2.6 The Mentoring Journey

A mentor must be self-aware, self-reflective, and open to sharing part of his or her journey with fellow mentors and future mentors, as well as with mentees. Expressing an interest in mentoring is the first step on the journey. Becoming aware of and understanding one’s personal experience with the mentoring process are essential parts of developing a philosophy of mentoring. Each journey is personal and, and self-reflection is an integral part of the process. Your journey may have involved challenges, changes, dangers, delights, disappointments, doors opening/closing, and/or revelations—each of these emotional experiences has direct or indirect implications for how and why you are interested in mentoring. The following case studies illustrate two different mentoring journeys. They are presented below to help you assess your interest in becoming an effective mentor over time.

Case Study: When a Door Closes, a Window Opens

Professor Volk had volunteered to serve as a mentor to nursing students. In preparing for her own role as mentor, Professor Volk reflected upon her path to become a professor of nursing. Her journey began in nursing school, where she had been hired as a health promotion educator. During school, one of her professors encouraged her to volunteer in several organizations, helping to raise disease-prevention and health-promotion awareness. Professor Volk also served in leadership capacities while in school-based clubs. After graduation, Professor Volk was offered several nursing positions. Over the years, she worked her way up to managerial and administrative roles. Her life was changed when she divorced with two very young children under her care. Professor Volk decided to leave her high-powered job to make herself more available for her children. She struggled over many years, sacrificing job and educational opportunities that interfered with her children’s schedules. When her children were older, Professor Volk decided to pursue her master’s degree, and then she continued on to her doctorate. During her doctoral studies, Professor Volk’s parents were severely injured in an automobile accident. Professor Volk left her doctoral studies, devoting herself to caring for her parents while taking a low-paying teaching position at a local university that offered her flexibility in scheduling. After years of emotional and financial struggle, Professor Volk completed her doctoral studies. She now holds the academic position of her dreams.

Professor Volk realized that her school and volunteer experiences, divorce, children’s life stages, parental care, and advanced studies were all significant life events that helped shape her academic-life journey. She realized there were many road blocks in her educational and career journey. However, where there was an opportunity to continue, there were people along the way who devoted time to mentor her. Reflecting back, Professor Volk felt humbled by the people who helped her reach her goal of becoming a professor. She therefore decided to give back—sharing some of the strength and wisdom she had received from others over the years. It became clear to her why she wanted to become a mentor.

Reflection: In what ways did Professor Volk claim her mentoring journey? How did her own self reflection provide her with the tools necessary for positively impacting her future mentees?

Case Study: Misguided Mentoring Assumptions

For Thomas, getting mentored was an expected experience. He came from a family with a history of exemplary financial acumen and professional status. Immediately after graduation a prestigious financial firm employed Thomas. He was assigned to a mentor who knew his family. Within a few years, Thomas became an executive who was expected to mentor a new generation of financial wizards. When Susan came on board, Thomas was assigned as her mentor. He had heard Susan was a recent university graduate from his alma mater, one of the top financial programs in the country. Thomas assumed Susan needed no guidance beyond informal meetings about company politics. He was brusque with Susan, and reminded her of her academic preparation. Susan had specific goals she wanted to achieve, but was hesitant about how to share those goals with Thomas. Thomas, who felt her academic background gave Susan sufficient knowledge to achieve those goals, was surprised when the president of the firm called Thomas into his office. It was clear that Susan was floundering due to Thomas’ limited mentoring efforts. Susan was the first person in her family to attend college, and came from an urban environment with its own many challenges. She came from a family who struggled financially. Susan had worked in various jobs to support herself since she was 16, and she had never had a workplace mentor. Susan felt a huge disconnect between her life’s journey and that of Thomas’. As such, she became discouraged, and she wanted to leave the company.

Reflection: How serious was Thomas in his role as a mentor? Had Thomas taken the time to self reflect on his own journey? What might Thomas have done differently had he self-directed an investigation into Susan’s journey?

The following self-reflection exercises were designed to help prospective mentors reflect on their own journey. What impact did mentors have on their personal and professional lives? The first exercise consists of identifying seminal events that had an impact on one’s own life development. The second exercise consists of contemplating one’s mentoring experiences and recognizing those individuals who provided guidance and support. The third exercise tests assumptions and identifies factors that may hinder the mentoring process. The exercises are adapted and adaptable, similar to the role of a mentor (Bell, 1996; Daloz, 1999; Zachary, 2000).

Exercise: Constructing a Mentoring Journey Timeline

This exercise, designed to plot a graph of a personal and professional mentoring journey timeline, may help to outline one’s own life journey and identify individuals who helped along the way.

1. Draw a vertical line on a piece of paper.
2. On the left side of the line, write dates and describe the places or events, milestones, and transitions (positive and negative) that influenced you.
3. On the right side of the line, describe:
   1. instances that made a positive difference in your life and helped you grow and develop;
   2. barriers or obstacles that got in your way; and
   3. unplanned events and experiences that brought you joy or success.

Exercise: Timeline Reflection

This exercise was designed to identify your guides along your own journey. Respond to the directions:

1. List your mentors.
2. Indicate your relationship to each mentor (family member, friend, professional colleague, workplace colleague, etc).
3. Use the timeline created in the previous exercise to indicate when mentors were helpful.
4. Describe the mentoring experiences.
5. Highlight the wisdom gained from each mentor.

Reflection: What did you learn from each mentor about being a mentor? What did you learn that might contribute to your own development as a mentor? What did you gain being a mentee?

Exercise: The Mentee Journey

This exercise asks you to test assumptions and recognize factors that may affect the learning relationship between mentor and mentee. Answer the following questions:

1. What was your journey as mentee like?
2. How can you learn more about your mentee’s life journey, experiences, and milestones?
3. What insights have you learned from your mentee’s journey that informs you about your mentee’s readiness to learn?
4. What concerns and issues does the mentoring journey comparison raise for you about your mentee’s goals and learning needs?
5. Are there specific actions or approaches that could potentially have a positive impact on the learning relationship between you and your mentee?
6. Are there specific actions or approaches that could potentially have a negative impact on the learning relationship between you and your mentee?

Reflection: Now that the exercises have been completed, what were some of your assumptions regarding a mentor-mentee relationship? Can you think of any examples or situations where biases/judgments may have been made? Can you describe some real differences between your journey as mentor and that of your mentee? How can you demonstrate that you are able and willing to effectively communicate? What have you learned from the successes of your own mentors, as well as from their mistakes? What did you learn about yourself after reflecting upon these questions?