1. Chapter 8: MENTORING “If you want one year of prosperity, grow grain.
If you want ten years of prosperity, grow trees.
If you want one hundred years of prosperity, grow people.”
Chinese proverb

2. Contents What Is Mentoring? Lifestyle Mentoring
Behaviour Change Theories
Stages and Strategies of the Mentoring Process

3. Introduction In this chapter, you will learn about the following:
The role of mentors in health and fitness
Practical applications of behaviour change theories
The steps in the lifestyle mentoring process
Supporting others

4. What is Mentoring?
“Mentorship is a fundamental form of human development where one person invests time, energy, and personal know-how in assisting the growth and ability of another person”

5. The Importance of Mentoring
To a young person:
Powerful tool in life-shaping
Boost to self-esteem
To a health and fitness client:
Gain in knowledge and strategies to make adjustments
Learning of self-motivation to continue
To a mentor:
Improved leadership and communication skills
Personal satisfaction
Experience to be included on a resume
Takes time and commitment; success is not guaranteed

6. Leaders versus Mentors
Share many similar characteristics
Leaders
Influence groups
Communicate effectively with groups and individuals
Choose from a variety of leadership styles
Mentors
Influence individuals
Excel in one-on-one situations
Often adopt a democratic style

7. Attributes of an Effective Mentor
Commitment to be involved with another for an extended period
Respect for individuals, and their abilities and choices
Ability to listen and accept different points of view
Ability to empathize with another person’s struggles
Ability to see solutions and opportunities as well as barriers
Flexibility and openness
Skill in motivating others

8. Examples of Mentoring Relationships
ADVISING – Advising is a simple form of mentorship. It is the backbone of the education and career planning process in secondary and postsecondary institutions. Students are connected with staff members who help them set and revise plans to achieve their long-term goals. Advisers provide career information and act as a sounding board and resource.
PEER COUNSELLING – In a peer counselling program, students selected on the basis of their interest, maturity, and interpersonal skills are trained in listening and mediation techniques. They advise their peers on personal problems, help them explore problem-solving techniques, and mediate disputes between other students.
JOB SHADOWING – A somewhat limited short-term form of mentoring is job shadowing. A student follows a selected adult for a day or two, learning about all aspects of a particular career.
Examples of Mentoring Relationships

9. COOPERATIVE EDUCATION – Co-operative education programs at the high school and postsecondary level involve semester-long placements in a job situation. The student’s immediate supervisor plays a major mentorship role, assisted by the staff member who monitors the program.
INTERNSHIPS – An intern is an advanced student undergoing supervised practical training. Internships are commonly part of professional preparation programs.
LIFESTYLE COACH/PERSONAL TRAINER – Personal trainers and lifestyle coaches are hired professionals trained to assist individuals with their fitness and lifestyle goals. Usually they meet with their clients on a regular basis (e.g., weekly), initially to gather information and lead goal setting, then to develop courses of action and to monitor progress, and finally to continue to create new fitness goals.

10. Lifestyle Mentoring
Lifestyle coaches and personal trainers guide clients in addressing the root causes of their poor health habits rather than simply prescribing exercises and providing dietary advice

11. Negative Impact Factors
Perceived and real barriers
Negative feelings about the desired behaviour
Lack of confidence in their ability to make changes
Unrealistic goals
Insufficient rewards for the behaviour change
Lack of a support system
Lapses from the desired behaviour
Misconceptions in the health, fitness, and nutrition fields
Lack of motivation
Being a victim of fad diets and fitness gimmicks

12. Underlying Principle People are capable of changing their behaviour
“You [CAN] teach an old dog new tricks”
Have client accept the concept that change is possible
Help client overcome resistance to change and pessimism

13. Behaviour Change Theories
The successful mentor is adept at employing a wide range of well-tested strategies that have proven effective in changing lifestyle behaviours

