Suggestions for Mentees: "Do I Need a Mentor?"
Obviously, our answer to this question is a resounding "YES!" Literature
on the subject of mentoring and junior faculty development
in academic medicine concurs.1,
2, 4, 12, 22, 24, 26, 30, 36, 40 The demands of
academic medicine are many and often so diverse as to seem
counter to one another. You may be required to carry a patient
load, serve as a teacher to medical students or residents,
conduct your own research, advise graduate students, supervise
others helping you with the research, ensure adequate funding
for that research, publish, participate in division/department
and institutional activities — and those are just the
obvious duties. On top of this, you're expected to interact
with your colleagues and senior faculty in such a way that
knowledge of political intricacies is imperative. Traditionally,
junior faculty are thrown into this and expected to make their
own way. Few question the situation since they experienced
the same in undergraduate medical school and graduate science
programs.
In their text Mentor in a Manual: Climbing the Academic
Ladder to Tenure, authors Schoenfeld and Magnan say that
the transition from medical school and residency to an academic
career is difficult. Newly appointed professors have a general
idea about their roles, but there is no "West Point for
professors."31
In your academic career, you'll learn from role models and
your own mistakes. Additional research on predicting career
success in academic medicine indicates specific areas critical
for new faculty.23
Three essential areas in which new faculty need to be
socialized:
- Adopting academic values;
- Managing an academic career;
- Establishing and maintaining a productive network of colleagues.
In fact, the research suggests that these three areas are so important that they actually predict who will be a high achiever and who will not. Daunting, isn't it?
With a mentor, you would not be navigating this maze alone. You would have
a guide who had walked the path before you and could help
you avoid snares and blind alleys. In the previous section
addressed to mentors, we mentioned the differences between
pre-selected mentors chosen by divisions or departments, and
self-selected mentors, chosen by the person seeking a mentor.
We believe the most effective mentoring experience occurs
where the seeker and the sought mutually agree to the relationship.
The genesis of such a relationship is up to you as the mentee.
Hopefully, before you even accepted an appointment, you familiarized
yourself with the department's senior faculty, their publications,
their practice and research areas and so on. If you haven't,
do so now. After coming on board as a junior faculty member,
you should have the opportunity to observe the senior staff
during division or department meetings and functions. Your
next step is to match the professional expertise you admire
with the personal qualities that would make for a collegial
relationship between you and the senior faculty member. Do
not be afraid to take the initiative and give the relationships
and observations time to mature.
As we mentioned to mentors, the importance of a personal
"fit" should be considered. Differences in values
can seriously undermine a mentoring relationship. A person's
professional success will seem less luminous if it is perceived
to have been obtained in ways contrary to your own values.
For example, if you want to protect limited family time, the
senior faculty member you choose as a mentor should probably
not be the person known to work a 90-hour week and sleep in
the department lounge — even if that person's career
success is your goal. Congruence in values does not mean,
however, simply selecting a mentor who is just like you. You
can learn a great deal from differences. Senior male faculty
can make excellent mentors for junior female faculty and vice
versa. Senior minority faculty can set wonderful examples
for junior minority faculty, but can also expand horizons
for and be excellent mentors to non-minority junior faculty.
Just as the previous section listed characteristics of a good mentor, this section will mention some of the characteristics of a good mentee. Remember that this relationship is a dynamic one; neither party is permitted to coast, and in the
beginning, the mentee will be doing most of the work in that he or she is actively seeking the mentor.
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