Success through Mentoring: A Workshop on Mentoring Research and Practice
In collaboration with the SACNAS National Conference: Science for America's Future

September 29, 2005
Colorado Convention Center
Denver, Colorado
http://www.mentornet.net/workshops/sacnas.aspx

The following report provides a synopsis of presentations at the event, "Success through Mentoring: A Workshop on Mentoring Research and Practice," sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Texas Instruments, the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), Affymetrix, 3M,and Intel.

The workshop was held on September 29, 2005 at the Denver Convention Center, at the start of the 2005 SACNAS annual meeting. This date was selected to maximize the participation of people interested in mentoring and diversity, to coincide with MentorNet's expansion of its original focus from women in engineering and science to diversity in engineering and science. Furthermore, MentorNet and SACNAS signed a Memorandum of Understanding, expanding the reach of both organizations and allowing SACNAS students to participate in MentorNet's One-on-One programs.

The workshop web site includes a short summary of the workshop, information about and comments from attendees, photographs, and information from each speaker (a summary of talks, background information, biographies, and presentations). Audio recordings are also available on request from info@mentornet.net.

Welcome, Overview, and Acknowledgements
Carol B. Muller, Founder and CEO, MentorNet

To begin the workshop, Dr. Carol Muller welcomed all participants and special guests, thanked the sponsors and workshop organizers, and provided an overview for the day ahead. She explained the goal of making the workshop as interactive as possible, with each speaker sharing key points from their experience with mentoring in practice and theory. After each speaker, a "buzz" session was provided so audience members would have time to discuss the presentation and their own experiences. A question and answer session (Q&A) for each speaker followed the buzz sessions. Dr. Muller had the audience practice a buzz session, which was an immediate success.

Dr. Muller then shared some findings from the pre-workshop questionnaire sent to all registered attendees as a means of determining what types of information should be covered by the workshop. The responses indicated that participants were specifically interested in mentoring and retaining for diversity, constructing effective mentoring programs, how to be a more effective mentor, how MentorNet benefits students, and resources to set up an effective mentoring program.

Finally, she explained that there would be a post-workshop questionnaire as part of the evaluation required by the National Science Foundation (NSF). She pointed out that the full biographies of the speakers were in the attendees' packets, so the speakers' introductions would be brief.

Dr. Muller served as the moderator for the workshop, introducing each speaker and providing guidance for the buzz sessions and question and answer (Q&A) sessions.

Best Practices and Findings from the Field: Excellence in Mentoring from Both Individual and Organizational Perspectives
Lois J. Zachary, President of Leadership Development Services

Dr. Lois Zachary's talk on best practices started with an emphasis on the importance of mentoring to the institutions of today - that is, there is a recognized need for workforce development, and mentoring is a means to address several issues, including increasing diversity, managing knowledge, developing employees' talents, retaining next-generation leaders, improving leadership skills ("managing up"), and helping to reach long-term institutional goals.

The concept of mentoring has changed over the years. It began as a top-down means of providing information and guidance, but today it is very learner-centered, changing from mentor-directed to self-directed learning for the protégé. Protégés have changed from passive receivers to active learners, and mentors have changed from authority figures to facilitators. Dr. Zachary explained that the core, or centerpiece, of mentoring includes relationship building and learning, and that there are no quick fixes. It is necessary for relationships to grow over time and to include learned experiences; then the real value comes from applying what one has learned.

After describing the need for and current approach to mentoring, Dr. Zachary pointed out that from an individual perspective, we must challenge ourselves to be discriminating, carefully considering our own goals as a mentor or protégé. It is important to find a good match and a source of appropriate information to meet one's needs, interests, abilities, and availability for mentoring.

She further pointed out the relevance of each mentor and protégé's life experience, saying, "We bring what we are to what we do." This helped to illustrate a point about the importance of sharing experiences and getting to know one another in a mentoring relationship. She commented that, "You can't just sit down and say, ‘it's 10 o'clock, it's time to do mentoring.' Mentoring relationships take time to develop."

While presenting information on the development of a mentoring relationship, Dr. Zachary said that learning is the primary purpose, process, and product of mentoring, and she described the importance of getting off to a good start, including establishing goals, discussing how to deal with stumbling blocks, describing the responsibilities and accountability for both parties, and defining expectations. Another important factor is the need to share your self - she pointed out that in today's busy world, we don't do enough of this, and yet it strengthens relationships, providing unique perspectives and insights. She commented that it is important to set high standards for mentoring excellence, and to express your interest in maintaining those standards.

