Foundations Newsletter

This semester I’m supporting two colleagues who are new to being Course Team Leaders. It has made me wonder – does this kind of help count as ‘mentoring’?  So, I’ve taken a look at resources about mentoring from academia, business and sport sources to see what counts as mentoring, when mentoring is needed and what makes for a good mentoring relationship.

What is mentoring?

In Greek mythology, Mentor was an old friend of Odysseus who was placed in charge of Telemachus (Odysseus’ son) when Odysseus left for the Trojan War.  The goddess Athena also disguised herself as Mentor to advise Telemachus. In reference to this myth, the word ‘mentor’ was adopted in the 18^th century to mean someone who shares knowledge and wisdom with a less experienced person over a time-period.

These days mentoring is seen in a slightly different way.  Flexible approaches to mentoring have emerged in which no single person is expected to possess the expertise of many; we seek out multiple mentors and networks of mentors who can address a variety of career and personal development needs.   Instead of focusing on the long term, mentoring these days is something we access formally and informally, as and when we need it.

When is mentoring needed?

Naturally faculty who have newly joined the colleges and are trying to navigate the administrative complexities of the organization benefit from mentoring support. At Sharjah HCT this is organized by Chairs in the form of ‘buddies’.  However, mentoring is certainly not just for new colleagues and doesn’t have to be led by Chairs; we can all initiate mentoring when we need it.

Transitional stages are a particularly good time to seek out a mentor or offer yourself as a mentor.  In the dynamic environment of HCT, transitions are numerous, for example dealing with a change of circumstances at the college that effects teaching and learning, or taking on a new role within your team.

What makes a good mentoring relationship?

As mentoring is about human relationships, there’s no blueprint for perfect mentoring.   Here are some mentoring tips gleaned from the worlds of business, sport and academia that are worth adopting to build mutually-beneficial mentoring:

• Don’t think that you need to have just one mentor

For example, if you want to improve your ICT skills, your time-management and your cultural awareness then seek out mentors in each area.

• Clearly communicate your needs, ask specific questions and don’t expect the mentor to find all the answers for you

With specificity a mentor will feel confident to give advice in the specified area or they can recommend other resources/people to provide the appropriate expertise.

• Be realistic about the time involved

Mentoring adds to workload but it doesn’t have to be a lot of time – maybe just a catch up over coffee every few weeks. It is a good idea for both parties to be honest about how much time they will commit from the outset and how they would prefer to communicate.

• Understand that a mentor’s approach might not be right for you

When getting advice we can ask ourselves: ‘Does doing it that way suit who I am, my goals and values? How can learn from them and do it in my own way?’

• Make sure the benefits go both ways

Let a prospective mentor know what’s in it for him/her too. It could be an exchange of skills, feedback to support their Faculty Appraisal for the year; even a recommendation on Linked-In.

Rachel Scott

If you’re interesting in finding out more about how formal and informal mentoring is being done in other institutions, these links may be a good starting point:

• University of Massachusetts Amherst: http://www.umass.edu/ctfd/mentoring/downloads/Mutual%20Mentoring%20Guide%20Final%2011_20.pdf
• Mentoring in Academia: Who needs it?
• ·http://advance.tamu.edu/documents/Need_for_Mentoring_Submitted_to_SIOP.pdf
• Queensland University of Technology: http://eprints.qut.edu.au/17128/