On Being Ready, Willing, and Able

by Sarah Kain Gutowski, Chair, New Member Mentoring Program

Congratulations! You've worked here for a full month!

It was fantastic seeing so many of you at the first event of the New Member Discussion Series. I hope that those of you who attended learned much from our lovely three panelists, Jared Dowd, Dawn Wing, and Jill Malik. All three gave us a lot of insight into creating balance and establishing positive, working relationships in the first year.

In the next few weeks I'll be posting the notes and talking points from Jared, Dawn, and Jill's presentations, archiving them here on the blog so that those of you who could not attend will still be able to benefit from their individual perspectives and advice. Of course, the only way to benefit from someone else's story is to be willing, first and foremost, to truly hear what he or she is saying. And this leads me to the topic of today's post.

Friday's NMDS: See? We had fun!

Mentoring is not something that happens to another person, an act we bestow or inflict on another living being. Mentoring is a relationship, which means it's symbiotic, and mentors benefit from interactions with mentees as much as the new faculty member gains insight from the veteran member. And for both parties to gain, and feel the benefits of the mentoring relationship, an extremely important element needs to be present: openness.

Such openness to mentoring may seem easy and like a no-brainer to some of you, but for others, particularly if you've been kind of wary of this New Member Program thing, the following excerpt from Hal Portner's "Being Mentored: A Guide for Protégés” (published by Corwin Press, and adapted by NYSUT’s Education & Learning Trust for a seminar they hold regularly on mentoring) might help you get the most out of this next year:

Be ready – “Wholeheartedly accept the opportunity to be mentored”

Be willing – You need to “believe that you have an ongoing need to learn . . . When you are doing something you believe in – when what you are doing sits well with your set of values and is relevant to your life – you will do it better; you will do it with passion.” Additionally, you need to “have confidence that being mentored . . . can make a difference between success and failure.” And lastly, you must  believe that “being mentored can help you remain in the profession and have a satisfying and gratifying career.”

Be able – “Whether you have a mentor who offers little help or support, or a mentor who throws so much information and help your way that you are constantly overwhelmed, or a mentor who is . . . experienced [and] who understands how to work effectively with a protégé, you will still get more out of being mentored if you are ‘able’. Being able means having the knowledge, skills and understanding necessary to be proactive in the mentoring process. Being proactive means not only being ready and willing to access the resources available to you, but also being empowered to do so.”

Finally, NYSUT’s Education & Learning Trust offers new faculty members these “Principles for Success”:

• Take the initiative when it comes to having your needs met as a protégé.

• Avoid making assumptions about your mentor’s plans and expectations.

• Solicit feedback from your mentor as a way to improve.

• Receive feedback objectively.

• Attempt to construct ways to learn from seemingly untenable situations.

• Take responsibility for your personal well-being.

• Contribute to the learning of other educators. 

So, to these ends, I would take the next step and mark on your calendars the date of the New Member Bagel Brunch that will be occurring on your campus this month. The dates, times, and places are as follows:

October 14 -- Grant New Member Bagel Brunch (Captree 113, 11:00 a.m. - 12:20 p.m.)
 
October 21 -- Eastern Bagel Brunch  (Corchaug 18, 11:00 a.m. - 12:20 p.m.)
 
October 28 -- Ammerman Bagel Brunch  (Alumni Room, Brookhaven Gym, 11:00 a.m. - 12:20 p.m.)

At each brunch, FA officers and New Member Program campus coordinators will be present to answer any questions you may have, tell you a little more about the college, and give you your very own shiny white NYSUT "promotion folder" -- the savvy faculty member's secret weapon when it comes to building (and keeping track of) a successful career.

So: Mark the date of your campus bagel brunch, continue to open my emails and read these blog posts (!), and extend a hand and an open ear when your mentor comes to say hi or checks in via email. We are, after all, ready, willing, and able, too!

On Being Open to the Mentoring Process

by Sarah Kain Gutowski, New Member Program Chair

This Friday, from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. in the Eaton's Neck Room of the Ammerman Campus, the FA and the Office of Faculty and Professional Development will host the second event in our FA New Member Discussion Series, titled "The Long View: Anticipating and Planning Your Career at SCCC."

This event -- featuring Dr. William Burns, Teri Morales, and yours truly -- will focus on presenting personal and anecdotal approaches to professional development. We hope to share practical and moderate approaches to work/life balance while at the college, along with advice on creating what I think of as "work/work balance" -- an equal (and desirable) distribution of time and energy among ALL facets of your career: the duties and responsibilities that come with your job title (as teaching/non-teaching faculty), service, and presentation/publication.

Isn't November supposed to be gray and damp?

Hopefully, you'll leave this event with very concrete ideas about how to navigate your first promotion and the years beyond, gaining the kind of advice, warnings, and inspiration that most of us mid-career types wish we'd been privy to when we began teaching at Suffolk.

One of the things I wish I'd known when I first began working at SCCC -- and was assigned my very own mentor through the New Member Program -- is the following: 

Mentoring is a reciprocal relationship. 

Most of us regard being mentored as a passive role, but it's much more dynamic than that if it's conducted appropriately and correctly. So I thought that this week, before we present our second installation of the discussion series in our mentoring program, I'd share something I learned a few years back at the “ELT (NYSUT’s Education & Learning Trust) Seminar on Mentors” co-sponsored by The Office of the Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs and the Faculty Association.

