Mentoring: An Express Lane for Your Career

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Mentoring
An Express Lane for Your Career
Map Out Your Destinations and Get in the Drivers
Seat!
NIH Acquisition Symposium Gettysburg, PA
November 18, 2008
National Institutes of HealthU.S. Department of
Health and Human Services
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What is Mentoring?

• two souls
• -Dr. Samuel Betances, Harvard University

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Mentoring Shapes and Sizes

• A primary goal of mentoring is to develop a good
  interpersonal relationship between the mentor and
  mentee.
• Not a One Size Fits All
• Coach
• Friend
• Teacher
• Champion

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Tips for Building Successful Mentor Relationships

• Finding Similarities and Recognizing Differences
• Getting Together Often
• Providing Open and Honest Feedback
• Sharing Interests and Passions

TRUST
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Experience, Wisdom and Learning

• More than 5 years experience in acquisition?
• Less than 5 years experience in acquisition?
• Sharing wisdom
• Learning
• What are your barriers to learning? Excuses?
• Qualities of a good teacher?

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Real Life Practice 1

• Divide into pairs identify a Person 1 and
  Person 2
• Person 1 Convincer try to convince the other
  person to give you their chocolate
• Person 2 Judge only give it to them if they
  give you a REALLY good reason--but make them work
  for it!

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Real Life Practice 2

• Stay in same pairs switch if you want
• Person 1 Convincer try to convince the other
  person to give you their chocolate
•  
• Person 2 Judge give it to them pretty quickly
  if they seem genuine and be happy about it!

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Influence Factors
How do your customers perceive you?
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Real Life Stories

• The Supportive Supervisor
• The Micromanager
• The Encouraging Informal Mentor
• The Young One

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Responsibility of Experience

• Civic Duty to Train the Next Generation
• Challenges?
• Real-Life Story GS-14 Promotion That Never
  Happened
• "When we do good no one remembers, when we do bad
  no one forgets. - Edna Belle Thomas
• NIH is very big but very ____________!

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Image and Brand
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Your Personal Brand

• What do people think when they hear your name?
• What are you doing on a daily basis to change and
  mold your personal brand?
• What do you do in the workplace that jeopardized
  your personal brand?

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Personal Brand and Your Career

• Average of jobs a person has in their career
• Even if you don't change-- the people WILL change
  around you.
• Smart people are managing their image EVERY
  moment of every day - always interviewing

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How to Learn 101

• Those will less experience have responsibilities
  too!
• Ask thoughtful, good questions
• Maximize time by preparing
• Flying By the Seat of Your Pants is NOT a good
  strategy
• Learn what you can on your own
• RTQ
• Shhhh! Secret to Learning Ask Open Ended
  Questions! 

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Communication is Key

• Communication is the process of exchanging ideas
  and information

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Nonverbal Communication

• Facial expressions
• Eye contact
• Voice tone
• Posture
• Gestures

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Barriers To Effective Communication

• Judging Criticizing, Namecalling,
• Diagnosing
• Solving Ordering, Advising
• Excessive Questioning, Moralizing
• Avoiding Diverting, Logical Argument,
• Reassuring, Assuming

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Strategies to Improve Communication

• Listen actively (details next slide)
• Schedule regular meetings
• Select meeting locations that offer least amount
  of distractions
• Provide and request feedback
• Respect and be mindful of time
• Establish boundaries and confidentiality
  expectations

LISTENING
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Real Life Practice 3 The Learning Game

• Divide into pairs again choose who will be the
  learner and who will be the mentor
• Person 1 has a card with information on it about
  a contract
• Person 2 will have 5 minutes to try to learn as
  many facts of the contract
• Try to ask open ended questions
• How? What? Why? Please explain?
•  Closed ended have value too Who? When?
• Take 5 mins and see how much information you can
  learn.

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Creating a Mentoring Environment at Work

• Buddy System Approach - Assigned
• Mentor List - Self Selection
• Supervisory Check-Ins and Feedback
• Group Mentoring
• Shadowing Assignments
• Peer Mentoring
• Cross-Functional Projects

Less Formal More Formal
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Melanies Final Four
Even if you dont change, people around you will!
Mentoring is a two way street!
NIH is very BIG, and NIH is very small!
What do people think when they hear your name?
How can you better manage that every day?
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Melanie Keller Executive Officer Center for
Scientific Review kellerm_at_csr.nih.gov