14. Transtheoretical Model: Stages of Readiness for Change
Behaviour change = five-stage process
Varying rate of a stage completion
Often moving back and forth
Final goal = new healthy habit acquired and committed to (maintenance)
Interventions tailored to match a person’s readiness or stage of change

15. Relapse Prevention Model
Helps the client to anticipate problems of adherence before they happen
Principles:
Identify high-risk situations
Develop appropriate solutions
Help people distinguish between a lapse and a relapse

16. Social Cognitive Theory
Self-efficacy
Belief in one’s power to act
Believe in own capability to perform the behaviour
Perceive an incentive to do so
Value the outcomes or consequences
Outcomes classified as having
Immediate benefits
Long-term benefits
Modelling
Learning from an example provided by mentor

17. Social Support Instrumental Informational Emotional Appraising Sources
Giving a nondriver a ride to an exercise class
Informational
Telling someone about a walking program in the neighbourhood
Emotional
Calling to see how someone is faring with a new walking program
Appraising
Providing feedback and reinforcement in learning a new skill
Sources
Family members, friends, neighbours, co-workers, etc.
Mentor provides support directly and facilitates development of a social support network

18. Health Belief Model
Person’s health-related behaviours depend on the person’s perception of four critical areas:
Severity of a potential illness
Susceptibility to that illness
Benefits of taking preventive action
Barriers to taking that action
Cues to action are important in eliciting
or maintaining behaviour
Don’t forget to call Karen to set up a time to go walking.

19. Ecological Approach Emphasizes the creation of supportive environments
Physical activity and better nutrition promoted by:
Providing facilities (e.g., bike paths, parks, playgrounds)
Offering incentives (e.g., free pedometers and instructional workshops)
Replacing junk food vending machines with healthy snacks

20. Stages and Strategies of the Mentoring Process
If the mentor is successful, the client should be prepared to proceed independently by the end of the mentoring relationship

21. Assignment Pairing of client and mentor Informally and spontaneously
Formal hiring process - matching
Formal hiring process - random

22. Introductory Meeting Make the client feel at ease
Nonthreatening environment
Welcoming body language
Telling a joke
Assure confidentiality in order to build trust
Set parameters regarding each person’s roles and responsibilities
Making contact with each other
Boundaries about the range of topics or issues to be dealt with
Answer any questions the client may have

23. Initial Assessments
Gain information about the client’s attitudes and behaviours
Structured interviews
Prepare ahead of time
Open-ended questions
Questionnaires
Several questionnaires are available
Individualize to your client
Journals
One-week record of the behaviour being focused on
Include feelings and facts
Administer physical fitness tests
Complete a nutrition evaluation program

24. Facilitating Goal Setting
Remember SMART
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
completed within a certain Time
Short-term goals
One month or less
Intermediate goals
Up to a year
Long-term goals
One to four years

25. Designing the Program Individualized Based on the initial assessments
Based on client’s goals
Reassessed and modified during the program

26. Maintenance: Build Self-Esteem
How people see themselves
Moulded by the reactions of others
Shaped by life experiences
Strongly affects:
Motivation
Learning
Performance
Personal relationships

27. Fostering a Positive Self-Image
As a mentor, show that you have a personal interest in your clients by doing the following:
· Call your clients by name. Greet them when passing in the hall. Don’t ignore them outside of the gym!
· Ask clients about themselves, their families and friends, and their outside interests.
· Point out successes in an especially warm way.
· Praise good effort and behaviour – not just good performance.
· Use nonverbal gestures of approval: thumbs up, high-fives.
· Encourage them after a mistake or failure.
· Listen attentively.
· Do not indicate that you are disinterested or bored while working with them.

