Princeton University Press
As a doctoral student in English literature, Maria LaMonaca Wisdom didn’t give much thought to mentoring. She and her fellow students had a sense that it was important, but the quality of the experience was a matter of luck. “Our mentoring models were extremely traditional and hierarchical, based heavily on advising and role modeling,” she says. “We didn’t expect anything else.”
Later, as a professor teaching at a small college, she started to identify gaps in her preparation that effective mentoring might have addressed. “I learned on the fly or from painful experiences,” she recalls. “Traditional mentoring didn’t even serve me for a traditional career.”
Wisdom decided to take her career in a different direction, and today she is an assistant vice provost for faculty advancement and a campus partner of The Graduate School at Duke as well as a professional certified coach (PCC) with the International Coaching Federation. To write her new book, “How to Mentor Anyone in Academia,” Wisdom drew on her experiences as a graduate student, postdoc, faculty member, author, higher ed administrator and coach.
Wisdom inserts “coaching moments” throughout the book to help readers build in time to reflect. What was the reader’s own experience of having a mentor? What was helpful or not helpful? Develop self-awareness of how you are coming across to your mentee. For example, how much are you talking as opposed to creating space for your mentee to share their ideas?
The book also highlights evidence-based coaching practices, including exercises that help individuals focus on their mission, vision and values. Getting people to articulate their values, for example, is a powerful tool. “Mentors [might] ask, What do you care about? What are you passionate about?,” Wisdom suggests. “People are more motivated to take action if there is something positive to move toward.”