Chancellor’s Council on Faculty Life

Resources

UCSF Faculty Mentoring Program Toolkit
Mentoring Curriculum

The following workshops will be offered periodically and open to all faculty on campus. They can also be made available for individual departments or other groups on campus. Contact Mitchell Feldman for more information.

Communicating Effectively with Mentees and Mentors
This is a two-hour workshop. In the first half, we present the essential building blocks of effective communication-personal awareness, emotional intelligence and active listening-and reinforce this information with interactive exercises. The second half of the workshop focuses on specific challenges to mentor-mentee communication. Communication skills and pitfalls will be demonstrated by workshop facilitators, and mentoring 'case vignettes' will be used so that participants can practice new approaches and techniques in a supportive environment.
Balancing Work-Life: The Role of Mentoring
To what extent can a mentor assist their protégé in successfully balancing work with their personal values and commitments? What are the responsibilities and potential pitfalls for both mentee and mentor in this important domain? These issues and others are explored through the use of interactive case scenarios.
Understanding Academic Advancement
The academic advancement process, including the normal review for merit and promotion, the expectations by campus, school, and department, and the requirements by rank and series, is complex. A clear understanding of the process is critical to optimize chances for academic success. All mentors, including career and research mentors, must understand the academic review process to optimally advise mentees.
Mentoring and Diversity
One of the goals of a mentoring program is to help attract and support a diverse faculty population. However, diversity can bring special challenges to the mentoring relationship. Through reflective exercises and discussion of vignettes participants will gain skills needed to work more effectively in the context of diverse mentoring relationships.

Other workshops are under development. Please contact Mitchell Feldman if you are interested in assisting in curriculum development.

Meeting Tools

First Meeting Checklist

Get to know each Other Share information about your professional and personal life
Learn something new about your mentee/mentor

Establish Guidelines When and where will we meet?
How will we schedule meetings?
How will we communicate between meetings?
What agenda format will we use?
Will there be any fixed agenda items to be discussed at every meeting?
How will we exchange feedback?
How will we measure success?

Partnership Agreement Review partnership agreement, modify if desired, sign and exchange
Review goals for the mentoring relationship

Confirm Next Steps Schedule date, time and place of future meetings
Structuring Meeting Time

Determine how to use your time together. One suggestion is the "10/20/60 Rule" that will help you to establish a solid partnership and address mentoring goals and everyday issues. For a meeting of about 1½ hours split the time roughly as follows:.

First 10 Minutes
Engage in personal/professional-"check-in"

Next 20 Minutes
Focus on 'front burner' issues (upcoming presentation, manuscript revision, etc.)

Last 60 Minutes
Discuss current and long-term goals and priorities

Tips for Enhancing Mentoring Relationships

The One-Minute Mentor
PDF File
1. Assess the Mentee
  Check In
  Assess for any urgent issues
  Use active listening skills
2. Set an Agenda
  Review pending items
  Assess time available
  Prioritize
3. Assist with ongoing projects
  Ask clarifying questions
  Set clear and measurable goals
  Give advice and suggest resources
  Agree on timeline for deliverables
4. Provide career guidance
  Review Individual Development Plan and CV
  Inquire about professional / personal balance
5. Wrap up
  Clarify expectations of mentor and mentee
  Schedule future meeting
6. Evaluating Your Mentee's Goals
  
  Use the checklist below to appraise your mentee’s goals:
  
  Specificity
  Has your mentee identified specific short and long term goals?
  Are the goals definite and precise?
  
  Measurability
  Are your mentee’s goals quantifiable?
  Has your mentee determined how to measure success?
  
  Work Plan
  Does your mentee have an action plan to achieve their goals?
  Has your mentee considered the outcome of achieving these goals?
  
  Reality Check
  Are your mentee's goals realistic?
  Has your mentee determined a completion date?
  Can success be achieved within the time allocated?
  Will additional resources or tools be needed to achieve success?
  
  Your Role
  Is your role to advise, suggest or listen?
  Will your mentee’s goals require you to provide something other than guidance?
  How can you be most helpful to your mentee?
7. Mentor's Meeting Checklist
  
  Set aside adequate time for meetings
  
  Obtain and review mentee’s CV and Individual Development Plan (IDP) prior to meeting
  
  Be sure to review contact information and other meeting arrangements
  
  Clarify what mentee expects from you-and what you expect from mentee
  
  Review mentee’s short/long term goals
  
  Be sure that you have accurate, up to date information on advancement and promotion policies for your mentee’s series and rank (see http://www.ucsf.edu/senate/facultyhandbook )
  
  Ask mentee to help you with writing, research, teaching, curriculum development etc. that is consistent with their career goals
  
  Be aware of potential conflicts of interest if you are both a supervisor and mentor for the mentee
  
  Be sure that mentee has joined committees and professional organizations helpful for career development
  
  Assist your mentee to find other mentors within and outside UCSF
8. Giving (and Receiving) Feedback
  Mentees want to receive honest, candid feedback from their mentor. Equally important is the feedback mentees can offer to mentors. Engaging in reciprocal and on-going feedback is a vital component of the partnership.
  
  Effective feedback:
  - Is offered in a timely manner
  - Focuses on specific behaviors
  - Acknowledges outside factors that may contribute
  - Emphasizes actions, solutions or strategies
  Effective Feedback from Mentee:
  - Whether the advice or guidance you offered was beneficial and solved an issue
  - Whether the mentor communication style and/or actions facilitate a positive mentoring experience
  - Whether the mentor communication style and/or actions create challenges to a positive mentoring experience
  Effective Feedback to Mentee:
  - Mentee strengths and assets
  - Areas for growth, development and enhancement
  - Harmful behaviors or attitudes
  - Observations on how your mentee may be perceived by others
9. Being a Pro-Active Mentee
  The most successful mentoring partnerships are those in which the mentee takes the initiative and truly drives the partnership. In a mentee-driven partnership, the mentee determines the pace, route and destination. The mentor is then able to offer insights and counsel that is focused on the mentee’s objectives.
  
  Consider the following questions:
  - Are my objectives clear and well defined?
  - Am I comfortable asking for what I want?
  - Am I open to hearing new ideas and perspectives?
  - Do I allow myself to be open and vulnerable?
  - Am I receptive to constructive feedback?
  - Am I able to show I value and appreciate feedback?
  - Am I willing to change or modify my behaviors?
  - Do I consistently follow through on commitments?
  - Do I make an effort to instill trust?
  - Do I openly show appreciation and gratitude?

Forms

Individual Development Plan (IDP) — PDF
Individual Development Plan (IDP) — Word document
Mentoring Partnership Agreement
Mentor's Meeting Journal
Academy of Medical Educators IDP

Related Readings

Feldman Papers on Mentoring

Selected Articles on Mentoring

Web links