28. Maintenance: Adopt a Positive Management Style
Emphasize self-responsibility
Allow own decisions and conclusions
Show confidence in their ability to take on and master challenges
Encourage questions, suggestions, and reflections

29. Maintenance: Foster Positive Thinking
Client has to share positive expectations of the program
Practicing self-fulfilling prophecy
Replacing negative thoughts with positive self-talk
Poster in the bedroom
Note on the fridge door
Card in a pocket or wallet
“If it is to be, it is up to me”
“Success comes in cans”

30. Maintenance: Employ Motivational Strategies
Need to know something about your clients and what they value
Achieve better health  lower total cholesterol levels
Lose weight the  weight shown on the scale
Improve overall fitness  work out longer without losing breath
Common motivations for physical activity include
Achievement
Affiliation
Sensation
Self-direction

31. Behaviour Modification
Modify small behaviours that make up a more complex behaviour
Break task into smaller segments
Behaviours that a re steps towards a final goal need reinforcement
Give rewards for partial accomplishment
Make incremental increases “shaping” towards the target goal

32. Challenges to Behaviour Modification
arise when new patterns of behaviours must
replace or compete with former patterns of
behaviours that are often:
satisfying
habitual
cued by the external environment

33. Principles behind Behaviour Modification
People will most likely engage in a desired behaviour if
they are rewarded for doing so
Rewards are most effective if they immediately follow the desired response
Behaviour that is not rewarded, or that is punished, is
less likely to be repeated.
Never assign laps or push-ups as punishment
Beneficial exercises may be associated with punishment and in turn ignored.

34. Maintenance: Offer Feedback
Feedback serves as a prime motivator and educational tool
Requires skill and talent:
Know what to look for
Good observation and listening skills
Use a proven format for giving the critique
The Feedback Sandwich
Give in a timely manner
More meaningful when immediate
Limit the number of suggestions to one or two
Use language the client understands
Ask the client to repeat your suggestions in own words

35. The Feedback Sandwich
Effective feedback begins with a positive statement. Find something to congratulate the client about. Follow up with information about the improvement or accomplishment that you chose to reward. Feedback that is always positive, without being informative, soon grows stale. Next is the constructive part of the feedback, a suggestion for improvement or correction. The final “slice” is again positive, a prediction for success.

36. Layer 1: Praise the client with a positive statement.
The Feedback Sandwich
Layer 2: Follow up with information about the improvement or accomplishment.
Layer 3: Provide a constructive suggestion for improvement or correction.
Layer 4: Offer another positive statement with a prediction for success.

37. Two examples:
“Way to go, Jeremy! You bent your elbows to exactly 90 degrees that time. If you keep your head in line with your spine, you’ll find the push-ups are even easier to do.”
That’s quite an improvement, Sally! Your dietary record shows you ate breakfast five days last week. You chose multigrain and whole wheat bagels, which are a great way to get good carbs. How about drinking a cup of milk or juice instead of or in addition to your coffee so that you get more nourishment and another food group in your meal? I think you will like the variety.

38. The First Layer of the Feedback Sandwich
1. That’s the best you’ve ever done!
2. You’re on the right track.
3. Sensational!
4. I knew you could do it.
5. Perfect!
6. Best yet.
7. You’ve mastered that.
8. You’ve got that down pat.
9. Superb!
10. Good thinking!
11. I’ve never seen anyone do it better.
12. I’m very proud of you.
13. Way to go.
14. Now you have the hang of it.
15. Congratulations, you got it right.
16. That’s quite an improvement.
17. Fantastic!
18. You’re learning fast.
19. You haven’t missed a thing.
20. I couldn’t have done it better myself.
21. Now that’s what I call a fine job.
22. Right on!
23. Terrific!
24. You outdid yourself today.
The First Layer of the Feedback Sandwich
24 Ways to Say “Good Job!”

39. Maintenance: Monitoring Lifestyle Changes
Keeping a diary or journal
Means to delve further into the client’s perceptions of the progress
Sample contents:
Personal reflections
Initial fitness test scores
Line graphs and colouring in bar graphs
Kilograms (or pounds) lost
Intake record

40. Maintenance: Parting Evaluation of what has transpired
Make plans that the client can carry out on his or her own
Goal should be to prepare the client to proceed independently