Thank you… 

Hello everybody and welcome to this session.  

My name is Tricia Bingham and I am a Learning Support services Librarian at the University of Auckland. 

Today I’m going to talk to you about how we developed a mentoring programme for library staff new to presenting and teaching at the University. 

So I’d like to start with an aspirational quote which I hope will frame the rest of my presentation and our approach to developing the programme

So why did we develop a Mentoring programme?

We currently run Presenter’s training for Library staff new to teaching. This  covers  theoretical and practical aspects of presenting.  After the training  a number of participants asked “where to next?”

The new presenters mentoring programme offered a chance for participants to work with a mentor to further develop their skills and work on specific teaching projects.

 In addition we run a generic Information Literacy skills programme for students and needed more trained presenters to teach these workshops so this was seen as a good way to add to our pool of teaching staff

We also have a very talented and experienced bunch of Libraries and Learning Services staff with a vast array of ecperience and this was a good way for them to pass on their knowledge and wisdom to less experienced staff..

Also over and above the skills gained we saw this a s a great professional development opportunity for both mentors and mentees which could  be aligned both the University of Auckland staff development programme Evolve and Lianza Body of Knowledge competencies.

And finally let’s not forget the feel good factor for both mentors and mentees. This also aligns nicely with the Mental Health foundation – five ways to wellbeing. Three of which are Give, Connect and Keep learning 

So have to confess to knowing very little about Mentoring so  in true Librarian fashion started out by doing some research. This very much informed the type and scope of the programme, We undertook a  fairly extensive literature review.as well as looking at existing programmes both at institutional and national level including the LIANZA Mentoring Programme for Professional Training Plan (PTP) development.
From this we decided we’d undertake a one year pilot facilitated by myself and my colleague with some input from a Learning adviser
We also realised that there are many different types of mentoring  programmes- ranging from mentoring for a specific skills to more general career progression. Ours was definitely more specific and situated ie just for presenting. We also wanted the programme to be Mentee lead and mentee driven. Mentees  identified the goals they wanted to work on. Mentor Just there to guide and offer assistance.
Also programmes range from very formal, institutionally run and mandated and structured to voluntary and unmonitored., We wanted to provide enough structure to get things moving but then to  step back and run.
Practical rather than theoretical ie Give tips and techniques which can be used eg. , how to  listen actively rather than pure theory of what active listening is.
Also through  researching  literature realised how much good stuff was out there so rather than reinventing the wheel we borrowed (with proper attribution) a number of practical ideas for training, and use by participants in metnorign  activities,     we also gained an understanding of what could go wrong so we could have plans in place to mitigate problems that might arise

So in all good faith figured “She’ll be alright I mean what can go wrong?

So I do want to talk a bit more about contingency plans as they shaped our approach ….. And we factored contingency plans into many aspects of our programme development

So here (As we discovered) from our literature are some of the things that can go wrong. 

Make a match in good faith and nothing happens. 

Skills needs and skills sets don’t match. Often looks good on paper but because skill development is iterative. Might start out with a goal but once achieved need more which mentro may not be able to provide,

Power dynamics when more senior mentors less senior including taking credit for others work, stymying career progression . Even with best intentions this is a concern for LAs

Situational. Situations either at work or home which impact on the mentoring relationship. Could be schedule changes – No longer available to meet or teach etc., someone resigns or called in to do a desk shift etc,

And finally there’s the intangible psychosocial aspect and I risk sounding like the world's worst matchmaker when I say sometimes the chemistry between to two people just isn’t right.

OK so essentially after all our research and contingency planning this is what we actually did to develop the programme and I’ll talk more about each of these elements in subsequent slides

Defined what we meant by mentoring
Called for our mentors and mentees
Matched mentors and mentees
Figured out what mentors/mentees needed to know and do.
And then trained mentors/mentees in this
Figured out what we needed to do to support and monitor our participants throughout the programme
And finally at the end of the pilot reviewed the programme

Important that we had an understanding of what mentoring was  which research helped with .  Wont go into too much detail here because I touch on this more in my paper to accompany the presentation  [ and covered by Lisa and Jennifer] 

But I will jsay that Understandable that it is a bit confusing because there are blurred lines between coaching, mentoring and counselling. All l three incorporate an element of change in either practice or behaviour

here are also blurred lines between professional development (skills development) and mentoring.    Different interpretations of what  a mentor is even from within our own organisation. One quote someone used was “Oh you mean like a buddy?”

Also had long conversation with a team leader who wanted to assign a mentor to one of her team to train them in some key skills. . They didn’t need a mentor but skills training. 

