Number 2: Mentors and mentees
Every CE needs to have a primary mentor, typically a more senior faculty member with an interest in and experience with mentoring, as well as a commitment to fostering the mentee’s professional growth. It may be difficult to find a mentor when starting out as a junior faculty member or when changing academic institutions. Once you have a mentor, take ownership for the success of the relationship by managing-up, by organizing all the meetings, exceeding (not just meeting) deadlines, and by communicating needs and information in a way the mentor prefers. Rustgi and Hecht3 wrap up their article on mentorship with a pathway that highlights the following components for a successful mentoring relationship: regular meetings, specific goals and measurable outcomes, manuscript and grant writing, presentation skills and efficiency, and navigating the complexities of regulatory affairs such as institutional review boards. Although many of these tenets hold true for both clinician researchers and clinician educators, Farrell et al4 offer four steps to finding a mentor for clinician educators, as follows. Step 1: self-reflection and assessment: critically assessing one’s competence as a teacher, educational administrator, or researcher; determining what prior education projects have been successful and why; and defining career goals and the current relationship to them. Step 2: identification of areas needing development: examples may include teaching skills, curriculum innovation, evaluation/assessment, educational research, time management, negotiation skills, grantsmanship, scholarly writing, and presentation skills; identify specific questions regarding the type of help needed. Step 3: matchmaking: determine qualities (personal and professional) desired in a mentor, and search for candidates with the help of colleagues. Step 4: engagement with a mentor: explain why you desire mentorship, career goals, current academic role(s), your perceived needs, and recognize and acknowledge appreciation for your mentor’s time and energy.
One caution is to avoid having too many primary mentors. A mentee may assume the perspective that it takes a village when it comes to seeking and providing mentoring. Although having clinical, research, and/or personal mentors can be helpful, having too many mentors can make it difficult to meet regularly enough to allow for the mentee–mentor relationship to grow. Instead of a network of mentors, build a web of minimentors, or coaches, to serve as consultants, coaches, and accountability partners, and tap into this network as needed. Mentors are involved longitudinally with mentees and tend to provide general career and project-specific guidance, whereas coaches tend to be involved in specific projects or areas of focus of a mentee.
In addition to having their own mentors, CEs quickly will find opportunities themselves to serve as mentors to more junior faculty, fellows, residents, and students. Indeed, one measure of a successful mentor–mentee relationship is the development of the mentee into a new mentor for future generations.
