Guiding Change with Experience

Mentoring and New Directions in Evaluation Training

“City of Champions” Alberta May 2011

Core Mentoring Working Group

James Coyle* Natalya Kuziak Dominique Leonard* Judy LifshitzLisa O’Reilly* Kathryn Radford* Lisa Styles* Jane Whynot

Agenda Background Demand & 2010 national survey results Advantages of mentorship What a ‘good’ mentoring program looks like Considerations Strategy & next steps Gallery Walk

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Background2005 Evaluation practice in Canada: results of a national survey*

2008 Will they join the team and stay? A study of potential and new program evaluators*

2009 Mentoring via the Independent Consulting TIG: Enhancing the Value of Professional Affiliations*Lunch & Learns for Evaluators of Ottawa Mentoring SessionWorking group struck to investigate a national program Consultations with CES and AEA

2010 CES 2010 Breakfast Roundtable discussion, Victoria, BCLiterature review (50+articles)Secondary survey data reviewSurvey (432 total respondents)

3* Denotes references available in the bibliography

THE DEMAND FOR A MENTORING PROGRAM FOR EVALUATORS

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From the national survey

The survey ran in September - October, 2010. 432 total respondents (27% male / 73% female)

n= 393

Q22 Would you be interested in participating in a national mentoring program as…

56% felt they would benefit from a mentoring program as a mentor

72% of respondents don’t have a mentor

69% felt they would benefit from a mentoring program as a mentee

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ADVANTAGES OF A MENTORING PROGRAM

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Advantages for …… Mentees

1. Source of feedback and strategies2. Personal development3. New or more challenging work projects

… Mentors1. Development of discipline/next generation of evaluators2. Obtain fresh perspectives, knowledge and skills 3. Opportunity to demonstrate and enhance leadership skills

… Organizations1. Lower turn-over, employee retention2. Organizational cohesiveness3. Succession planning and organizational growth

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‘GOOD’ MENTORING PROGRAMS

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What is mentoring? What isn’t it?

Mentoring functions Types of mentoring relationships

Formal, informal Traditional, non-traditional 49% of respondents would prefer a 1-1 relationship 23% would prefer access to a network of multiple mentors 14% would prefer group mentoring

Terms often confused with mentoring

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Mentor/mentee attributes

CommunicationsPreferred modes of communication as

reported by respondents: Face-to-face Email Phone

Supports

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What survey respondents want a mentorship program to have:

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CONSIDERATIONS

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Flexible lifecycle of mentoring relationships

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Matching Successful matching is critical Strategies for successful matching:

Informal social gatherings Face-to-face meetings Seek out more than one mentor Creating profiles based on matching criteria

e.g., gender, work styles, personality traits 88% of survey respondents said matching was

important to very important

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Critical supports

Arrange for recruitment, training & support of mentors

Guidelines for clear goals, expectations & competencies for both mentors & mentees

Code of ethics that addresses: Confidentiality & trust Integrity & honesty Conflict of interest Professionalism

Other issues to consider

Potential to become overly “bureaucratic” Mentoring may mitigate the loss of young

evaluators from the field Almost 53% of survey respondents were

from Ontario Bilingual language considerations Costs for program may vary depending on

numbers and approach to infrastructure

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Pilot program implications

1. Be flexible2. Matching protocol3. Training, support, competencies & goals4. Code of ethics5. Simplify to start6. Get involved

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A STRATEGY FOR ESTABLISHING A NATIONAL MENTORING PROGRAM

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Proposed model

National on-line mentoring service with multiple formats

Program coordinator(s) Database of profiles, screening of participants,

and a matching process Suite of support tools Keep it as simple as possible to start the pilot

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Potential Competencies for Mentor/Mentee Matching & Focus CES Competencies for Canadian Evaluation Practice (V 11.0 4 16 2010)

1.0 Reflective Practice 2.0 Technical Practice 3.0 Situational Practice 4.0 Management Practice 5.0 Interpersonal Practice

Other Competency Areas (relates to Survey Answers related to ‘Functions of Mentoring Program’)

Career Planning Advice Advice on Leading Evaluation Teams Advice on Navigating Work Relationships Support in Adapting to new workplace, culture, language, profession Support in networking and exploring opportunities in Evaluation work

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Next Steps for Mentorship

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GALLERY WALK

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Rationale

Have participants share / generate ideas by responding to a series of questions posted around the room.

Especially engaging for kinaesthetic learners (i.e. active participation strategy).

By working in small groups, everyone can contribute. Regroup at the end to share findings.

http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/gallerywalk/

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Instructions Posters are numbered. Participants are given a number corresponding to a

poster. Start at the poster of your number. In groups discuss questions and using markers write

answers below questions. Rotate every 2-3 minutes (timer will indicate when) until

each group has visited each poster. After a complete rotation, group as a whole will review

the responses/major themes at each poster. 1 person at each station can present findings. Discuss, as time permits.

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Gallery Walk Questions How do our findings line up with your own

experiences or interest regarding mentorship? What elements are most important to you in a

mentoring program? How should the program be piloted? Should the mentoring program assist participants to

develop the CES core competencies? If so, how? What other things do we need to take into

consideration in developing this mentoring program? Your words of wisdom.

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Acknowledgements Supporters of the Core Mentoring Working

Group: Anna Engman Claude-Anne Godbout Gauthier

Canadian Evaluation Society Survey respondents

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To contact us: MentoringWorkingGroup@gmail.com

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ReferencesAllen, T. & Eby, L. (2007). The Blackwell Handbook of Mentoring: A

Multiple Perspectives Approach. Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Oxford, UK.Gauthier, B., Borys, S., Kishchuk, N., Roy, S.N. (2006) Survey of

evaluation practice and issues in Canada in The Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation. Vol.(21)3, pgs.1-42

Kram, K. E. (1985). Mentoring at work: Developmental relationships in organizational life. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman and Company.

Martinez-Rubin, Norma and Becky Melzer. Mentoring via the Independent Consulting TIG: Enhancing the Value of Professional Affiliations, 2009.

Roy, S.N., Kishchuk, N., Gauthier, B., Borys, S. (2008) Will they join the team and stay? A study of potential and new program evaluators. Paper presented at the CES Conference, Québec, May 12, 2008