BEWARE

ADMONITIONS

PROFESSOR JIM BRIGHT

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION ACU
PA R T N E R B R I G H T A N D A S S O C I A T E S C A R E E R M A N A G E M E N T

Everybody wants to give

career advice

THE LIMITS OF FORMAL MENTORING SYSTEMS

AND THE BENEFITS OF INFORMAL, EMERGENT
MENTORING

Jim Bright 2014

WADE COOK

DEFRAUDED
IRS

If youll do for a few years

Will get out medium

what most people wont

do, youl be able to do for
the rest of your life what
most people can't do

Jim Bright 2014

security Federal
Correctional Institution in
Sheridan, Oregon Jan
22nd 2015.

Jim Bright 2014

BEARDSTOWN
LADIES

2+2=23.4%
ANNUAL RETURN?

Actually when
If an investment seems to

good to be true, it
probably is. Don't fall prey
to get-rich-quick schemes

professionally audited =
9% return..
..LESS than market

indices
book pulped after class

action lawsuit

Jim Bright 2014

LET ME SELL
Y O U A T E S T. .

Jim Bright 2014

O H R E A L LY ?

If you use an assessment

process such as theHerrmann

Brain Dominance Instrument
(HBDI) or Myers Briggs Type
Indicator (MBTI) in the pairing
process, you will increase
mentor-mentee pairings
success rates, providing all the
other mentoring program
components are in place.

http://www.hrmtoday.com/talent/humanresources-management/one-reason-whymentoring-programs-fail/
Jim Bright 2014

Dissimilar mentor-mentee

personalities if anything
had better outcomes in a
High School student
program where the
effectiveness of mentoring
was mixed at best
Jolevski (2012)

Jim Bright 2014

"SUPPOSED"SUPPORT ROLES
the identification and nurturing of potential for
the whole person. It can be a long-term
relationship, where the goals may change but are
always set by the learner

Career
Counselling

Mentoring

Coaching
MEGGINSON & CLUTTERBUCK, 2004

Expert Tuition/
Training

Motivators

Jim Bright 2014

MENTORING
R E L AT I O N S H I P

Jim Bright 2014

High Clarity
- Open dialogue
- Shared expecatations
- Openess to mutual
benefit
- Sense of urgency

- Task Focussed
- Debate rather than
Dialogue

High

Low

Rapport

Rapport

- Friendship
- Lack of direction
- Opportunistic in
Dealing with Issues
- Short-term
perspective
- Friendship

- Going through the

Motions

W H AT S T H E
FUSS ABOUT?

1/8th of a standard

deviation improvement as
a result of mentoring
(Dubois et al 2002)

Low Clarity
(Adapted from Megginson & Clutterbuck, 2005)

Jim Bright 2014

Jim Bright 2014

MENTORING
M E TA A N A LY S I S

ITS ALL DUE

TO GOALS

10% showed average effects in a

negative direction (i.e., those who

received mentoring were worse off),

1/3 yielded effects that were close to

zero (i.e., neither positive nor

negative),

Remainder positive impacts ranged in

size from small to large.

Findings indicated that the typical

yperson received only modest benefits

from participating in a mentoring
program

Mentoring program

failure might occur

because the programs
goals are either fuzzy, or
theyre all over the place
Jan Rose, Capital H Group
Principal

DuBois et al (2002)
Jim Bright 2014

O H R E A L LY ?

Jim Bright 2014

TOO SPECIFIC

SMART goals can dull

responsiveness to the
complex and emergent
nature of organizational
life, as well as the coaching
and mentoring
engagements that take
place within itp24
Clutterbuck & David (2013)

Jim Bright 2014

[Setting and pursuing

specific goals ] may cause

people to ignore
important dimensions of
performance that are not
specified by the goalsetting system (p. 8).
Ordez et al. (2009)

Jim Bright 2014

TOO SHORT
SIGHTED

10 QUESTIONS BEFORE GOAL SETTING

1.Are the goals too specific? Narrow goals blind people to important aspects problem.
2.Are the goals too challenging? What if goals are not met? Failure harm motivation &
self-efficacy?
3.Who sets the goals?
4.Is the time horizon appropriate? Short-term goals may harm long-term performance.

[narrow goals can

5.How might goals influence risk taking? Unmet goals may induce risk taking.

promote] myopic, shortterm behavior that harms

the organization in the
long run (Ordez et al.,
2009, p. 8)

6.How might goals influence unethical behaviour?

7.Can goals be idiosyncratically tailored for individual circumstances & preserve
fairness?
8.How will goals influence organisational culture?
9.Are individuals intrinsically motivated? Goal setting can harm intrinsic motivation.
10.What type of goal (performance or learning) best for organisational objectives?

Jim Bright 2014

Jim Bright 2014

it is difficult to make predictions, especially about

the future
K. K. STEINCKE, GOODBYE AND THANKS (1948),
QUOTES IT AS A PUN USED IN THE DANISH
PA R L I A M E N T I N T H E L AT E 1 9 3 0 S .