So we came up with an idea of what we meant by mentoring for this programme which follows the more traditional view we had identified in the literature.

First of all it would be voluntary ie not mandated or compulsory

It would only be related to developing presenting skills

It would be driven by the mentee’s goals with the mentor just there to listen, frame, support and guide

And to avoid the potential for power dynamics to come into paly it would not be within teams.

So now I’m going to talk about finding and matching, We had a few questions around this and contingency planning was essential 

Key problems
How do we match skills to ensure the mentee is getting what they need
How do we ensure confidentiality because trust is essential to effective mentoring relationships both between facilitators and participants,  and mentors and mentees,
What do we do if it doesn’t work. For example if a mismatch is identified or the mentor and mentee don’t get along.
Is it enough to base it  on skills. What about chemistry  I’ve mentioned earlier

So we began by sending out a call to experienced Librarians and Student Learning advisers asking them if they would like to mentor someone in presenting. 8 were interested.
I attended the presenter training programme and talked about mentoring and called for those who would like to be mentor ed.   
Leads to Matching 101 which rolling with the matchmaking metaphor mentioned previously is a bot like blind dating
Get mentors and mentees to fill out a brief profile form…Mentees. – experience, issues, goals/ Mentors – experience and what makes a good mentor
 The form clearly stated that this will only be seen by programme coordinators and prospective mentee mentors 
Receive forms – Make match, bearing in mind that we don’t want within team matches. And we were pretty happy with our matching in terms of skills and who might work well together
We then obscured the names on the proposed matches and began by sending the mentor form to the mentee. This was in keeping with our idea that thee programme be mentee led and driven they had first right of refusal. . If the mentees were OK with it we then sent the mentee form to the mentor and asked  if they were ok to proceed
 If both happy, tell them who their match is and encourage the mentor to contact the mentee. We did give an opt out clause though with no explanation for refusal needed. Nobody used this.

So once we had made our matches we needed to figure out what BOTH mentors and mentees needed to know  and do so w e could develop training.

So in terms of what they needed to know

Aims of the programme
What is a mentor?
Differences between coaching, mentoring and counselling
Suggested responsibilities and milestones
The first meeting

And in terms of what they needed to do or skills , this is what we identified
Specific – What are you trying to accomplish?             Measurable – How will you know you have achieved the goal, how will success be measured?
Action oriented – What will the mentee be able to do as a result of achieving the goal?        Realistic – Are the goals achievable, do other factors such as time frames, resources, departmental restrictions impact on goals?
Timely- Is reasonable time allocated and has a completion date been set.
As well as us knowing what could go wrong and having contingency plans they also needed these
One of the suggested responsibilities was peer observation by both mentor and mentee – Very empowering but quite new to mentees in a lot of cases
Active listening
Giving and receiving feedback
Closure- what to do once the goal is emt or if you want to end the relationship for another reason.
We also wanted to give them a way to reflect on the process s the introspection that comes from close examination of processes can have a positive impact on future practice. 

So once we came up with what they needed to know we came up with a training plan.

Separate handouts for mentors and mentees covering information discussed un previous slide
Ran a three hour workshop for mentors where we could further develop skills and they could discuss concerns
We had individual meetings with mentees because we felt it would give them more confidence in asking questions and addressing concerns and they really appreciated this.
Took a toolkit approach so as well as providing practical activities supplied templates and checklists they could use for key activities
three hour training session -
We wanted it to be constructivist with attendees coming up with their own understanding of mentoring processes and practices through discussion of key issues and through interaction with other participants. This meant we used a lot of discussion based activities. In terms of constructing share understanding  wherever possible e posed a question on a powerpoint, got them to discuss this and then we put their responses up onto the powerpoint which was later sent to them.,
Also wanted practical activities so rather than this is how to set a SMART goal we got them actually doing it.   FUN

So will show you a couple of examples of things used in training both from workshop and handouts. So here’s a training exercise that demonstrated constructivist approach.  This is a discussion question which they shared in small groups and then responded to…

So did our mentors so we also gave them a checklist (toolkit approach)  they could use if they wished to aid the peer observation process. Part of which is reproduced here…..

As mentioned this one was reproduced from Victoria University. 
 

As  it was important to get manager’s on board spoke at Library management  meeting and also approached individual managers when members of their team wanted to be mentored or to mentor. Explained philosophy of not having mentor from same team…. And that they might nrrf time off to meet ore engage in mentoring activties. Very very supportive.