Dr. Zachary discussed what it takes to be an effective mentor, providing a criteria checklist that included experience, expertise, personality, accessibility, availability, professional interest, professional affiliation, background, gender, ethnicity, and culture - all valuable considerations. She suggested that mentors should "offer a road map to success, but don' t make it the road map to success" – that is, mentors should provide examples of the means for success, but not a prescribed plan.

Returning to the original topic of organizations and mentoring, Dr. Zachary strongly endorsed the view that mentoring needs to be embedded in the culture of the organization, as opposed to having a mentoring program. The role of organizational leaders in the establishment of a mentoring culture is critical to its success - if it is incorporated within a culture, mentoring can "lift up an entire organization." It should be part of the infrastructure, and allocated resources accordingly. She suggested a mentoring culture audit as a first step. Dr. Zachary cautioned that without establishing a mentoring culture, shifting priorities or personnel could adversely impact mentoring within an organization.

She went on to list the hallmarks of a mentoring culture, which include alignment, accountability, communication, value and visibility, demand, multiple mentoring opportunities (informal, formal), education, training, and safety nets. When discussing informal and formal mentoring, Dr. Zachary commented, "People who need mentoring the most do not get informally mentored." That is, informal mentoring often occurs within well-established networks. It is important to recognize and provide more formal mentoring to ensure the success of every member of an organization.

In closing, Dr. Zachary reiterated the need for audience members to 1) make sure the mentoring program for their respective organizations match that institution's needs and resources, 2) consider how to leverage people and processes within the organization, and 3) maintain excellence for mentoring, including setting high standards and providing visibility for success.

During the Q&A session for Dr. Zachary, the following points were made:

• Start where you will have the most success.
• Mentoring can get cut if funding is short. To combat this, make sure mentoring is a critical part of the culture.
• Going through HR can be the death knell - make sure mentoring programs have the full support of the institution's leadership.
• You may have a development team for mentoring programs, but you also need an implementation team to make sure the program continues.
• Your program's safety net can be a team of mentoring coaches and supporters.
• Include a strategic communication plan to "sell" the mentoring program within your organization.
• Hold people accountable for keeping the program on track, and "shout out" your successes.
• Be accountable to yourself…have a personal "Board of Directors" for your own mentoring needs.

Components of Effective Mentoring Programs
Carol B. Muller, Founder and CEO, MentorNet

Dr. Carol Muller began her presentation by quoting Barbara Lazarus of Carnegie-Mellon University, who once said, "Prescribing mentoring is kind of like prescribing friendship." Dr. Muller provided her perspective, saying, "I think what that comment does is give us insight that when we are trying to capture the benefits of a process that's age old and is naturally occurring, and is clearly very effective and very instrumental in accomplishing what I call the trans-generational transmittal of know how and knowledge within an organization … when we construct programs or other initiatives or efforts to try to capture the power of that process where it isn't already naturally occurring for a whole variety of reasons, we need to put in some structural aspects that aren't necessarily immediately apparent..."

Dr. Muller provided an example from her own experience, to illustrate the need to first find out what problem it is your organization is trying to solve before developing a mentoring program. Years ago, leaders of a large corporation asked Dr. Muller to help them develop a mentoring program. She asked what problem they were trying to solve, and the response was that they wanted a mentoring program. After some research, Dr. Muller discovered that many people within the corporation - largely people of color - had been "knocking on doors, asking for a mentoring program." It was determined that the leaders of the corporation wanted its employees to just stop knocking on doors. This of course was not the ideal motive for establishing a mentoring program.

Having established MentorNet in 1997 to help organizations and individuals that do need mentoring programs, Dr. Muller has a unique perspective that provided attendees with answers to several questions from the pre-workshop questionnaire throughout her talk, which focused on the eight essential components of effective mentoring programs.

The first of these eight components is research and planning, which includes the establishment of objectives, metrics, and expected outcomes; establishing expectations such as the duration of the relationships, communications, interactions; and establishing the protocols for the program (which she described in components three through seven).

Resource development is the second essential component. It is important to evaluate, and put in place, the resources necessary to insure a successful program. This can mean staff, funding, evaluation procedures, pre-program surveys, and possibly information technology support.

Program protocols and implementation are important to the next five essential components, including the third component of participant recruitment. Dr. Muller said that organizations must ask questions about how mentors and protégés will be recruited, about target populations, and whether there would be an adequate number of participants (and if not, how more would be recruited).

The fourth component is matching strategies - that is, it is not critical or likely that there will be an exact match of the backgrounds, gender, race, or areas of interests between mentors and protégés. This is not usually a problem, and can lead to excellent matches, with more diverse viewpoints shared between participants. Organizations must also consider the process by which matches are made. It's not uncommon for participants to fill out a profile on paper and have matches made through an examination of interests and expressed needs.