Jim Bright 2014

Jim Bright 2014

 Jim Bright 2014

Jim Bright 2014

FORMAL
M E N T O R I N G FA I L S

FORMAL MENTORING

Treats individuals and the

Policies, Procedures

world as closed systems

Assumes
Linear progress towards

goals knowable in
advance

Career Ladders
Transitions, Pathways
Planning Goals

Imposes rules and

Structured Mentoring

routines and fixed

expectations
Jim Bright 2014

Jim Bright 2014

EMERGENT(COMPLEX) SYSTEMS

Gather round

Policies as guides not as rules,

Exceptions, errors,
Disruptive events (Behaviours, technologies),

unplanned events,

Limits of predictability,
Emergent stability, dynamic order
Jim Bright 2014

EMERGENT MENTORING

Jim Bright 2014

EMERGENT
MENTORING

Dynamic Equillibrium

Continual change,
Unexpected change,

Clarity is not always

high
shift happens

Non-linearity,
Continual reinvention,
Flexibility, adaptability, creativity, opportunity awareness,

Edge of Chaos
sweet spot

Emergent Mentoring

Networks as interconnectedness,
Leverage

Emergent Mentoring Bright 2014

Jim Bright 2014

(Adapted
Jim
Bright 2014from

Megginson & Clutterbuck, 2005)

EMERGENT
MENTORING
Mentoring can take only

five seconds (non linearity)

Structure and guidelines

are a last resort when

everything else is failed

If progress reports are so

good at keeping us on
track how come we don't
have progress reports
about progress reports?
Jim Bright 2014

EMERGENT
MENTORING
(ACCORDING TO SIRI)

Emergent mentoring arises

out of positive
interactions, chance
encounters and sometimes
necessity. Emergent
mentoring is generally
likely to be more
successful and satisfying
than more structured top
down mentoring
Jim Bright 2014

EMERGENT
MENTORING
(ACCORDING TO SIRI)
Mean mandatory mentees

makes Mormons mentoring

magic mandatory

or
Me mandatory in cheese

makes more mentoring

mandatory

= Motivated mentors make

mentoring more meaningful

Jim Bright 2014

EMERGENT
MENTORING
Mentoring when done well

is a two-way process and at

times the mentee will
become the mentor,
particularly in areas such as
passing on organisational
intelligence, explaining new
concepts or technologies.
This process makes the
mentor more approachable
and models continuous
learning
Jim Bright 2014

F R A C TA L M E N T O R I N G
Over time
consistently

Mentoring recognised
!

LIGHT TOUCH
R E G U L AT I O N

No forms

No compliance

No progress reports

and rewarded at
every level, across
groups, schools,
faculties

No SMART goals
No burden

Jim Bright 2014

Jim Bright 2014

REWARD
MENTORING
KPIs of all staff

A N D F I N A L LY. .

When you know what you

Self - career trajectories,

opportunity awareness,
People - Pep conversations

- prioritise, engage, positive

Promotion criteria

are talking about, people

will follow you, because its
safe to follow you
Richard Fuld
Commencement Address

encourage staff to note

mentoring exchanges
Jim Bright 2014

University of Colorado,
Boulder, 2006
Jim Bright 2014

LEHMAN
BROS CEO

REFERENCES
David, S, CLutterbuck, D, Megginson, D. (2013). Beyond Goals: Effective Strategies for Coaching

and Mentoring. Gower: London

On Sept. 15, 2008, led

Lehman Brothers into the

largest bankruptcy in U.S.
history
Fuld was hauled before

Congress and made to answer

for the firms demise. If you
havent discovered your role,
Republican Representative
John Mica of Florida told him,
youre the villain.
Jim Bright 2014

DuBois, D., Holloway, B., Valentine, J., & Cooper, H. (2002). Effectiveness of mentoring programs for

youth: A meta-analytic review. American journal of community psychology, 30(2), 157. Retrieved
from Academic Search Elite database on June 4,2010.

Human Resource Management. Retrieved from http://www.hrmtoday.com/talent/human-resources-

management/one-reason-why-mentoring-programs-fail/ 14/5/2014

Joleski, T. (2012). The personality matching of mentors and mentees in a youth mentoring program.

Retrieved from https://ritdml.rit.edu/bitstream/handle/1850/15107/TJolevskiThesis4-9-2012.pdf?

sequence=1 14/5/2014

Megginson, D. & Clutterbuck, D. (2005). Techniques for Coaching and Mentoring. Elsevier: London
Ordez, L.D., Schweitzer,M.E., Galinsky, A.D., & Bazerman, M.H. (2009). Goals gone wild: The

systemic side effects of overprescribing goal setting. Academy of Management Perspectives, 23 (1),
616.

Jim Bright 2014