October 2006 ISSUE
Q&A: June Anonson,
National Mentoring Conference
Dr. June Anonson, RN, will present at APEGGA’s first-ever National
Mentoring Conference, Mentoring the Mentor, which takes place in Edmonton Nov.
6 and 7. The conference is designed to help members and others develop their
techniques and their programs.
Dr. Anonson, who’s talk is called the Gift of a Mentor, is the assistant dean of the University of Saskatchewan College of Nursing. She has won numerous medals, fellowships and other honours, and has published numerous articles and papers.
The PEGG provided a list of questions for Ms. Anonson. Here are her responses.
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Q What is the gift of a mentor?
A To me there are three gifts. The first is the willingness to invest in another
human being — without fear of competition or dictates of pride based on
insecurity. In this day of “me first,” a mentor who stands willing
to impart hard-gained knowledge and experience is almost an anachronism.
The second gift of a mentor is to instill confidence in tyros (sometimes called
mentees or the protégés) by believing in them and thus helping
them to believe in themselves.
The third gift is to the respective profession itself. The mentor has a concern for the profession that encourages one to pass on the tenets, technology and mores — and indeed professionalism itself — to a new professional.
A mentor is a person upon whom I look with respect for his/her innate qualities, someone who inpires me by his/her sense of integrity, knowledge, sound judgment, sharing insights in a search for truth rather than as one who “knows it all,” a person able to affirm qualities in others without it sounding like flattery, a person with a special sense of availability whom I will recall as “being there” in my time of need. A mentor calls forth the best in me and reveals my potentials to me.
A mentor gives you a sense of safety that in the decisions you make and the situations you face, you are not alone. There is someone there to support and guide you through the process without judging or evaluating you. That you know, no matter how big your mistakes are, someone will give you constructive feedback, and provide a supportive hand up out of the chaos.
Q How has being mentored helped you in your professional life? And how has being a mentor helped you?
A The main benefit I have personally derived is the three gifts of mentoring
I’ve just mentioned.
Mentoring has allowed me to review my profession and to look at it in more of
a theoretical rather than an applied technical way. This refreshes us and in
a sense revitalizes us, regardless of how jaded we may have become.
This in turn causes us to look at the profession, the technology, and maybe even the raison d’etre through the eyes of someone not jaded by experience, successes and failures.
It may lead to us understanding that we can become jaded in our chosen profession, even if we have been outstandingly successful.
The trust that invites people to come to me in confidence — this moves me profoundly, as I feel lacking in the wisdom hat mentoring implies.
Being a mentor has allowed me to critically reflect on my own results and decisions, and to explore multiple outcomes as I realize I am not the only one involved, and that others are watching and learning from my movements as well.
The call to mentoring develops in me insights which I would not otherwise utilize. It develops a sense of gratitude towards those who call forth from me the skills required to help others. Then I use these new skills in other situations.
As for being mentored, I recall especially the people who helped me to develop administrative judgment, skills and principles which have guided me immensely. Being mentored has allowed me to learn through my experiences, as if I was taking a class but with real-life results.
Q It seems like there’s a strong connection between being mentored and becoming a mentor. How would you describe that?
A To me there is a very straightforward answer — both the mentor and the person being mentored will come away from the experience with a strong feeling of the benefits derived from the activity. A person who has received solid and meaningful mentoring is far more likely to enter into a mentoring activity as a mentor than one who has not experienced this. It is a simple matter of perceived and experienced benefit.
For some it is much like being a student and then becoming the teacher. Some feel they had good experiences and want others to have similar experiences. Some feel they could do better and want to create better experiences for others. Some find the value in the mentor/mentee role and naturally evolve into the next step.
Q The health professions, nursing in particular, were ahead of the curve when it comes to promoting mentoring and developing mentoring programs. Any insights into how or why this is the case?
A This still has not fully developed within the nursing profession, although there is now wide understanding of the need that it do so. Because of this late development and recognition of need, the profession had to survive by establishing a level of mentoring likely not seen since the days of the indentured apprentice.
There was no other way for the nurse to learn the intricacies of the emergency room or the operating room or the intensive care unit — or the prenatal unit or the long-term care unit or the cancer ward or disaster triage and so on. I believe it is because of the need for mutual support and because health professions are complementary, and we need to draw on consultative actions for problem-solving.
