Mentoring Awareness Workshop File Name Mentoring Awareness Workshop Facilitated by Bob Garvey

Values and Mentoring What are your organisation’s values? How do they fit with your values? How do they fit with your view of mentoring? 2

Mentoring is... A learning relationship between two people. It requires trust, commitment and emotional engagement. It involves listening, questioning, challenge and support. It has a time scale.

A mentor is...? a) role model b) one who helps another learn and enhance their professional role c) a networker/facilitator d) a management supervisor who is responsible for the learner e) a colleague who works with the learner’s agenda, including the personal agenda f) an adviser

Mentoring questions Third party involvement? Several mentors? Time? Age difference? Gender difference? Race/cultural difference? Different experience? Different knowledge/skills? Different level?

Mentoring deals with……. Change and transition New situations Leadership development Time issues Performance, behaviour and attitudes Motivation and confidence issues Personal and people related issues Thoughts and feelings on a range of issues

Hands on – hands off 7. Help them think through their own ideas 6. Add options to their ideas 5. Advise them what to do 4. Tell them what to do 3. Show them how to do it 2. Do it with them 1. Do it for them

Practical Issues, Skills and Process

The First meeting One of the key elements of the first meeting is agreeing the ground rules Another issues is the need to begin, as well as continue, to establish rapport

The FIRST mentoring meeting – key areas to gain agreement about learner and mentor expectations of the relationship and the learning outcomes learner and mentor responsibility in terms of the relationship and others that may be involved in the outcomes of the mentoring program Issues of respect and valuing each other's perspectives The issue of confidentiality Boundaries of relationship

The first meeting – establishing rapport Another element crucial to the learning relationship from the outset is the building of rapport which is directly linked to the setting of ground rules There are five elements to establishing and maintaining rapport establishing trust getting to know each other the focus on common ground as well as differences setting ground rules for the relationship building mutual empathy

The First meeting – key areas to gain agreement about How, when and where future meetings will take place Issues of note-taking Mutual commitment and openness and honesty The giving/receiving of feedback How progress is to be reviewed and measured

Mentoring dimensions Open--------------------------------------Closed Public-------------------------------------Private Formal------------------------------------Informal Active-------------------------------------Passive Stable-------------------------------------Unstable All change through time

Three stage process Stage 1 Exploration Stage 2 Understanding Stage 3 Action

Three Stage Process Stage 1 - Exploration Strategies Take the lead Pay attention to the relationship Clarify aims and objectives Support and counsel Methods Listen Ask open questions Develop the agenda

The Three Stage Process Stage 2 - Understanding Strategies Support and counsel Give constructive feedback mentor and demonstrate skills Methods Listen and challenge Ask open and closed questions Recognise strengths Establish priorities Identify developmental needs Give information and advice Share experience and tell stories

The Three Stage Process Stage 3 - Action Strategies Examine options and consequences Attend to the relationship Develop an action plan Methods Encourage new ways of thinking Help to make decisions and solve problems Agree action plans Monitor progress and evaluate outcomes

Skills

Skills of mentoring 1. Open-Ended Questioning Ask questions that cannot be answered with a "yes," "no," or one-word response. Allow or encourage the mentee to elaborate on the situation. Example: Don't ask, "Do you like your new role?" Ask, "Tell me about your new role." Be careful when using "why" questions Encourage reflection on experience Seek to create new options or new understanding 19

Skills of mentoring 2. Maintaining Silence Give an individual time to think through the reply to a challenging question. Be patient...maintain self-control. Do not anticipate the other person's answer by pre-empting his/her reply. Do not interrupt! Maintain eye contact, remain open, demonstrate interest, and don't exhibit distracting mannerisms. Encourage the person to take his/her time. You need to be comfortable with silence. 20

Skills of mentoring 3. Active Listening Active listening uses two techniques: Respond to the deeper concerns & feelings of the mentee. Example: “You seem disappointed that you were not leading the project.” Put what the person said into your own words without changing the basic meaning. mentee: "I'm frustrated I don't have direct control over some of the people who deliver my work. It risks my evaluation." mentor: "You're concerned that you might be evaluated on the quality of work of people you don't manage.” Ask group why do this? (mentee often disagrees and elaborates further, without you guiding them) Shows you are listening, builds relationship. Improves clarity of thinking and prepares them for next step. NB summarizing often a good thing to do if you are stuck for what to do next… 21

Skills of mentoring 4. Restatement Restatement includes some simple interpretation of the situation. The purpose of restatement is to check out what you believe might be occurring for the individual. Example: mentee: "So far, I've been able to persuade supervisors to let me give their people feedback, but I may not always be able to do that." mentor: "You feel that the one element of control you have over these people is weak and you may not always be able to use it?” the one element of control you have over these people is weak - You could ask a question to check this instead. 22

Skills of mentoring 5. Summarizing Summarize the key aspects of the mentoring discussion. You can also get the mentee to summarize. Helps the mentee decide where to take the conversation next. Can use to conclude the discussion and focus on planning for the future. 6. Initiating Action Help the individual identify and select a goal from among the options they have generated. Agree next steps, key milestones. 23

Skills of mentoring 7. Observation You probably can’t see your mentee at work in their normal role. But you can give feedback on what you notice about them in the mentoring meeting. Example: mentor: “I see that you talk very quickly and I get the feeling that you are not listening fully to what I’m saying. Do you think your colleagues might have this impression?” Keep statement separate from judgement 24

Skills of mentoring 8. Giving advice What have you done already? What else could you do? Do you want a suggestion from me? Evaluate all options, not just the mentor’s suggestion. Remember the mentee knows more about their issue than you do. Mentoring is about helping mentees think for themselves. You can give advice, but wait, listen, do it at the end. Giving advice is easier for you than listening. 25

Advice

So what and what next? Between now an the next session try to get some mentoring practice… How might you do this? This will form the basis of the start of next time……