Looking after the Looking after the MentorMentor

Looking after the Looking after the MentorMentorMentoring Mentoring

CPD & SupervisionCPD & Supervision

Looking After the Mentor

• In Mentoring– Protect oneself from

work related pressures•Boundary management

– Boundary theory– What this mean in real life– Maintaining professional

distance

•Engaging in supervision

– Protect oneself from ourselves•Knowing yourself •Personal tactics•Engaging in supervision

Boundary Theory

• Boundaries define where something starts and something ends

• Anything that has no boundary has no identity

• To know what is expectable within a boundary, we need to know what is not acceptable

• Boundaries help clarify relationships.

Boundary Principles

• Knowing what something is, isn’t enough. We must also know what it isn’t.

• In decision making, identifying the Boundary between acceptable and unacceptable is as important, if not more important than making the decision.

• The most efficient and effective way to identify a Boundary is to approach it from the “wrong" side. – “Right“ side tend to be personalized,

situational and short term. – “Wrong“ side tend to be relational,

value based, and long term.• When there is no boundary,

confusion, chaos or stagnation is created.

What this means

• We need to know our boundaries– As a mentor– As person

• Boundaries as a mentor– Ethical Practice– Relates to directly to the

mentor’s role

• Boundaries as a person– Ethical Practice– What you are

comfortable with

Exercise

• In small groups discuss boundary transgressions in mentoring.– How many different

examples of boundary transgression can you think of?

– What does this tell you about boundary management?

Professional Distance

• Professionally Distance – objective view point – Remain detached, – unemotional and

unbiased. • Without professional

distance– Too much responsibility – Taking responsible for

mentees issues– Responsible for decisions

and actions – Could feel like a

friendship. – Reduce the level of

honesty and clarity within the relationship.

Vignette

• A mentor and mentee have been meeting with the aim of developing the mentee’s presentation skills. During their last meeting the mentee discussed how fear of redundancy had impacted on their self esteem and confidence. After the meeting the mentor felt quite stressed as they also feared being made redundant and the meeting had exacerbated their fears. – How could the mentor use

boundary management and professional distance to help protect themselves?

Supervision

• Proctor, (2000; 1996)– Normative - the supervisor

share the responsibility for ensuring that the supervisees works in a professional and ethical manner and adhere to mentoring codes of practice

– Formative - the supervisor provides the supervisee with the opportunity to develop skills, theoretical knowledge and personal attributes that facilitates increasing professional competency)

– Restorative - the supervisor acts as support to the supervisee when personal issues, doubts and insecurities arise as a result of a mentoring relationship.

What Supervision Provides (Brock, 2008)

• A consequence of working with your supervisor you should be able to protect yourself because you – Reflect on the process of

your mentoring relationship– Become aware of responses

or reactions to your mentee that you may not have been aware of previously

– Suggest ways in which you can look after different aspects of yourself, even more effectively

– Understand yourself better, in more depth, or from different perspectives

– Evaluate your practice and the impact this work has upon you and your mentee.

Exercise

• In small groups discuss how supervision can support mentors.– How does supervision

protect mentors?– What benefits can

supervision provide mentors in the current University Climate?

Knowing Yourself

• To know others we must first know ourselves.– If we do not know ourselves

our own noise (internal, often unconscious self talk) interferes with the transmission (communication) between mentor and mentee.

– If we do not know ourselves then we do not know what our weak points are and therefore do not realise that what parts of our psyche we have to protect

Knowing yourself• Who am I today?• Who am I today in relation

to my friends and family?• Who am I today in relation

to the rest of the world?• Who am I today in relation

to my job?• Who am I today in relation

to my colleagues• Who am I today in relation

to this organisation?• who am I today in relation

to my mentee?

Knowing Your Self

• What are your work related fears?– How have these fears

come to life?•What caused them?•How do they manifest?

– What aspects of your work life do these affect?

– How do these fears impact on your work life?

– Make makes these fears worse?

– Do these relate to or impact on any other areas of your life?

Personal Strategies

• What strategies do you use when you are stressed?– What formal support

mechanisms do you have within the university?

– What information support mechanisms do you have in the university?

– What support mechanisms do you have outside the university?

– Are you willing to use these?• If not why?