Issue
26(1)
The
Mentor's Guide: Facilitating Effective Learning Relationships.
(2000).
Lois Zachary. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,
224 pp. Price $30.00. ISBN 0-7879-4742-3.
Review
by: Rachel
Nottingham Miller
Center
for the Study of Higher Education
Curry
School of Education
University
of Virginia
Lois
J. Zachary provides an informative resource for mentors and advisors
in The Mentor's Guide: Facilitating Effective Learning Relationships.
In defining the mentor as a "facilitative partner in an evolving
learning relationship focused on meeting mentee goals and objectives"
(p. 161), Zachary acknowledges the central role of learning in
mentoring. Evoking the imagery of horticulture, her book skillfully
guides readers through the process of preparing to become a mentor,
the phases involved within the mentoring relationship and the
reflection necessary for personal growth. Though written for
mentors, many of the concepts, exercises and case studies presented
are widely applicable to the advising. Three ideas that connect
well with the work of the academic advisor are considering context,
preparing the relationship and nurturing growth.
According
to Zachary, considering the context involves taking into account
the comparison between the mentor's and mentee's perspectives.
The chapter entitled "Working the Ground" examines cross-contextual
situations such as long-distance mentoring relationships and mentoring
a culturally different mentee. Zachary emphasizes that the mentor
must pay careful attention to assumptions made in these challenging
circumstances. Nuances of communication are often lost in long
distance relationships, making misunderstandings common. Ethnic
differences require that mentors develop "flexible cultural lens"
(p. 42) to appreciate the unique contributions of the mentee's
traditions while simultaneously recognizing that there is much
individual variation within cultures.
Continuing
her horticultural metaphor, Zachary compares preparing the relationship
to "tilling the soil" (p. 65). Within this first phase of Zachary's
mentoring model, attention is paid to defining the roles of the
mentor and mentee, uncovering assumptions about the relationship
and working through the initial conversations. Advisors would
be helped by paying attention to Zachary's advice in this chapter
as this phase is "critical to building and maintaining the relationship
and forging the connections that sustain the relationship over
time." (p. 65).
A
third area applicable to advising is found in Zachary's third
phase of mentoring. Nurturing growth includes creating a learning
environment to support the mentee's attempts to reach his/her
learning goals. Building and maintaining the mentoring relationship
by fostering respect, trust and communication are crucial to nurturing
growth. In this chapter, Zachary includes a useful chart to assist
the mentor in providing feedback to the mentee. For advisors,
this phase of the relationship would be the longest, requiring
continued time and attention.
Transferring
the ideas of mentoring to advising is not a seamless process.
For example, attention is given to cross-cultural exchanges while
cross-generational relationships are not addressed. The book's
foundation is in adult learning and assumes that both the mentor
and the mentee will be at a similar developmental stage. For many
academic advisors this is not the case. Additionally, some of
the difficulties in mentoring would be minimized when applied
to academic advisors. For instance, much space is given to the
final phase of the mentoring relationship in which the mentor
and mentee choose to terminate their formal relationship. Deciding
when and how to achieve closure with a mentee may be a difficult
process. For advisors, however, rejoicing with a graduating advisee
makes the closure process much easier. In spite of these minor
incongruities, this book would be very beneficial to academic
advisors seeking to improve their relationships with advisees.
This book would be a tremendous asset to an advisor-training event
and would be helpful for all academic advisors .
