
for Mentees
• Be efficient in interactions with your mentor
• Take yourself seriously
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Accept critiques in a professional manner
Be responsible
Demonstrate your commitment to the profession
Follow your mentor’s advice
Respect boundaries
Angela’s Mentoring Notes:
Key Points:
1) Mentoring is different than advising. It serves two major functions:
career
personal
2) Mentoring is all about communicating. If you don’t communicate, you can’t:
as a mentor, share your accumulated wisdom
as a mentee, learn anything from your mentor
3) Do not expect to get everything from a single mentor. While it is tempting to put
your first mentor on a pedestal as the ultimate role model, different mentors have
different strengths.
Collect mentors from all aspects of your professional life. You might think of it as
building a mentoring team, although you may be the only one who sees the group
that way. Most of you have two professional arenas in which you could find mentors:
university and industry. Your mentors may be industry professionals, professors
(UW, other places, retired faculty), graduate students, senior undergraduates, your
peers, and even non-engineers–each of which will offer you a different perspective.
4) Mentoring relationships are not static, expect yours to evolve. This seems to surprise
everyone! Expect the focus of the mentoring to alter and both roles to be redefined
as the relationship evolves. While it may be incredibly productive and smooth most
of the time, it might be awkward or even tense at others. Variability and change are
normal characteristics of mentoring relationships.
Researchers have identified 4 phases of mentoring (although, not all mentoring
relationships proceed in a linear fashion):
Initiation
potential mentoring pair get to know each other; each recognizes the potential of
the other; protégé comes to respect mentor and mentor recognizes protégé shows
promise.
Cultivation
Bulk of the mentoring “work”; lengthiest phase; each learns about the other’s
abilities; protégé learns and mentor advises, promotes, and protects.
Separation
Most dynamic and least expected; Tension may be most notable characteristic
because mentoring functions decrease and protégé acts more independently;
tension and stress are a normal and neither spells doom. “You have to make it
through the hard times to experience the exceptional rewards.”
Redefinition
Mentoring activities substantially reduced; relationship transforms into one
between colleagues; balance of power shifts, which permits mutual respect and
support.
This document was created by reference to material from the
following websites:
Information Please: On-Line Dictionary, Encyclopedia, Atlas & Almanac Reference
http://www.infoplease.com/index.html
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, 2000.
http://www.bartleby.com/61/
Center for Excellence in Academic Advising, Pennsylvania State University
http://www.psu.edu/dus/cfe/
University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Cooperative Extension
http://extension.unl.edu/mentoringhome.htm
University of Michigan, Rackham Graduate School
How to Mentor Graduate Students: A Guide for Faculty at a Diverse University
http://www.rackham.umich.edu/StudentInfo/Publications/FacultyMentoring/contents.html
How to Get the Mentoring You Want: A Guide for Graduate Students at a
Diverse University
http://www.rackham.umich.edu/StudentInfo/Publications/StudentMentoring/contents.html
References Cited
Zelditch, M.
1990 Mentor roles. Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Meeting of the Western
Association of Graduate Schools, Tempe, Arizona, 16-18 March, 1990,
p. 11.
Shu Ching quote from:
Huang, Chungliang Al and Jerry Lynch
1995 Mentoring: The Tao of Giving and Receiving Wisdom. Harper Collins,
San Francisco.
Compiled by Angela R. Linse, Center for Engineering Learning and Teaching, University
of Washington, Box 352180, Seattle, WA 98195