How to be a good mentee

1. How to be a good mentee 7 July 2012 Robert Fuhlbrigge, MD PhD   Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Dermatology, Harvard Medical School   Vice Chair- Research, Department of Dermatology Brigham and Women’s Hospital   Director- Research, Program in Rheumatology Children’s Hospital- Boston Faculty Director, Office of Research Careers Brigham and Women’s Hospital

2. What does “mentor” mean? Men-Tee • Odysseus entrusted Mentor with the care of his house and the education of his son, Telemachus, when he set out for the Trojan war • The Odyssey

3. Mentor: Classic definition • Someone of advanced rank or experience who guides, teaches and develops a novice • Taking Root in a Forest Clearing: A Resource Guide for Medical Faculty, Carr, Bickel, Inui, eds, Boston University School of Medicine; 2003

4. Mentor-mentee relationships How do these situations relate to the mentor/mentee relationship?

5. Mentor-mentee relationships Mother carries her cub who is passively going along for the ride Mother keeps walking and it is the job of the cub to hold on!

6. An ideal mentor-mentee relationship is something in between, with both participants putting in effort and the mentor guiding the mentee

7. Mentorship: A better definition? • “A dynamic, reciprocal relationship between an advanced career incumbent (mentor) and a beginner (protégé) aimed at promoting the development of both” • Healy and Weelchert, Educ Res, 1990;19:17-21

8. What is mentoring? “The ideal mentoring relationship can be characterized as a series of mentor-mentee dialogues noted for collaborative critical thinking and planning, mutual participation in specific goal setting and decision making, shared evaluation regarding the results of actions, and joint reflection on the worth of areas identified for progress.” (Galbraith & Maslin-Ostrowski)

9. Mentoring characteristics among academic trainees and faculty • Variable proportion of trainees and faculty have mentors • Highly variable mentoring relationships • Faculty with more teaching and patient care responsibilities less likely to have mentors than those with research-intensive careers • Mitchell et al, Medical Education Online, 2010;15:5063 • Women may have more difficulty finding mentors • Sambunjak et al, JAMA, 2006;296:1103-1115

10. Trainees and (Junior) Faculty identify the need for mentoring • Career mentor • Scholarly mentor • Co-mentors • Peer mentors

11. Does mentoring matter? Mentoring has an important impact on: • Personal development • Career guidance • Career choice • Research productivity including • Publications • Grant success Systematic review: Sambunjak et al, JAMA, 2006:296:1103-1115

12. Does mentoring matter?

13. Does mentoring matter? • Greater satisfaction with time allocation at work • Higher academic self-efficacy : “a belief in one’s ability to accomplish specific goals and tasks” • Mitchell et al, Medical Education Online, 2010;15:5063

14. Do mentee characteristics matter? • Active pursuit of mentorship → • more actual mentoring • career success • More likely to actively pursue mentoring: • Good internal control • High self-monitoring skills • Emotional stability • Turban and Dougherty, Acad Manage J, 1994;37:688

15. How to be a good mentee?Be proactive!

16. Be proactive: Find a mentorWhat to look for/ the ideal mentor

17. Be proactive: Find a mentorWhat to look for/ the ideal mentor • Wise and experienced • Thoughtful • Good listener • Supportive, but challenging • Accessible and responsive • Provide opportunities and connections • Support ‘smart’ risks • Sense of humor • Not too prescriptive

18. Be proactive:Prepare for the meeting • Questions to ask yourself • What are my goals? • What are my strengths and skill sets? • What are my knowledge/skill gaps? • How can my mentor assist me? • Actions • Update your CV, send to your mentor • WRITE goals – short-term, long-term • Review mentor’s profile, publications • Initiate first meeting • Suggest an agenda

19. General Topics for Discussion (for eg) • Career advancement • Potential for further training (e.g., Master’s or PhD) • Pathway to academic promotion • Time management • Work/life balance • Enhancing professional visibility • Understanding institutional structure, politics • Negotiating a job offer

20. More specific topics • Identifying potential funding sources • Grant writing, scientific writing • Issues of authorship, publication, integrity • Teaching skills development, curriculum development, teaching portfolios • Clinical practice strategies, quality improvement/patient safety initiatives

21. First meeting: virtual or in person • Share backgrounds • Review short-term and long-term goals • Identify your needs/gaps • Identify a ‘developmental network’ • co-mentors, peer mentors, supporters • Develop steps toward goals with a timeline • Agree on logistics • Frequency of meetings • How to make contact between meetings • Mutual expectations and responsibilities • Confidentiality and no-fault termination

22. Subsequent meetings • Take initiative in making contact with your mentor • Confirm the agenda • Follow through on responsibilities • Keep a check list to track progress: portfolio of activities, works-in-progress • Re-evaluate goals and timelines • Consider expansion of developmental network • Ask questions, reflect on discussion

23. Provide Feedback to your Mentor

24. Good luck as you move forward!

25. Resources • Zerzan JT et al; Making the most of mentors: A guide for mentees. Academic medicine 84 (1):140-144, 2009 • Ramani S et al; Twelve tips for developing effective mentors. Medical Teacher 28(5):404-408, 2006. • Detsky AS, Baerlocher MO. Academic mentoring‐‐how to give it and how to get it. JAMA. 2007; 297(19): 2134‐6.

26. Some topics for discussion • Promotion • Career trajectory and skills/deliverables to progress to next level • Research • Proposed project: Aims, hypothesis • Challenges • Need for skills • Review mentees’ current mentors. Is there need for others • Institutional/departmental resources • Balance and negotiation • Ask questions about family and child care • Discuss preferred timing of milestones in mentee’s career trajectory and changes desired in the balance of activities and career/academic workload • Advise mentee on negotiation strategies with supervisor/division chief, and for fellows, advise on negotiating a job.