Mentoring: the view from both sides
2013; Christian Association for Psychological Studies; Volume: 32; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0733-4273
AutoresM. Elizabeth Lewis Hall, Lauren E. Maltby,
Tópico(s)Mentoring and Academic Development
ResumoSo, what do you say? Dr. Spears, one of my (Lauren's) undergraduate professors in philosophy, had just asked me to work as his research assistant. Never mind the fact that I did not know how to do research, nor did I know anything about (or necessarily have interest in) his particular area of philosophy. I knew an opportunity when it presented itself. I accepted the position with some trepidation, and only after I was confident that Dr. Spears had accurate expectations of my skill set (namely, low). What developed was a professional and personal relationship that spring-boarded me into the field of psychology. Dr. Spears was my first experience with academic/professional mentoring, but he would not be my last. Dr. Spears' mentoring set me on a journey through which I would benefit from the wisdom and expertise of many other professionals, including Dr. Liz Hall, who was formative in my development as a researcher, a psychologist, and a person.I (Liz) first encountered Lauren as a junior, in my Experimental Psychology class. Her research team proposed a semester project on gender, a topic in which I had substantial interest, and then proceeded to conceptualize and run a project of much higher quality and with more interesting results than the typical project in that class. Recognizing Lauren as the intellectual leader of the group, I suggested to her that she consider doing independent research, using the project as a starting point. Soon after, I invited her to attend my graduate research team, which led to my being her graduate school advisor and dissertation supervisor, and currently colla borator/collegial mentor. In many ways, we have gone through all possible developmental iterations of the mentoring process. In this paper, I provide the mentor's perspective, and particularly want to highlight the enjoyment and benefits of this role. Our hope is that by sharing some of our experiences with mentoring and being mentored, we can demonstrate to you the importance of mentoring as a part of your professional practice as Christian psychologists, and in so doing, benefit and bless the next generation.Johnson (2002) defined mentorship as follows:... a personal relationship in which a more experienced (usually older) faculty member or professional acts as a guide, role model, teacher, and sponsor of a less experienced (usually younger) graduate student or junior professional. A mentor provides the protege with knowledge, advice, challenge, counsel, and support in the protege's pursuit of becoming a full member of a particular profession, (p. 88)While the focus of research has most often been on the qualities and tasks of the mentor, more recent research emphasizes that both the mentor and the mentee bring important elements to the mentoring relationship. The mentee brings certain qualities, motivations and attitudes to the interactions with the mentor. In other words, mentorship is a two-way street (Padilla, 2005). For example, Lunsford (2011) found that students who had selected a career and who reported career certainty also reported higher quality mentoring relationships. These results suggest that students at more advanced stages of career development may be more motivated to engage in career-related mentoring, and consequently may benefit from it most.This has certainly been true in my (Lauren's) experience. My mentoring relationships became much more influential in my life the further along I went in my career. Two factors may account for the increased motivation among students at more advanced stages of career development. First, their motivation and drive to engage in their career of choice necessarily spills over into their utilization of resources to help them achieve that career of choice. Secondly, in the nascent stages of career development, after one has chosen a career path but is still just beginning to actualize it, there can be a heightened awareness of professional skill deficits. …
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