Research Mentorship
The University of Washington Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Research Division is committed to assisting research faculty identify mentors and in providing tools that can improve mentorship relationships. Some of these tools can be found in the link below. In addition, resources specific to becoming a successful mentee and a successful mentor are provided.
All research mentorship relationships are most apt to flourish when the mentor and mentee have established rules of engagement, checklists, partnership agreements, structured meetings with open and honest expectations and feedback, and every 6-12 months individual development plan meetings that review goals and timelines. These 5 elements are the foundation of building a successful mentorship relationship and can be found in the mentorship toolkit developed by the department to be used by all faculty.
Identification of an ideal research mentor should be carefully considered. Strong mentorship relationships are founded on mutual career interests that are not in competition; matched gender, similar race/ethnicity, similar age; and personal chemistry. Studies have demonstrated that mentees are most successful when they identify a mentor with many of these qualities. However, having mutual career interests with no competing interests is an essential mandate for success. In fact, matching in all 5 of these areas is exceedingly rare, and usually is not essential.
Mentees
Successful mentees consider the following questions
- Are my objectives clear and well defined?
- Are my objectives quantifiable, i.e. how will my mentor and I measure success?
- Do I have an action plan and what are my outcomes?
- What is my timeline and is it realistic?
- Will I need additional mentors or resources beyond this mentorship relationship?
- Am I comfortable asking for what I want?
- Am I open to hearing new ideas and perspectives?
- Do I allow myself to be open and vulnerable?
- Am I receptive to constructive feedback?
- Am I able to show I value and appreciate feedback?
- Am I willing to change or modify my behaviors?
- Do I consistently follow through on commitments?
- Do I make an effort to instill trust?
- Do I openly show appreciation and gratitude?
- The mentoring mindset of a protégé is...
Successful Mentee
- Inspire mentors to questions assumptions and shift perspectives
- Inspire mentors to remain true to their ideals
- Remind mentors of their original call to academic medicine
- Expand awareness of different generational goals and benefits of diverse background and views
- Communicate needs, no whining - provide feedback, constructive criticism, and potential solutions, work hard, show up, be responsible
- Infuse relationship with vitality and inquisitiveness
Mentee Misteps
- Over-committer: Can't say NO, overcommitted and under producing
- Ghost: Try to remain out of sight, agree to assignments but miss deadlines
- Doormat: Do scut work for mentor that doesn't further your career
- Vampire: Require constant attention and supervision, often paralyzed to make a decision
- Lone Wolf: Assertive, prefer working alone, feel asking for help is a weakness
- Backstabber: Resent criticism and always find someone else to blame for your failure
Mentors
Successful mentors are competent (have professional knowledge and experience, are respected, have excellent interpersonal skills, and have good judgement); have confidence (share network contacts and resources, allow protégé to develop her/his own research ideas, demonstrates initiative, takes risks, shares credit) and are committed (invest time, energy and effort and shares personal experience when appropriate). Successful research mentors should have no more than 3 primary mentees at any one time.
Being a good mentor - DOs
- Respond to communications within 48 hours
- Give first, second, last authorship
- Find passion/ “spark” in each person
- Always have their back
- Help mentees recognize deficiencies and directions to correct
- Get to know your mentees, connect
- Constantly ask about their purpose
- Inspire innovation and creativity
- Provide opportunities
- Teach and model perseverance
Mentorship Malpractice
- Exploiter: Torpedoes mentee's success by saddling them with low yield activities, self-serving philosophy, self-worship, promotes personal interests over mentees
- Hijacker: Takes mentee's ideas hostage and labels them as their own, demonstrates self-preserving behavior often in the setting of career challenges
- Possessor: Dominates and isolates mentee, prevents collaboration, anxious personality, fears of inadequacy or loss of mentee to others
- Bottleneck: Preoccupied with own priorities, doesn't have bandwidth or desire to attend to mentee's success
- Country Clubber: Avoids conflict, needs to be liked, values social order more than mentee growth
- World Traveler: Often internationally renowned, academic success fuels personal ambitions and not much time for face-to-face interactions
References
Choi AMK, Moon JE, Steinecke A, Prescott JE. Developing a Culture of Mentorship to Strengthen Academic Medical Centers. Acad Med. 2019 May;94(5):630-633. DOI: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000002498
Chopra V, Edelson DP, Saint S. Mentorship Malpractice. JAMA. 2016;315(14):1453–1454. DOI: 10.1001/jama.2015.18884
McBurney EI. Strategic mentoring: growth for mentor and mentee. Clin Dermatol. 2015 Mar-Apr;33(2):257-60. DOI: 10.1016/j.clindermatol.2014.12.019
Straus SE, Johnson MO, Marquez C, Feldman MD. Characteristics of successful and failed mentoring relationships: a qualitative study across two academic health centers. Acad Med. 2013 Jan;88(1):82-9. DOI: 10.1097/ACM.0b013e31827647a0
UCSF Faculty Mentoring Toolkit
Vaughn V, Saint S, Chopra V. Mentee Missteps: Tales From the Academic Trenches. JAMA. 2017;317(5):475–476. DOI: 10.1001/jama.2016.12384
RESOURCES
Forms
Additional Important Resources