Training is an extremely important (and the fifth) component. Dr. Muller said that according to Susan Brainard of the University of Washington, most people can be excellent mentors – they just need training. Training can be ongoing, and available through many means, such as in-person courses, online courses, reference books, and personal, one-on-one training.

Coaching and communication, the sixth essential component, should take place throughout the mentoring relationship. Participants need to understand what their role is as a mentor or protégé, what to expect, and how to deal with any concerns during their mentoring process.

While many mentors and protégés stay in touch all of their lives, mentoring programs need to address the issue of closure (the seventh component). There should be a plan for continuing, changing, or ending the relationship. Dr. Muller cited a woman from Ford Motor Company who once said, "I don't believe there's value in a relationship that lasts more than one year," but Dr. Muller also pointed out that there is a natural ebb and flow to most mentoring relationships.

The eight and final component of an effective mentoring program is evaluation. MentorNet has been well served by evaluations over the years - they are critical to providing feedback by which leaders can modify their mentoring programs to best meet the needs of their organizations. Dr. Muller pointed out that it is very important to make sure you establish a measure for your outcomes, and that you measure the things your stakeholders want to know. Stakeholders include the mentors and protégés, but also the leaders of the organization, from department chairs to members of boards of directors.

Mentoring Experiences of People of Color: Lessons from Theory and Practice
Stacy J. Blake-Beard, Associate Professor of Management and Faculty Affiliate, Center for Gender in Organizations, Simmons College School of Management

Dr. Stacy Blake-Beard has a long history of studying the mentoring experiences of people of color, as well as having first-hand knowledge herself. She has been studying mentoring throughout her career, while at Harvard University, Procter & Gamble, and Xerox prior to Simmons College of Management.

Dr. Blake-Beard began her presentation with a quote from Dr. Zachary, saying, "Everything that happens to you is your teacher." She pointed out that our life experiences influence everything about us, including our approach to mentoring. She continued the quote, saying, "The secret is to learn to sit at the feet of your own life and be taught by it."

Even turbulent experiences can be learning opportunities, according to Dr. Blake-Beard. In one of several humorous comments made during her talk, she said, " If you're not living in a turbulent environment, can I please take you out for a drink? I want to meet you and touch you and maybe get some of that."

Dr. Blake-Beard discussed her personal interest in mentoring as it relates to people of color through two examples. Her interest in mentoring led her to examine existing research, where she found that most research was on men mentoring men, and mostly Caucasian men. She wanted to add to that research, focusing on people of color, as did David Thomas of the University of Pennsylvania, who has collaborated with Dr. Blake-Beard. As for her own experience, she found herself wondering, "How might my experience be different if somebody here cared about me?" when she was at Xerox in 1989. She could see the need for, and benefits of, mentoring for herself and for others in her organization.

Noting the fact that traditional mentoring has been between Caucasian males, and yet there is a need for cross-race and cross-gender mentoring, Dr. Blake-Beard approached the topic of race. Studying race presents several challenges, including:

• Faulty generalizations, which foster the belief that what worked for one group, will work for another.
• Assimilation mode, which assumes the existing culture, is "right," and we need to fix or change any new or different people to match it.
• Limited studies – past research was mainly about whom people wanted to mentor. When mentoring programs for minorities were established, they were similar in quantity but not in quality compared to the offerings for Caucasians.

The challenges can be obvious in some cases, but difficult to discover in others. She explained that oftentimes mentoring opportunities and resources are funneled to people perceived to be the future stars within an organization - and these people are often a reflection of existing management. People who are not chosen to participate in mentoring programs can become discouraged, or resistant to the company, both of which are detrimental to development.

On the other hand, if a commitment to diversity is part of an organization's culture, and the leadership is engaged, mentors of any race can help with confidence, competence, and credibility. These mentors send a message to others that their respective protégés are high performers, and they can protect their protégés from unfair criticism. Mentors can also help their protégés in finding assignments that will build their competence and confidence, and can help the protégés keep from getting sidetracked from career goals.

According to Dr. Blake-Beard, if top-level managers were to be mentors, this would mean that most mentors in corporate America would be white males. With that in mind, it is important to address some of the challenges that come with cross-race and cross-gender mentoring, including trust, tokenism (which puts protégés under a spotlight), identification, developmental dilemma (how to be close but not too close), protective hesitation (a mentor can be too kind if they are fearful of unwanted drama or being called a racist or sexist).

