Successful Mentoring

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Successful Mentoring

• A Critical Element in Your Path to Success in
  Academic Medicine
• William R. Hazzard MD
• Professor of Medicine
• Division of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine
• VA Puget Sound Health Care System
• Seattle, WA 98108
• william.hazzard_at_va.gov
• 206-726-9380
• July 10, 2008

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Who Was Mentor?

• Odysseus chose his friend Mentor to look after
  his son Telemachus during his 10-year odyssey
• Hence the word mentor a trusted counselor or
  guide tutor, coach (Merriam-Websters
  Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed.)
• Currently especially in focus as a key feature of
  all paths of successful career development

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Where does Mentoring fit into your career
development?

• My advice Take primary responsibility for your
  own career development --- can you in effect
  largely be your own mentor?
• Not entirely (confidence is one thing, but
  arrogance, its first cousin, is quite another)
  --- your mentor should be your close external
  guide, advocate, and coach but not direct your
  development or do your work for you!!

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Begin the matching process with your personal
SWOT analysis Strengths/Weaknesses/ Opportuni
ties/Threats

• Who are you, what are your passions, what are
  your vulnerabilities, what are you made of?
• Where are you in your personal life and career
  development and what are your needs now and
  through the next few years?
• Work to Find a Mentor (or team of mentors) who
  will complement your SWOT analysis and facilitate
  your professional and personal growth and
  development

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What are you looking for in and from a Mentor?

• Technical/scientific/content instruction and
  coaching at the bench, in data analysis, in
  writing papers, in writing grants?
• Career coaching and advice?
• Advocacy and access to networks?
• Personal counseling and support?
• Senior wisdom and insight?
• Someone who will put your career development
  ahead of their own?
• All of the above?
• Think this through with care in choosing a
  mentor!!!

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Mentoring across a Professional Career in
Academic Medicine ?

• Match your mentor with your needs at your stage
  of career development
• Where will you be in
• 2-3 years (at the end of research fellowship)?
• 5-7 years (during your K-award)?
• 10 years (Asst Prof with R-01)?
• 20 years (Assoc/Full Prof/division or dept head)?
• At the end of your career?

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For now focus on your present career stage
research fellowship

• Given all the requirements of effective mentoring
  to meet your needs, you may want to align
  yourself with a panel or team of mentors e.g.,
• Technical and research design coach or coaches
• Career coach especially if not closely aligned
  with your near term needs
• (Being explicit and credible about this is often
  crucial to acquiring extramural support for your
  fellowship or K-award)

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What should you look for in a prospective mentor?
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Generic Requirements of an Effective Mentor

• Ability to listen
• Patience
• Maturity
• Discipline
• of self,
• for mentee (including tough love as appropriate
  necessary)
• Confidence in self, in mentee, in the adult
  development process
• Energy focus
• TIME and ATTENTION!

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Specific Attributes of an Effective Mentor to
Focus on

• Personal maturity comfort with self
• Success in own career and confidence in ability
  to guide others toward similar success without
  standing in their way

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Key Attributes of an Effective Mentor (contd)

• Ability to translate lessons of his/her own
  experience knowledge into counsel tailored to
  the trainee (without too many self-indulgent or
  now in my day stories)
• Ability to derive great personal (albeit largely
  vicarious) pleasure, satisfaction, pride from
  mentees growth progress
• Accepts inevitable role model label and burden
  of its expectations (not do as I say but not what
  I do)

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Above All ---

• Ability to place growth welfare of mentee
  first, above his/her own
• Empathy Emotional Intelligence
• Generosity of spirit (MAGNANIMITY)

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Requirements of a Mentor from the Mentees
Perspective

• Be available and accessible
• Keep your promises
• Be responsive and reliable respect their time
  obligations just as they respect yours
• Be honest, candid, and open supportive
  nurturing but not too soft forgiving

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Requirements of a Mentor from the Mentees
Perspective

• Be sensitive to the balance between your needs
  for service the mentees needs for your
  leadership, tutelage, support
• Be sensitive to the balance between your own
  intellectual property scientific program and
  mentees need for growth, a niche, and a path to
  independence
• Be mentees advocate as he/she grows --- genuine
  success is defined when they pass you in their
  professional development and recognition!

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Requirements of a Mentee from the Mentors
perspective

• Accept ultimate responsibility for your own
  career development seek out your mentor for
  guidance and advice but do not expect to be spoon
  fed
• Take the initiative if anything, risk being too
  assertive aggressive
• Tell me when Im wrong!
• Make me proud of you!

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Requirements of a Mentee from the Mentors
perspective (contd)

• Push me (as your mentor) to keep up with you ---
  your growth stimulation from you are my reward
  for investment of my time attention
• Keep up with agreed-upon goals, work schedule
  milestones
• Come prepared on time!
• Do not whine!!

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Are there rules and boundaries in the
mentor/mentee matching game?

• Age?
• Gender?
• Potential conflicts of interest?
• Boss vs. mentor?
• Discipline?
• What about chemistry?

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Caveats

• Trust your clinical intuition (you are a doctor,
  after all) --- is the chemistry right? Does the
  balance of give and take feel right? Is trust
  deep, mutual, and real?
• Will your ambitions as mentee come in conflict
  with your mentors and jeopardize your
  development?
• Is your prospective mentor too anxious to recruit
  you to menteeship? (Is there an implied or
  explicit devils bargain?)

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What if this doesnt work?

• Mentorship is a dynamic concept and process as
  your career develops, yours and your mentors
  should change pari passu as appropriate to your
  respective stages of development and independence
• Do not hesitate to re-negotiate the relationship
  as you grow or terminate it (without
  procrastination) if it is not working or is
  dysfunctional

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What will be your index and reward for being a
successful mentee?

• You will be sought as a MENTOR!!! --- this could
  happen sooner than you think (students, next
  years fellows, et al.)

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The need for mentorship never ends .If you are
fortunate, like me at the end of your career you
will have a wall of mentors who look down on
you every day in your officeMine includes .

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Robert G. Petersdorf MD
23
Paul Beeson William Osler of the latter
20th Century
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Dr. Paul Beeson Distinguished Physician,
Seattle VA Medical Center 1908 - 2006