Transcript Why Mentor? - University of California, Davis

Facilitating
the Career Development
of Faculty and Residents
10/13/06
Janet Bickel
Career Development and Executive Coach Faculty
Career and Diversity Consultant
Participants will increase their abilities to:
• Describe why future-oriented
departments are facilitating faculty
engagement and career development
•
Address critical generational and
gender differences in career
development
•
Maximize their impact as a mentor in
the limited time available
Faculty Development Environment
• Relentless pressure to generate revenues.
• Emphases on revenue generation eating into
academic goals and spirit of volunteerism.
• Little time to develop new competencies.
• Few forum for faculty learning outside their
“silos.”
• Over 20% of faculty report significant levels of
depressive symptoms, with higher levels in
younger faculty.
• Over 20% reported thinking often of early
retirement (Schindler BA, et al. The Impact of the Changing
Health Care Environment on the Health and Well-Being of Faculty
at Four Medical Schools. Acad Med 2006 81: 27-34).
Maslow's
Hierarchy of Needs
5. Actualization
4. Esteem
3. Love/Belonging
2. Safety
1. Physiological
PREMISES
•
A department’s strength depends on its success in
recruiting, developing and retaining excellent
residents and faculty.
•
To be productive, individuals need a collegial
environment that fosters development.
•
Many Gen Xers, minorities and women are not
finding the mentoring they need.
•
Everyone can become a more effective mentor.
•
Academic medicine needs fresh mentoring and
career development strategies
At highly successful companies, most
employees respond affirmatively to:
1. In the last six months, has someone at work talked
to me about my progress?
2. Do I have the opportunity to do what I do best
every day?
3. Is there someone at work who encourages my
development?
4. Do my opinions count?
5. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality
work?
Source: 1st Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do
Differently by Marcus Buckingham
Items predicting work satisfaction of faculty
1. Colleagues get along well together.
2. Institution treats me as if my work is valued.
3. Have input on decisions that affect my work.
4. Get the help needed from nurses and clerical staff.
5. Enjoy my teaching assignments.
6. Chairperson responds well to faculty needs.
Source: YM Coyle et al. Measuring and predicting academic generalists’ work
satisfaction. Acad Med. 1999; 74: 1021-27.
Why Focus on Mentoring?
• Critical to faculty vitality
• Intense complexity of and pace of
work
• More potential conflicts of interest
• Best candidates seeking
• Must maximize impact in time
available
• Heterogeneity meets homogeneity
Mentoring
across
Differences
Disadvantages Minorities Sometimes
Experience in Obtaining Mentoring
• relationships occur most naturally between “like”
individuals
• some majority individuals are uncomfortable with
ethnic minorities
• face higher hurdles to prove selves to potential
mentors
• “surplus visibility”
•the accents of some ethnic minorities interfere with
communication
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN MEDICAL COLLEGES
Women’s Disadvantages in Obtaining Mentoring
•less likely to view mentor as a role model
•more likely to have a mentor who takes
credit for their work
•allowed a narrower band of “assertive
behaviors”
•leadership potential underestimated
•work an invisible “2nd shift” at home
• miss out on hallway conversations and
golf
•paucity of senior woman role models
Generation X (1965-1982)
Boomers (1944-1964)
•Work hard out of loyalty
•Find most efficient way
•Expect long-term job
•Expect many job searches
•Pay dues
•Entitled to flexibility
•Self-sacrifice is virtue
•Not gonna be “24/7”
•Respect authority
•“You’re not the boss of me”
Source: J. Bickel and A. Brown. “Generation X: Implications for Faculty
Recruitment and Development in Academic Health Centers.” Acad Med.
2005; 80:205-10.
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN MEDICAL COLLEGES
Implications for
Mentoring and Career Development
• Different views of “work ethic”
• Less respect for “face time”
• “Command and control” will not
work
• Traditional measures of success, eg
tenure, may not motivate
• Negative value judgments interfering
with Mentoring
Mentoring Across Differences
• Discuss important influences and differences
• Avoid assumptions, eg “this approach worked
for me but it may not for you”
• Use an exploratory survey with mentees
• Break the ice: Recognize effects of
differences in power, gender
•
• Set goals for the relationship (create an
agreement?)
• Ask for feedback
Exploratory Survey for Mentees
• What are your aims in the next 1-2 yrs? 5-10
yrs?
• What do you want to accomplish? What
measures of success will you use?
• What interdisciplinary relationships do you
want to build?
• What if anything do you feel is holding you
back from reaching your potential?
• What skills do you need to work on?
Mentoring Gens X and Y
• Create a clear picture of what needs to be
accomplished, divided into goals with
deadlines
• Focus on outcomes, leaving the how to them
• Give timely and specific feedback
• Discuss options for building skills
• Connect them with other role models
• Encourage peer and group mentoring
Mentoring Gen X and Y
Examples of questions:
• How will you define success in this
situation?
• How will you develop the necessary
expertise?
• What are your goals and timelines?
• What is your plan for assuring that ..?
• How will you evaluate your progress?
• Let’s agree about the desired outcome,
then discuss methods.
Scenario
*Dr. New is a 3rd-year resident. She’s
coming to see Dr. Big (the new
division chief) for career advice.
*Dr. Big thinks Dr. New would be a
valuable addition to his faculty.
Discussion Question:
What does Dr. Big need to be thinking
about to prepare for this meeting?
What is interfering with
creating a supportive ecology here?
• The “self-made man” assumption
• Competing demands limit faculty availability
• Little time or opportunity for informal
interactions
• Mentoring not evaluated
• Mentoring not funded
• ???
Wisconsin Mentoring Seminar
Trains mentors to:
*communicate effectively about time
commitments, independence and skills
*regularly assess proteges’ understanding
*address diversity
*discuss mentoring approaches with peers
and advisors
*bring rigor and the spirit of experimentation
to their mentoring
Source: Pfund C., et al. The merits of training mentors. Science. 2006;
311:473-5.
Contemporary Mentoring is:
*a scaffold for sharing expertise that could
otherwise only be attained from experience
*a continuum: not “all or nothing”
*differs by context and role—task-centered
guidance and support.
*about life-long co-learning
NB: the “Godfather” model becoming outdated
Source: Pololi, L.H., Knight S. Mentoring faculty in
academic medicine. JGIM. 2005; 20:866-70
Collaborative Mentoring Program
• Facilitated peer mentoring
• One-day sessions for 6 months
• Learning outcomes included:
*identification of values-based career goals
*development of close collaborative
relationships
*improved job satisfaction
*skills developed in areas key to advancement
Source: Pololi, L.H., Knight S. Mentoring faculty in academic medicine. JGIM.
2005; 20:866-70.
Mentoring is our bridge to
traditions of excellence
• To attract, retain and engage high performers
• To nurture the academic aspirations of residents
and junior faculty
• To swiftly acculturate new members
• To foster a collaborative environment
• To increase stability and productivity
• To promote diversity of thought and style
• To develop leadership talent
• Being a mentor is the most effective way of
extending one’s professional contributions