Table 2.
Themes of a Yearlong Mentoring of a Clinician-educator
| Content |
| Effective Education: |
| Adult learning theory |
| Learner-centered learning |
| Leadership Skills: |
| Managing conflict |
| Enhancing motivation |
| Giving feedback |
| Collaboration |
| Mentee's Personal Growth: |
| Managing time |
| Obtaining reliable feedback |
| Becoming a more sophisticated teacher |
| Tolerating the vulnerability needed to change |
| Retaining individuality/creativity in teaching |
| Mentee's Professional Growth and Skills: |
| Small group facilitation |
| Evaluating attending rounds |
| Lecturing |
| Resident-as-teacher/faculty development |
| Teaching the medical interview |
| Teaching at the bedside |
| Videotape review |
| Moderating a panel |
| Conducting research |
| Evolution of Mentor-Mentee Relationship: |
| Mentoring others |
| Process |
| Mentor: |
| Focuses the agenda |
| Guides the process of the meeting |
| Clarifies goals of mentee |
| Challenges the mentee to expand his goals |
| Tracks personal issues of the mentee, making links over time |
| Helps mentee clarify feelings |
| Provides information |
| Provides resources (references to others, secretarial support) |
| Provides feedback |
| Shares feelings honestly |
| Mentee: |
| Provides meetings content by telling stories (e.g., “this is what I’ve done”) |
| Values Demonstrated: |
| The relationship centers on the needs of the mentee |
| Commitment to resolve conflict |
| Honesty |
| Trust |
| Respect |
| Willingness to take risks |
| Explicit focus on the process and progress of the relationship |
| Growth over Time |
| As year progresses, mentor shares more personal issues, collaborates more. |
| Early, mentor listens, gives feedback. In the middle, they collaborate (logistics, action, agreement, project coordination); mentor becomes more active toward end. |
| Together they analyze shared experience, with mentor providing analysis early and later mentee doing this for himself. |
| They talk about their own mentoring process: |
| Mentor gives feedback about sessions, enjoyment, reflects on mentee's progress. |
| Mentee gives feedback on process, enjoyment, self-progress, but does not give feedback to mentor. |
| Mentee more self-reflective; mentor more process and other-reflective. |