I think with our caring and empowering nature, we naturally sought to support each other and create formal means of guidance.
Q How important is mentoring in the professional world?
A Extremely important. It is the stopgap between technological development and academic response. Academia is slow at picking up changes and trends and incorporating them into curriculum, and it always will be. Nor can a program of continuing education provide this interim need.
Mentoring allows a profession to proceed with newfound equipment and processes — without the catch-up time required to produce new professionals trained and competent in the new technology. This formal academic acknowledgement of course has to eventually happen and will. I don’t think that this phenomenum is as evident in any profession as it is in health care — and in particular nursing.
We cannot do it alone, so mentoring is key in creating a bridge from not knowing to knowing, with support and guidance. It allows for old knowledge to mix with new knowledge, and it creates learning for everyone.
I can not think of one mentoring experience when I left the relationship without thinking that both mentor and mentee grew and were enriched by the experience.
Mentoring is critical. It engenders trust in the people involved in the process and in the organization it occurs.
Q How easy a sell is mentoring to professionals? It seems that informal mentoring is older than history, but is there resistance to more formalized mentoring?
A In our business and professional world today we have turned information and knowledge into commodities. It has become a currency to use within the workplace to foster our own advancement, or at least to carry out our chosen agenda.
Sadly, this agenda may or may not be in line with the goals and objectives of the organization. In fact it could be counter to the well-being of the organization. This is not a fantasy; this happens, and when it does all interpersonal assistance, including mentoring, grinds to a stop.
When this happens the entire organization can be placed at varying degrees of vulnerability — from being unable to cope with technological change as fast a competitors, to ceasing to develop people who will carry the organization in the future.
If this situation comes about, it is virtually impossible to initiate and sustain meaningful formalized mentoring. This brings a secondary crisis of the potential for losing good people.
Individuals also resist formalized mentoring simply through a lack of confidence in themselves and thus a mistaken notion that they are vulnerable and at risk. Ironically, not mentoring probably puts them in a position of greater vulnerability.
Health care continues to struggle with recruitment-and-retention issues within its professional population. I believe that the practice of healthy mentoring relationships in an organization can significantly impact this in a very positive way. If professionals understand this concept, I believe that mentoring will not be a difficult sell.
A friend told me this story: “I once worked for a man who often and loudly proclaimed that his greatest wish and ambition in his professional career was to work for someone that he had mentored! Seldom did I meet a man so confident and proficient in his profession, and his mentoring of me drove me to understand the wisdom and the power of this activity. I could not help but see it. His is the correct attitude.”
Some do not mind providing mentorship, but when asked to articulate it or document it, it becomes a hassle. It is just natural to support others, but some do not want to be questioned or evaluated on their actions. I believe it is related to our personalities and how each of us is hard-wired, whether we do it, enjoy it or are good at it.
Q What are some of the benefits of formalizing a mentoring program?
A Formalized mentoring allows a manager or mentor to organize the various experiences that a young profession must work through to benefit and meet the need of the organization. Formalized mentoring assists young professionals in determining and organizing their career paths as well.
Here’s a story to illustrate my point.
“One of the greatest successes that I experienced in the field of mentoring resulted from a decision I made to turn the responsibility for hiring young professions over to my employees in their respective fields. I felt practicing professionals were in a better position to evaluate the professional strengths of the candidates than I was, because I was somewhat removed from the practical applications.
“However, almost immediately I began to see and experience a surge in meaningful and well-applied mentoring. Then I realized that this resulted from a feeling of responsibility and ownership that the older employees had for the one they recommended hiring.
“The effect was so significant that it dramatically reduced the development time required for the new professionals.
“Thus, this was a wonderful benefit to the profession, the professionals (both old and new), the organization and myself. But above all the trainees, in addition to learning the ins and outs of the business, see the long-term potential of their career as reflected by those doing the mentoring.”
It is my experience that it also boosts the morale of the mentors, for reasons I’ve already explained here.
I believe that professions are enriched by having new sources from which to draw knowledge to enrich their own area of development.
Formalized mentoring gives direction, guidance and information to others. It acknowledges what is being done, and it gives it a voice.
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