Dr. Blake-Beard advised the attendees that it is best to have a "constellation of mentors," including a diverse group of people with varying life experiences and expertise. Mentoring can help the protégé, mentor, and the organization if it goes well, and it is important that we continue to openly discuss the challenges and benefits of mentoring.

During the Q&A session for Dr. Blake-Beard, the following points were made:

• Mentoring and the evaluation of mentoring have often been focused on the upper levels of organizations, and it is important we continue to focus on mentoring at all levels. Diversity is here, now - it's important to address this.
• Tom Windham, Senior Advisor for Science & Engineering Workforce at the National Science Foundation is a champion for diversity.
• In support of mentoring, argue for its effectiveness – "Organizations cannot afford to keep turning over talent."
• Some mentors think, "'I'm going to make a mini-me.' but Mentoring is not about cloning."
• Be discriminating as you think about mentoring relationships – develop a group of people who have different functions and experience, and trust yourself. Be able to say (if given advice you aren't interested in taking), "I heard you and I respect you and I decided what I feel is best for me."

Research Overview: What's Different About E-Mentoring and Why Would You Use it?
Ellen Ensher, Associate Professor of Management, Loyola Marymount University

Dr. Ellen Ensher is the co-author, along with Dr. Susan Murphy, of "Power Mentoring: How Successful Mentors and Protégés Get the Most Out of Their Relationships," an effort that included interviews with 50 top leaders and protégés from a range of institutions. Dr. Ensher has been mentoring protégés for more than 15 years.

She started the session with a few trivia questions relating to mentoring, which informed the audience that: 1) Oprah, Bill Clinton, and Deepak Chopra all had mentors; 2) January is National Mentoring Month; and 3) "Best Buddies" is a mentoring organization that impacts more than 250,000 people annually worldwide. She also provided information about two web sites that feature mentors, Harvard's "Who Mentored You" page at http://www.whomentoredyou.org and The Mentor Hall of Fame at http://www.mentors.ca/mentorpairs.html.

Dr. Ensher's focus for the workshop was on e-mentoring, and she touched on the availability of many sources of information online today - from career coaches to weight loss programs. Students in college today were using computers in elementary school, and they are comfortable with - and expect - to meet their needs online. For that reason, among others, e-mentoring can be an excellent opportunity for many students today. E-mentoring (also called online mentoring and telementoring) can be the only means of interaction between a mentor and protégé, or it can be combined with phone calls or in person meetings.

According to Dr. Ensher, e-mentoring is different from traditional, in-person mentoring in that it is more boundary-less and more egalitarian; it can be used for several types of mentoring (peer, group, reverse, "barrier-busting"); and it can be formal or informal. The first use of e-mentoring took place in 1993, just four years before the founding of MentorNet.

Dr. Ensher cautioned the attendees about some of the disadvantages of e-mentoring (miscommunication, illusion of anonymity, either too much or too little self-disclosure, varying degrees of writing skills, computer malfunctions, and trust and privacy issues). However, she made it clear that there are more advantages than disadvantages. The advantages include reducing barriers (distance, time, shyness, etc), status and demographic equalization, low cost, archival of discussions, and flexibility. She has seen an increase in e-mentoring in corporations, health care, K-12 professionals, and in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, such as MentorNet's program.

To lead into the buzz session, Dr. Ensher suggested that the attendees consider questions about the advantages and disadvantages of e-mentoring, the future of e-mentoring, and thoughts about how e-mentoring can help their own careers and/or organizations.

During the Q&A session for Dr. Ensher, the following points were made:

• With instant messaging (IM) and text messaging, you can't carefully compose your communication. Being an online mentor forces you to keep up with technology. IM and text messaging also establish commonalities. In email you are more likely to carefully prepare a couple of paragraphs, instead of sending quick thoughts. Consider the medium, and be flexible.
• Dr. Ensher was asked what to do about poor style that is also considered acceptable by e-culture, such as using all lower case letters. She referred to this as the e.e.cummings style, and suggested that if it bothers you (as a mentor), it will probably bother others. As a mentor you should be comfortable commenting on this as a tip to consider (using the correct style). If possible, call your protégé to discuss this.
• Dr. Muller mentioned that building good e-skills is another advantage of using email to communicate between mentors and protégés - with all of the ways people today need to interact across boundaries, cultures, and geography, developing good communication skills is very important to career development.
• One mentor is good, multiple is better - have a group of mentors. Also keep in mind that reciprocity is the key to good mentoring – mentors and protégés can help one another.
• Dr. Ensher closed by asking the attendees if their work is "love made visible," a quote from Kahil Gibran, and she also asked the question from author and poet Mary Oliver, "What will you do with your one "wild and precious life?"