1. The Impact of Mentoring on Leadership Identity
Annelies Meulepas1, Koen Marichal1; Jesse Segers2
1Antwerp Management School, Belgium
2 University of Antwerp/Antwerp Management School, Belgium
The Future Leadership Initiative

2. 1. Introduction

3. Aim
Only one study that links mentoring with leadership development (Lester, Hannah, Harms, Vogelgesang, & Avolio, 2011)
Aim: Open and explorative research format to investigate the impact of mentoring on leadership development

4. Mentoring
Defenition
= a developmental relationship between a more experienced and a less experienced person (Kram, 1985)
Not necessarily direct supervisor/member of the organization
Mentor= an influential person, devoted to support and promote the mentee’s career using the own knowledge and experience
2 functions: personal & professional development
Wat terminologie uitklaren

5. Mentoring

6. Mentoring Important features Life cycle of 4 phases (1 – 5 years)
Formal vs. Informal mentoring
Informal mentoring => better results (Underhill, 2006)
Relationship quality & motivation as crucial factors

7. Leadership
Leadership is more than a role, leadership as a matter of identity (Day, Harrisson, & Halpin, 2009)
Self-image  static or one-dimensional
Possible selves (Ibarra,2010)
Identity issue, beyond skills and knowledge, identity as ‘’I’m a leader’ => profound effect on the way we think and behave
Parallel with talent, people has to see themselves as talented in a particular area/ domain
Various selves influence each other and evolve, like also mentioned in the presentation yesterday on liminality => possible selves and temporary selves (try outs, not fully obtained)
The degree and the way one sees oneself as a leader determines the leadership behaviour

8. 3 leadership identities
“personal dominance”
“influence”
“relational dialogue”
Personal dominance: view the personality of the leader is central, leader is the controlling factor, decides, has the reins
As influence: can also dominate, but is more inclusive, open to other viewpoints, can be influenced
As dialogue surpasses the previous one: within this idea everyone affects each other, leadership emerges in group, is a contribution to the whole
(Drath 2001 in Day et al., 2009)

9. Leadership development
Leader identity development = a social process
It is a relational category
With 3 aspects (DeRue & Ashford, 2010):
Personal internalization
Relational recognition
Collective empowerment
It’s a recognition of a particular identity by other people
Pers int: people see themselves at a certain point as a leader, they claim leadership
May or may not be recognized relationalley, only through recognition leadership becomes an reallty
Finally there has to be a moment of collective endorsement, the more people are seen as a leader, the stronger they will experience themselves as a leader

10. Developing versus learning
“Development of any system = purposeful simultaneous transformation toward higher levels of differentiation and integration.” (Gharajedaghi, 1999)
planned reflection
organized experience
feedback
support
Underlying dynamics of adult development and therefore identity development is one of differentiation and integration
One side you have learning: accumulation of experience, knowledge and skills allows more effcient and effective functioning at a particular level (integration)
Differentiation: desintegration of the frame of reference because of disrupting events and experiences (strong impact on own beliefs and ideas => creates anxiety and uncertainty
Only after a while bacj integrated in new paradigm => development (changes meaning of everything that people have learned)
(Robert Kegan, 2010)
(Daniel Day et al., 2011)

11. Leadership & mentoring
Mentoring’s potential to develop leadership identity:
By definition, mentoring relationship to develop the mentee, both professionally and personally
reflection, experiences, feedback and support as important ways to come to such development

12. Method

13. Research context
Formal mentoring program of a Flemish management association (vMA)
Open instructions

14. Data collection Semi-structured interviews Interview questions:
Concrete activities, change in leadership of the mentee, other specific effects, probable causes
Extra question mentors: impact on own learning experience and leadership vision
18 interviews (2 excluded)
To minimize bias: 2 interviewers, anonimity reassurance, setting, handwritten notes, common interview protocol
Limitations: cross sectional, small sample

