Mentoring Up:
Pro-actively managing your mentoring relationship
by assessing and applying your strengths
Los Angeles, CA
October 2014
Steve Lee, PhD
Graduate Diversity Officer
for the STEM Disciplines

What exactly is mentoring?
Traditional Mentoring
2
Questions,
advice, etc
Mentee Mentor

Any other aspects of mentoring?
Peer Mentoring
3
Peer Peer Peer

Any other aspects of mentoring?
“Mentoring Up”
4
Questions,
input, etc
Mentee Mentor

Based upon original concept of:
“Managing Up”
5
Questions,
input, etc
Manager Boss
Gabarro and Kotter, Harvard Business Review, 1980.

Mentoring up is:
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the mentee learning to pro-actively
manage their mentoring relationship
Questions,
input, etc
Mentee Mentor

Group Discussion #1
Consider a recent fruitful working
relationship. What made it work out well?
Consider another difficult working
relationship. Why do you think it became
so challenging?
7

Why do we have trouble
communicating effectively?
Group brain storming
Communication can be challenging when:
resolving conflicts
lack of communication
other person not listening
power differential
hierarchical
disagreement of interpreting data
feeling insecure
imposter syndrome
8

A key difficulty is realizing our own
communication preferences
Research shows we don’t self-assess accurately
Gallup survey: 97% said their leadership skills are at or
above average (!)
National study: rate student’s professional skills from 1-7
9
employers
alumni
faculty
4.27
4.73
4.41
students 5.16 (!)

Gabarro and Kotter also stress the
importance of assessing
a. the relationship involves
mutual dependence
between fallible persons
b. most superiors do not
spell out all their
expectations explicitly
c. ultimately, the subordinate
is responsible to discover
the superior’s expectations
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Gabarro and Kotter, HBR, 1980.
1. assess yourself and
your superior
2. apply this assessment
to develop a mutually
beneficial relationship

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Main Message
Assess:
Apply:
Assess yourself
others
accurately
Apply your
assessments
strategically

How do we assess ourselves?
How do we apply our assessment to
“mentor up”?
12
Group Discussion #2
Please refer to the handout
Complete the individual and group activities
Spend ~20 min

Let’s review aspects of mentoring:
Traditional mentoring
mentor to mentee
Peer mentoring
community of peers
“Mentoring up”
mentee pro-actively
engages in the mentoring
relationship
13

What skills are needed in
mentoring up?
Assess yourself and your mentor
Myers-Briggs
StrengthsFinder
myIDP website
seek research-based,
multiple assessments
Apply the assessment
refer to principles in mentoring relationships
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assess your needs:
trust
compassion
hope
stability

Mentoring up is NOT
False-flattery
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Manipulating your mentor

Mentoring up includes:
Acting with confidence
actively engage with
your mentor
seek to understand
your mentor’s
expectations
communicate your
goals and expectations
Treating with respect
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actively listen
practice “follow-ship”
determine and fulfill
your responsibilities
adapt to your
mentor’s needs

What principles are important in
mentoring relationships?
Communication
Aligning expectations
Assessing understanding
Ethics
17
Handelsman, Pfund, Branchaw, etc at U of WI
Entering Mentoring and Entering Research
Addressing equity and
inclusion
Fostering independence
Promoting professional
development

Resources
for mentors:
Handelsman, et al; Entering Mentoring
for mentees:
Branchaw, et al; Entering Research
Lee, McGee, Pfund, Branchaw
“Mentoring Up” chapter; accepted
“The Mentoring Continuum”; Glenn Wright, ed
This workshop’s slides and handouts:
Slideshare; search “Steve Lee SACNAS 2014”
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We always need mentors
in all stages of our lives
As we learn how to mentor up,
we also learn how to mentor others,
and create a supportive community.
19

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Take-Home Message
Assess:
Apply:
Assess yourself
others
accurately
Apply your
assessments
strategically

Thanks for your participation!
Any questions?
21
?
?
?

Mentoring Up:
Pro-actively managing your relationship with your research mentor
1
by assessing and applying your strengths
Steve Lee, PhD - Graduate Diversity Officer for the STEM Disciplines
at University of California, Davis; stnlee@ucdavis.edu
SACNAS – October 16, 2014 at 8:30-10 AM
• Individual Activity: adapted Myers-Briggs test for introverts/extroverts www.humanmetrics.com
o Select the answer that more accurately reflects your preferred behavior.
Yes No
You enjoy having a wide circle of acquaintances.
You are usually the first to react to a sudden event, such as the telephone ringing or
unexpected question.
You easily tell new people about yourself.
You spend your leisure time actively socializing with a group of people, attending
parties, shopping, etc.
You rapidly get involved in the social life of a new workplace.
The more people with whom you speak, the better you feel.
It is easy for you to speak loudly.
You enjoy being at the center of events in which other people are directly involved.
You feel at ease in a crowd.
It is easy for you to communicate in social situations.
Totals
o Scoring: add up the number of statements with which you answered “Yes” and “No”. Extroverts will
tend to answer Yes to most of these statements, and Introverts will tend to answer No.
• Success Types by John Pelley http://www.ttuhsc.edu/SOM/success/
Well-developed type skills Underdeveloped type skills
Extraversion
Active approach
Bring breadth
Introversion
Reflective approach
Bring depth
Extraversion
Hyperactive
Superficial
Introversion
Withdrawn secretive
Overly serious
What the Types Can Offer Each Other
EXTRAVERTS
• Provide the outwardly directed energy
needed to move into action
• Offer responsiveness to what is going on
in the environment
• Have a natural inclination to converse and
to network
INTROVERTS
• Provide the inwardly directed energy
needed for focused reflection
• Offer stability from attending to deep
ideas, and listening to others
• Have a natural tendency to think and work
alone

Group Activity: read the case study and answer the following questions
• John has been having trouble understanding his research professor’s expectations and goals for his
research. This is particularly frustrating for John, because he’s very friendly and gets along with most
people. He has weekly meetings with his professor, where he tells her all about his ups and downs from
his research progress, along with complications and successes. John is aware that he’s communicative
and talkative, so he believes that he’s doing a good job with informing his professor about his research
progress. But occasionally his professor will ask him a particular question that surprises him, because
John didn’t realize that she had wanted something else. John just wishes that she would explain more
clearly what she wants and expects, so that they can work better together. But she doesn’t seem to say
much during their meetings, and seems withdrawn from John’s perspective.
2
• Questions:
o Introduce yourselves in your group, and share your results from the test for introverts and
extroverts. Do you think the test and the tables helped you to determine or confirm your
preference to be an introvert or extrovert?
o From the case study, do you think John is an introvert or extrovert? Explain your reasoning,
referring to specific details mentioned in the case study.
o Do you think the professor is an introvert or extrovert? Explain your reasoning.
o How might John adapt, to work better with his professor? How can he improve his understanding
of her expectations for his research?
─ How might John use his strengths to help resolve his problem?
─ What underdeveloped type skills (see tables for some ideas) might John need to address as he
considers how to improve the communication with his professor?
o How would this relationship differ if John and his professor had their opposite types? This is a
tough, but important question! Think carefully and hard!
─ How might conflicts and miscommunications arise?
─ How can they effectively address or avoid their conflicts?
o Have you or someone in your group experienced similar situations, where you had different types?
Please share your situation: how the different preferences impacted the relationship, the
consequences, if the situation changed, how you dealt with the differences, etc.
• Thanks for coming to my workshop! I hope that it was helpful.
• If you would like to view and download the complete set of presentation materials and handouts,
please go to my account in www.slideshare.net .