Nurturing and Mentoring Task Force

Mentoring: A Skill Professional Statisticians Can Develop

A point of view offered by Rich Allen

From: http://www.amstat.org/profession/mentoring/pdfs/AllenANArticle.pdf

Author’s Note: The following material was originally compiled for a proposed panel discussion. It is presented to stimulate thought and discussion on actions and approaches that can be taken to help others improve performance in the many roles through which statisticians interact. The material is not based on clinical trials, probability selected samples, or modeling techniques. Instead, it summarizes 40 years of observing individuals who achieved solid mentoring results.

Mentoring has received considerable attention in recent years as a best practice. It may be seen by some as a “quick fix” to improve communication and professional skills within an organization. There seems to be an implication that just deciding to become a mentoring organization is sufficient. An organization might not define what it means by mentoring or it might over-prescribe actions that mentors must take.

This article agrees that mentoring can be a very powerful force for an organization—and for individuals. It contends that most professional statisticians can benefit others through mentoring—and likely reap personal benefits at the same time. The article also proposes that successful mentoring is more a specific mindset and an approach to communication, rather than learning a set of specific rules of operation.

What Is a Mentor?

Sometimes it is helpful to describe what something is by first clarifying what it is not. That may particularly be the case in defining what is meant by a mentor.

A mentor is not a teacher. Most teachers are concerned with a student learning specific facts or techniques in order to solve predetermined problems or questions. A teacher also is usually charged with evaluating or grading performance. A mentor helps people learn how to analyze new problems and challenges, rather than insisting on a particular approach or solution.

A mentor is not a supervisor. Supervisors usually are responsible for completing assignments or projects under specific constraints and often within prescribed time frames. Supervisors also are asked to rate subordinates’ skills and performance levels and perhaps even determine their future pay levels. Mentors are less judgmental and more focused on learning approaches for long-term accomplishments.

A mentor is not a parent. Most parents, when asked questions by their children, feel they must have answers. Mentors often provide a great service by being able to say, “That is a good question. I have often wondered about that myself. Here are a few wrinkles I have thought about.” Also, parents have responsibility for children up to some point, and it is sometimes difficult to determine how to change the role. Mentors help others to learn about their own responsibility in directing their actions.

A mentor is not a role model. Role models are important to organizations and to individuals. They often are people who have overcome specific obstacles or who have excelled in a particular field or organization. They may have become successful due to some specific personality trait or some set of circumstances not applicable to people who might try to emulate them. Mentors may be very successful, but they influence and help one being mentored through their specific approaches to new situations and interactions with others, not just by being a success.

A mentor does not have to be an older or more senior person. Within an organization, employees with new skills who are openly willing to help others may be an inspiration and mentor to more experienced colleagues and staff members.

Of course, few things are absolute. Teachers can be successful mentors. Many supervisors may be imparting important lessons for solving future problems (and therefore mentoring) while directing current work assignments. Most parents and role models hopefully provide valuable mentoring as they demonstrate how to handle life and career challenges.

Thus, we might define a mentor as one who helps others develop the skills to reach professional and personal goals. The mentor acts as an informal sounding board to lead the one being mentored into discovering the best courses of action.

What Does a Mentor Do?

A successful mentor carries out many roles, adjusting techniques to the needs of specific situations. There is no exhaustive list of actions, and just a few are presented for illustration. The examples below are specifically applicable to the situation in which an organization asks a person entering a training program to select a mentor. That mentor may be someone who participated in the program or someone who has risen to a higher position in the organization —the type of position the one being mentored may aspire to.

A mentor listens. The first thing the newly selected mentor should do is to carefully listen to the questions and ideas of the one being mentored. What does he or she want to accomplish? How much time is he or she willing to devote? Are there any special requirements that the organization will place on the one being mentored and the mentor?

A mentor questions. After understanding the original thoughts of the one being mentored, the mentor expands the thinking by asking “what if” questions such as “What types of special projects has the one being mentored considered?” “What are the short-term goals of the one being mentored?” “What are the resources the one being mentored has available to him or her?” “Are there specific skills the one being mentored wants to develop?”

After understanding the objectives and tentative plans of the one being mentored, the mentor suggests alternatives to consider. The suggestions should be broad based. For example, the mentor might ask if the one being mentored would consider additional training on technique A or technique B. The mentor might point out that the one being mentored could work on specific skills by volunteering for activity C or activity D.

In programs such as the one being described, the one being mentored often has to complete specific progress reports or summarize plans and accomplishments. The mentor evaluates the draft submissions. Notice that he or she “evaluates” —not grades or corrects. Instead, the technique is to question whether the intent of the assignment has been met and to suggest other possible formats and aspects that might help to better complete the assignment. On the surface, the mentor is helping to complete this program, but the true purpose is helping the one being mentored hone his or her skills and decision making processes for the future.

What Skills Should a Mentor Possess or Develop?

The preceding section outlined some specific actions a mentor might take in a fairly controlled example. This section is intended to describe some traits that will help a mentor be successful. A mentor must be patient. Mentoring is not a quick fix to a specific problem. A mentor may work with the one being mentored for quite a while to improve particular skills. Progress may be disappointing in the short run. That is the time to question, evaluate, and suggest the techniques discussed above and identify other approaches to take, possibly a step at a time, to continue improvement.

A mentor must be open to questions. People learn in various ways. Some observe behaviors they want to emulate and are able to proceed. Others may see a desired goal but not understand how to achieve it. This requires a different type of patience. A breakthrough is reached when a mentor can help the one being mentored find answers to his or her own questions.

A mentor should focus on what he or she would like to learn if in the circumstances of the one being mentored. Most successful individuals have practical skills that are now second nature. For example, many people realize the title of a draft report might be in error and not notice. Each reviewer reads the body of the report and likely checks numeric relationships, but the title is often taken for granted (but possibly has changed or has spelling errors). You may automatically double check the title and other report features, but you need to realize you have learned to do so in order to teach others. Another example is the technique of rereading a request letter—after the draft response has been created. Too often, a responder answers the first question or the main question in an incoming letter and forgets that other questions are also in the request. Again, it takes conscious effort to understand second-nature skills and to pass them on.

A mentor must be prepared to accept less than perfect results. (Remember that a mentor is not the teacher or the supervisor.) If the one being mentored is trying to build specific skills, he or she might have several shortcomings to overcome. Identify improvements made in the short run, and compliment that effort. Then, help the one being mentored to identify other improvements to incorporate the next time.

How Does a Mentor Demonstrate Appropriate Actions, Skills, and Behaviors?

Most of the material presented above has described fairly basic one-on-one relationships between mentors and who he or she is mentoring. Some of the most important skills a mentor can demonstrate are those needed to adjust to changing priorities or emergencies. An experienced professional may automatically triage multiple demands and set a course of action from force of habit. A good mentoring technique would be to list all of the competing demands and discuss the list with the one being mentored. The one being mentored is thus being asked to question, evaluate, and suggest—essentially starting to learn the roles of a mentor.

Conclusion

This article suggests that mentoring is truly an approach to communication with others and not a series of rules to follow. Hopefully, most people can see themselves in some past communication in which they successfully mentored someone else (perhaps without even realizing it) or received powerful mentoring from another. Build on those experiences and incorporate approaches such as the ones in this article into your daily communications. �

Government Statistics Section pages prepared by:     Bill Wong.
Last updated:     July 26, 2007.