These slides were from a Grad Pathways workshop at UC Davis on 5/8/2014. This was part #1 of an overall series on Mentoring Up: Learning to pro-actively manage your relationship with your research mentor. Part #1 dealt with communication.

1. Steve Lee, PhD
Graduate Diversity Officer
for STEM Disciplines
May 8, 2014
Learning to pro-actively manage your
relationship with your research mentor
Mentoring Up:

2. Group Discussion #1
How’s the relationship with your research professor?
How would you describe their mentoring style?
2
In what specific ways is it helpful and effective?
In what specific ways does it conflict with your
own communication or working styles?

3. What exactly is mentoring?
Traditional Mentoring
3
MentorMentee
Advice,
etc
● broad range of effectiveness in mentoring relationships
● unclear criteria for evaluating mentoring
● lack of training for mentees/mentors based on research
Multiple
problems:

4. Can mentoring be informed by
“Managing Up”?
4
BossManager
The concept of managing up came from
Gabarro and Kotter, Harvard Business Review, 1980, p 92.
Questions,
input, etc

5. What core skills are critical in
managing up?
5
Gabarro and Kotter interviewed managers, and
discovered core skills among effective managers:
1. You have a good understanding of
the other person and yourself
2. You use this information to develop
a healthy working relationship
Assess
Apply

6. Why do I need to assess myself?
Don’t I know myself?
6
In a Gallup
survey:
97% said their leadership skills
are at or above average (!)
Many don’t assess their strengths accurately
Points to importance of developing
metacognitive skills

7. Most students aren’t aware of their
strengths and weaknesses
Kruger and Dunning, 1999 and 2003.
7
0
20
40
60
80
100
Bottom
quartile
2nd
quartile
3rd
quartile
Top
quartile
%
Actual Test Score
Perceived Test Score

8. 8
We can improve our metacognitive skills by:
being aware of the context of our peers,
and by improving our competence.
Many don’t assess themselves
accurately, but there’s hope!
Kruger and Dunning, 1999 and 2003.

9. How do we assess ourselves?
How do we apply our assessment
to “mentor up”?
9
Please refer to the handout.
Complete the individual and group activities
Spend ~20 min
Activity #2

10. Are students sufficiently trained?
employers
alumni
faculty
students
10
discipline knowledge
technical skills
professional soft skills
communication
decision making
self-management
teamwork
professionalism
leadership
In a national study, people were asked what’s important.
There’s clearly a
conflict of priorities.

11. What principles are important in
mentoring relationships?
1. Communication
2. Aligning expectations
3. Assessing understanding
4. Ethics
12
Handelsman, Pfund, Branchaw, etc at U of WI
Entering Mentoring and Entering Research
5. Addressing equity and
inclusion
6. Fostering independence
7. Promoting professional
development

12. 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
13
identify your needs:
trust
compassion
hope
stability

13. Mentoring up is NOT
false-flattery
14
manipulating your mentor

14. Mentoring up includes:
Acting with confidence
actively engage with
your mentor
seek to understand
your mentor’s
expectations
communicate your
goals and expectations
15
Treating with respect
actively listen
practice “follow-ship”
determine and fulfill
your responsibilities
adapt to your
mentor’s needs
&

15. Our workshops will address:
1. Intro to Mentoring Up
Communicating Effectively
2. Aligning Goals and Expectations
3. Addressing Diversity
4. Fostering Independence
16
May 8
May 15
May 22
May 29

16. Suggested activities to develop
your metacognitive skills
17
Take an unofficial, free Myers-Briggs test
humanmetrics.com
Self-reflection exercises
7 success stories and 40 year vision
fiveoclockclub.com
Write and keep a journal

17. 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:
posted in Slideshare
18

18. 19
1. assess yourself and your superior
2. apply this assessment to develop a
mutually beneficial relationship

19. 1
Mentoring Up:
Learning to pro-actively manage your relationship
with your research mentor
Steve Lee, PhD
Graduate Diversity Officer
for the STEM Disciplines
stnlee@ucdavis.edu
May 8, 2014
Activity #1:
• Group Discussion
How is your relationship with your primary research professor/advisor? How would you describe your
professor’s mentoring style? In what specific ways is it helpful and effective? In what specific ways does it
conflict with your own communication or working styles? Try to be as specific as possible, as opposed to
simply saying that it’s good or bad.
The purpose of this question is to encourage us to reflect on our relationship with our research mentor,
and to begin to assess the relationship. We will discuss some means of how we can assess working and
communication styles.
Activity #2:
• Individual Assessment: adapted Myers-Briggs test from www.humanmetrics.com
o Select the answer that more accurately reflects your preferred behavior for introverts/extroverts.
Yes No
You enjoy having a wide circle of acquaintances.
You’re usually the first to react to sudden events and surprises.
You easily tell new people about yourself.
You spend your leisure actively socializing with groups 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.

20. 2
• 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 Discussion: read the case study and answer the following questions
Dan’s start in graduate school has not been as auspicious as he had hoped. He had applied to multiple
top-tier research universities, but wasn’t admitted into any of his favorite schools. He was finally
admitted into his “safety school” that was his last resort, and was grateful for the opportunity. But even
here he struggled to find a research advisor. He spoke with many professors, but was disappointed when
most faculty told him that tightened research budgets limited the number of students that they could
accept. Things seemed to finally turn a corner when Dan met Dr Nevan, a new assistant professor who
invited him into her research group.
After Dan joined Dr Nevan’s group, he began having trouble understanding her expectations and goals
for his research. This is particularly frustrating for Dan, because he’s very friendly and gets along with
most people. He has weekly meetings with her, where he tells her all about his ups and downs from his
research progress, along with complications and successes. Dan is aware that he’s communicative and
talkative, so he believes that he’s doing a good job with informing her about his research progress.
But recently she asked him questions that surprised him, because he didn’t realize that she had wanted
something else. Dan 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 Dan’s perspective.
Questions:
o 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 Dan is an introvert or extrovert? Explain your reasoning,
referring to details mentioned in the case study.
o Do you think Dr Nevan is an introvert or extrovert? Explain your reasoning.

21. 3
o How might Dan adapt to improve his understanding of Dr Nevan’s expectations for his research?
How might Dan use his strengths from his MB type?
─ What underdeveloped type skills (see tables above for some ideas) might Dan need to
address as he considers how to improve communications with his research mentor?
o What hints from the case study indicate that Dan isn’t accurately assessing himself?
o How might this situation be different, if Dan and Dr Nevan had their MB types switched? What
are some possible consequences of having switched types?
Suggested activities to develop your metacognitive skills
• Take an unofficial, free Myers-Briggs test
o humanmetrics.com
• Self-reflection exercises
o 7 success stories and 40 year vision
o fiveoclockclub.com
• Write and keep a journal
Resources
• Gabarro, John and Kotter, John. "Managing Your Boss." Harvard Business Review, 1980, pp 92-100.
• The slides and handouts from this workshop are available in my account in Slideshare.net.
Schedule
• Part 1: Communicating Effectively Thu May 8, 3:30-5 pm, SCC, Rm D
• Part 2: Aligning Goals and Expectations Thu May 15, 3:30-5 pm, SCC, Rm E
• Part 3: Addressing Diversity Thu May 22, 3:30-5 pm, SCC, Rm D
• Part 4: Fostering Independence Thu May 29, 3:30-5 pm, SCC, Rm D