15. Data analysis
Based on an inductive, grounded theory development process (Eisenhardt; 1989)
Iterative process => data - relevant literature - own emerging concepts
Focus on the ‘how’ and ‘why’
Independent analysis by 2 of the authors – 3th author as guard of objectivity
Comparing 10 cases through subsequent rounds of coding and analysis

16. Results

17. General findings
Overcoming the distance, both hiërarchical as content-wise
"... Of course you go there with a healthy dose of tension..." (YM6)
"A whole other world opened for me." (YM3)
The importance of matching
"...it clicked and that is really important ..." (YM2)
Self disclosure and trust
"Open atmosphere is very important, it seems evident, but nevertheless it’s crucial." (YM9)
"A very good relationship arised. Confidence, complete confidence, so I felt that I could discuss everything with him/her, that I could really trust him/her. "(WM4)

18. General findings Increased self-confidence of the mentees,…
"It has given me confidence. That's in my opinion the strength of the program. "(YM8)
…which made change possible
e.g. changes in their professional context
"I do not think he/she realizes that he/she really had an impact on my choice." (YM4)

19. General findings Mentors and their effects
 "... It was very refreshing, to get to talk with someone openly about “what are the fundamentals? What is it really all about?" (WM6)
“ It makes you think about yourself. Questions are asked concerning things you don’t really think consciously about.” (WM5)
Different level of reciprocity

20. Mentoring patterns the mentor as coach the mentor as advisor
Coach:structured focused and rather formal working method: certain rythm and preset duration, working questions or assignments, shared personal information intentionally, goal development
Advisor: more professional position, listening to questions and answering from own experience and expertise, focused meetings, well prepared and followed up, less personal with variation in degree of openess from very formal to more informal
Tour guide: exchanging experiences, open and equal point of view, thorough introduction, informal character considered of key importance (lunch together), dialogue with an open end
the mentor as tour guide

21. Leadership identity (Day et al. 2009) Effects mentee Effects mentor
Mentoringdynamic
Description
Leadership identity (Day et al. 2009)
Effects mentee
Effects mentor
Coach
Structured, focused en rather formal approach
Work questions or assignments and offering of experiences
Influencing
Rather developing: identity & awareness
To learn & possibly develop
Tour guide
Open and equal approach
Experience, informal contact as key elements
Relational dialogue
Advisor
Advisory and professional approach
Answering questions from their own perspective
Personal dominance
Rather learning: substantive results
To learn
Wat terminologie uitklaren

22. Other influencing factors
Preliminary motivation
Motivation letters mentees => corresponding the outcomes
Only one mismatch
Complementarity and leadership identities
Differences reported as factor of success
Advisory mentors: highlighting the similarity as important
=> learning quickly
Maturity of mentors

23. Discussion

24. Developed conceptual framework
Initial setting
Process
Outcomes +
Instrumental learning
Advisory +
Stronger leadership identity
Informal format + +
Overcoming Distance
Self-confidence + + + + + + + +
Relational quality
Positive match
Trust +
Open world + + + ++ +
Disclosure +
Tour guiding
More relational leadership scheme
Motivation +
Coaching +

25. Limitations and future research
Cross-sectional
Built on an existing program
Future research
Each link in previous framework
Possible hypotheses:
The orientation to lead of mentors defines their mentoring style
Mentors with a relational orientation to leadership are more effective in developing leadership identity
Mentors with a tour guiding style develop relations with a higher quality and therefore obtain overall higher outcomes
The right balance between distance and initial trust is needed as condition for an effective mentoring relation
Mentoring is effective for leadership identity development because of the initial hierarchical distance

26. Practical implications
Mentoring indeed a specific and valuable impact on leadership and identity development
General practical implications
Informal setting to enhance intrinsic motivation and trust building
Certain level of support
The importance of the matching process

27. Practical implications
Mentoring indeed a specific and valuable impact on leadership and identity development
Leadership development implications
Mentors’ leadership identity and mentoring style
Mentees preliminary motivation
‘Tour guiding’ style => strongest impact
Through exercising mentoring, the mentors reinforce their own leadership identity

28. Questions ?