Checked  in periodically and see how it’s going….. But in keeping with our hands off approach no 

Encouraged mentors and mentees to contact us at any time with concerns or issues or if they were unsure how to proceed. Important because aware that may be harder for mentee to address things with someone who is mentoring.. We did get some mentees contacting us to ask about particular situations, 

Reviewed through individual meetings and structured feedback at end of pilot and subsequent one year run,.

Six mentor-mentee pairs have completed/are completing. 3 pairs as part of pilot and three in subsequent year.    Mentees are assisting with generic teaching
Mentors and mentees saw the benefit and spoke positively about the experience    Good opportunity to develop teaching skills- All participants recognised the value of the programme as a way for new presenters to develop or build on existing teaching skills

Matching worked well on the whole.
Support materials - Both mentees and mentors appreciated the handouts, worksheets and checklists.
Initial workshop for mentors - Mentors on the whole found the initial workshop helpful especially being able to address concerns such as am I up to the task.
 Communication and Support – Mentors and mentees appreciated the reminder notices and didn’t feel pressured.
Networking opportunities - Several mentors and mentees commented that the programme had given them a wider understanding of the roles of Libraries and Learning Services staff outside their own areas including some staff being able to refer library suers to appropriate Library staff. 
 Professional and academic development beyond the programme itself - The programme enabled mentees to extend their skills in other areas. Eg. we had a couple fo staff who were also studying and the mentor was able to assist with presenting for a three minute thesis competition as well as Uni seminars. 

We did have a few areas for improvement and some of these we actioned during or after the initial pilot.
Although training  and the handouts was meant to reassure for some made it seem like a lot of work…. “What have we got ourselves into. In future would make expectations of time requirements clearer from the very outset.
We ended up producing a slightly shorter handout they could use instead of the longer one too. 
Also we were potentially a bit too hands off. They would have liked more reminders about what to do next and what expected milestones were and to have  these tied to activities in the handout. Eg. by about now you should be looking at your peer observation 
Although we had a reasonable pool of mentors to call upon, and attempts were made to match skill sets with mentee needs, this was not always successful particularly when dealing with specialised needs. Or iterative ones.   As I have mentioned Then once a goal is reached new ones emerge which the mentor may not be able to assist with.
 Handouts were  useful but underutilised – They really liked the handouts but they weren’t necessarily used that much. That’s OK . They were optional tools and it was up to mentors and mentee to sue them as they will.

 Some felt that the Mentoring Programme needed to be more closely ALIGNED with the Presenter’s programme eg. for those considering having a mentor include a session on the benefits and expectations of the Mentoring programme as part of the Presenter’s programme.       Provide mentors with an outline of the content of the Presenter’s training so they can align mentoring with the content, framework and direction of the programme.  Could also address this by developing  an integrated handout for both mentors and mentees so they know where each other is coming from. 
unclear exactly how the programme aligns with Evolve & LIANZA capabilities and competencies. Eg which competencies and BOKs does it specifically address and how might it be reflected in registration/revalidation activities.   
Some failure to launch…Despite good intentions on the part of both mentors and mentees. Mostly the failures were due to situational issues. We had one mentee resign 
Scheduling and shifting priorities was an issue especially given we had a lot of desk staff. So there were occasions where someone might have arranged to meet their mentor and they were called in at the last minute to take over from someone who’s sick. While managers were supportive we need to ensure they continue to give priority to the programme so that other work duties do not prevent full participation
Few opportunities to teach – Most teaching happens at the beginning of Semester which is a busy time for all staff.    Need to be aware of opportunities  and promote. Geographic location – Ensure mentor and mentees are on the same campus. We emphasised skill set matching which meant some mentors and mentees were on a different campus. This became prohibitive, in terms of travel.
It was quite clear from a number of mentees that although this had been worthwhile they actually wanted more formal career mentoring for career progression

So where to now?

Mentoring has been handed over to a newly formed Staff development Group I Libraries and Learning Services at the university who will be developing the programme further with some recommendations as follows: 

One of the recommendations we have is that the group  consider a more general mentoring programme for new graduates (ie not just for new presenters) to assist with professional development and career progression. Such a programme would also see the mentor as a “translator” of systems and policies at institutional or Library management level into everyday mentee activities and practice.

During mentoring Mentors said I could do with a refresher…    Consider extending the mentoring to include peer mentoring for subject librarians who may be more experienced but wish to brush up on or work on particular teaching skills and who would benefit from being observed by a peer.

Consider other forms of presenting as part of mentee goals e.g. if mentee is studying their goal may include presenting seminars, 3 minute thesis competition.
 

And that brings me to the end of my presentation. Are there any questions?