The first three points come from a handout the ELT constructed, in which they quote Hal Portner, author of the book “Being Mentored: A Guide for Protégés” (Corwin Press). Portner asserts that in order to get the most out of mentoring, you should “be” the following:

Be ready – “Wholeheartedly accept the opportunity to be mentored”

Be willing – You need to “believe that you have an ongoing need to learn . . . When you are doing something you believe in – when what you are doing sits well with your set of values and is relevant to your life – you will do it better; you will do it with passion.” Additionally, you need to “have confidence that being mentored . . . can make a difference between success and failure.” And lastly, you must  believe that “being mentored can help you remain in the profession and have a satisfying and gratifying career.”

Be able – “Whether you have a mentor who offers little help or support, or a mentor who throws so much information and help your way that you are constantly overwhelmed, or a mentor who is . . . experienced [and] who understands how to work effectively with a protégé, you will still get more out of being mentored if you are ‘able’. Being able means having the knowledge, skills and understanding necessary to be proactive in the mentoring process. Being proactive means not only being ready and willing to access the resources available to you, but also being empowered to do so.”

I think these three points can be very eye-opening and valuable, if you attempt to put them into practice. Mentoring involves not just humility -- admitting that you don't know everything and could benefit from guidance -- but a willingness to make the relationship work by helping your mentor shape the process. Ask specific questions. Let him or her know what you need. Offer feedback about the help and advice you receive -- let your mentor know what works for you, what doesn't, and what could use tweaking or adjustment.

Finally, the ELT handout offered these “Principles for Success”:

• Take the initiative when it comes to having your needs met as a protégé.
• Avoid making assumptions about your mentor’s plans and expectations.
• Solicit feedback from your mentor as a way to improve.
• Receive feedback objectively.
• Attempt to construct ways to learn from seemingly untenable situations.
• Take responsibility for your personal well-being.
• Contribute to the learning of other educators.

 I look forward to seeing you at Friday's event!
 

The Art of Being Mentored

by Sarah Gutowski, Chair, New Member Mentoring Program

You may have noticed that earlier this week, we were all sent an email from Chris Gherardi, College Associate Dean of the Office of Faculty & Professional Advancement, about a workshop on mentoring that will be held this Friday, October 18, from 9 to 11:30 a.m. in the Mildred Green Room of the Babylon Student Center (Ammerman Campus).

Being a new member, the act of mentoring may be the last thing on your mind. (For instance, if you're out East, you may be more preoccupied with the plague of flies that have taken up residence in your office, and wonder whether this is a sign of End Times. If you're at Ammerman or Grant, you may be wondering if the plague of VERYIMPORTANTWHATEVERYOUDOMAKESUREYOU'RETHERE meetings is a sign of End Times.) You may be -- and rightly so -- more interested in being the mentee. And you may think that, as a mentee, there's really very little work to be done on your part.

At least, that's what I thought before I took part in a similar mentoring workshop last year, which was co-sponsored by The Office of the Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs and the Faculty Association. At this workshop, many of the FA mentors, and some of the academic chairs and administrators across the three campuses, were led through a seminar by members of ELT (NYSUT's Education and Learning Trust) where we discussed the importance of mentor-mentee relationships and ways to help those relationships be really useful to both parties.

Go ahead. Cast a long shadow.

That's where I was introduced to the idea of "being mentored' as an engagement, as opposed to something that just happens to you. At the back of the ELT booklet on mentoring, there were two pages of a handout titled “For the Mentee: Getting the Most Out of Being Mentored” – and these were what changed my perspective. So I thought YOU, the new members, might find some of this information useful, too. After all, I think most of us regard being mentored as a passive role, when really (and as we learned in the seminar) it’s much more dynamic than that. 

The ELT handout, quoting the author Hal Portner in his book “Being Mentored: A Guide for Protégés” (Corwin Press), states that in order to get the most out of mentoring, you should “be” the following:

• Be ready – “Wholeheartedly accept the opportunity to be mentored”
• Be willing – You need to “believe that you have an ongoing need to learn . . . When you are doing something you believe in – when what you are doing sits well with your set of values and is relevant to your life – you will do it better; you will do it with passion.” Additionally, you need to “have confidence that being mentored . . . can make a difference between success and failure.” And lastly, you must  believe that “being mentored can help you remain in the profession and have a satisfying and gratifying career.”
• Be able – “Whether you have a mentor who offers little help or support, or a mentor who throws so much information and help your way that you are constantly overwhelmed [Blog Author’s note: Funny, that sounds like somebody I know . . .], or a mentor who is . . . experienced [and] who understands how to work effectively with a protégé, you will still get more out of being mentored if you are ‘able’. Being able means having the knowledge, skills and understanding necessary to be proactive in the mentoring process. Being proactive means not only being ready and willing to access the resources available to you, but also being empowered to do so.”

And finally, the handout offers these “Principles for Success”:

• Take the initiative when it comes to having your needs met as a protégé.
• Avoid making assumptions about your mentor’s plans and expectations.
• Solicit feedback from your mentor as a way to improve.
• Receive feedback objectively.
• Attempt to construct ways to learn from seemingly untenable situations.
• Take responsibility for your personal well-being.
• Contribute to the learning of other educators.

I think that first point about taking initiative is really important at this stage in the game. Make sure you have what you need as you begin your career here at SCCC, and your path will be far less rocky and intimidating. After all, the adage "You're your own best advocate" rings true here, too. Please don't misunderstand -- your mentor is here for you, the New Member Mentoring Program Campus Coordinators are here for you, I'm here for you, and the FA officers are here for you -- but none of us can even begin to help you if we're unaware of what's going on. If you need us, please ask us for our ideas, advice, feedback, and/or time. 

And we're not just offering to help out of the goodness of our hearts. That'd be nice, but ultimately there's a more practical reason: if your needs are being met, you're going to be more productive. You'll perform better, and chances are you'll be more ready, willing, and able to step up and help the college when the college requires it.