Mentoring
Through Cyberspace
By: Sally Huang-Nissen, Gisela Lin, Cindy Lee
Fall 1999 "Mentoring Connections"
INDEX:
Project Background
and Goals
For some time the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) professionals and graduate
students in counseling education have experienced a sense of isolation due to the
small number of AAPIs in many universities and colleges. (Kim, 1973; Parker-Redmond,
1990). Motivated by the need to address the issue of isolation and to provide opportunities
for AAPIs in academia to network with one another, three AAPI members (the authors)
initiated a mentoring process to match experienced AAPI professionals with less experienced
graduate students. Their hopes were high and their goals for the mentoring process
were lofty:
- To connect counseling professionals with counselors-in-training,
- To enhance professional and personal development,
- To build, strengthen, and create a sense of unity
among AAPIs in counseling,
- To share knowledge and experiences and help others
to succeed,
- To stimulate ideas for new research on specific
needs of the AAPI community,
- To network with more experienced and seasoned professionals.
The Choice of Electronic
Mentoring
As AAPIs in counseling were scattered around the
country, it was decided that the easiest method of communication was through the
power of cyberspace. Using e-mail and an AAPI listserv, we invited AAPIs in Counseling
to participate in this project and explained that it would be an electronic mentoring
process.
The Matching Process
A mentoring participant profile form was included
in that invitation for prospective individuals to complete. The responses were used
to guide us in the matching process.
The matching criteria were based on
1) similar interests,
2) similar fields of study, and...
3) individual needs.
We were able to match 14 pairs to begin the electronic
mentoring process.
Preparing the
Mentoring Participants for Success
Since the mentoring participants did not live in the same geographic region, we took
advantage of the ACA convention in April, 1998 to launch the mentoring process. We
all met at a mentoring orientation session so the prospective participants could
discuss any issues and concerns. We were especially mindful at the outset of the
research on critical factors in mentoring (Brainard, 1981; Crystal, 1989; Gray, 1986;
Murray, 1991), including:
- the importance of establishing common understanding
about expectations,
- clearly defined mentoring objectives,
- communication methods,
- feedback styles, and...
- unique mentoring needs between mentor and mentee.
Survey Results
Regarding Mentoring Experience
- How do mentoring relationships sustain themselves
through the use of e-mail?
- What has worked well?
- What are the challenges?
- In what ways have the participants benefited from
this mentoring experience?
To answer the above questions, the authors designed
a questionnaire and sent it to the mentoring pairs via e-mail to solicit their input.
What follows are the highlights of what we learned.
Was the mentoring experience valuable for you?
Responses showed that seventy-eight percent (78%)
of the mentors and sixty-six percent (66%) of mentees indicated that they found the
mentoring experience valuable.
What did you like most about your mentoring
experience?
Mentee Comments:
- Knowing that there is someone who really understands
a lot of the things that I am going through, because she has gone through similar
situations, or because she cares enough to really listen.
- Having a mentor has given me courage to try new
things, and grow in ways that I hadn't thought possible before.
- Being given ëpermissioní through this ëofficialí program to approach an Asian faculty person for support and advice, and receiving
those things so completely.
- My mentor provides me with moral and emotional support
and encouragement, as well as practical guidance and suggestions.
- I value my mentor as a professional and in our developing
personal friendship. She is knowledgeable, yet supportive and caring.
Mentor Comments:
- It feels good to be able to offer advice to younger
professionals. If it made any difference in their lives, it will mean a lot to me.
- Being in touch with a new graduate student helps
me maintain perspective in both my personal and professional life.
- To have the opportunity to share experiences with
someone with similar interest and background.
- The flexibility of allowing the mentor and mentee
to define their mentoring relationship.
- Sharing experiences with others.
- Lively discussions on issues for which we have a
common interest.
What did you find most challenging in mentoring?
We asked the participants to describe the most challenging aspects of their mentoring
experience. We also asked them for suggestions for improving this program in the
future. Here are some examples of their answers:
Mentee Comments:
- I was in the midst of completing my dissertation
and job hunt, I didn't take advantage of the relationship.
- The most challenging was probably getting over my
own inhibitions about self-disclosing . . . giving myself permission to trust someone
enough to share openly and honestly, and allowing myself to be supported.
- Becoming comfortable getting to know someone mostly
via e-mail. It helped to have the in-person contact at ACA and APA.
- To have a relationship.
Mentor Comments:
- To decide how much to advise and direct so as not
to foster too much dependence.
- As a mentor I have been available on an as-needed
basisñI haven't been contacted muchñso I'm not sure what that means.
- Boundary issues (e.g. how far should I go when an
issue raised by my mentee is very personal?)
- DistanceñI wish we could meet in person more frequently.
Would you recommend this experience to your colleagues and friends?
Finally, we posed the above question to the participants. Despite some dissatisfied
participants, 90% of mentors and 100% of mentees answered "Yes".
Summary and
Insights
What have we learned from offering a mentoring process to participants who reside
in different geographic regions? The obvious learning is the complexity of communication.
Experts in communication fields have maintained for
a long time that ...
- Only 7% of communication is transmitted through
the written word.
The other elements in the communication process...
- Tone (38%) and...
- Nonverbal (55%)
are critical to augment the full meaning of communication
between two individuals.
That the e-mail mentoring process, which relied solely
on the 7% of the communicating process, has brought about so many positive comments
is quite astonishing.
Overall, the efforts have been worthwhile despite the geographic distance, the busy
academic life of participants, and the limitation of the communicating through cyberspace.
References
Brainard, S. G. (1991). ìMentoring for Goal Attainment and Self-Confidence.î College
Industry Education Conference Proceedings.
Crystal, M. (1989). ìMore Minority Programs Now Emphasizing Efforts to Keep Students
Enrolled in College.î Chronicle of Higher Education; v35, n31, pA1, 24.
Gray, W. A. (1986). ìComponents for Developing a Successful Formalized Mentoring
Program in Business, the Professions, Education, and Other Settings.î Proceedings
of the First International Conference on Mentoring, Vol. 2.
Kim, B.C. (1973). ìAsian-Americans: No Model Minority.î Social Work; 18, 3, 44-53.
Murray, M., and M. Owen, (1991). Beyond the Myths and Magic of Mentoring. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Parker-Redmond, S. (1990). ìMentoring and Cultural Diversity in Academic Settings.î American Behavioral Scientist, 34, 2, 188-200.
Sally Huang-Nissen is a Consultant/Trainer for Huang-Nissen & Associates in California. Gisela Lin is a Psychologist for Student Counseling
Service at Texas A & M University. Cindy Lee is a Doctoral Student in Counseling
Psychology at the University of Memphis in Tennessee.
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