I initially struggled to connect these ideas. First, mentorship feels different than leadership to me. Certainly, similarities exists, but their distinctions apply here. Mentoring is most often about improving individuals, while leadership concerns itself primarily with improving organizations. In addition, mentoring offers benefits to the individual mentee, whereas leadership may benefit the organization at the expense of the individual. (Rains, 2007)
Fullan (2014) states that, "the key phrase is to 'disturb them in a manner that approximates the desired outcome.'" (pg. 109). I did not enter into the mentorship with my colleague to disturb, but to support. Any disruption would need to come from them. This does not mean that change - growth in this case - was not a goal, but that it is ultimately to be defined by the mentee. What I discovered, however, was that even the act of suggesting a new approach to something was itself a disruptive event. My role would be to challenge, and support throughout the process. This reminded me of my time in higher education, and the work of Nevitt Sanford. Sanford believed that learning and development required the right balance of challenge and support, and his idea of challenge is consistent with Fullan's concept of disruption. (Dalton & Crosby, 2008)
Until reacquainting myself with Sandford, I had been conceptualizing disruption and coherence-making as a linear phenomenon. Disrupt, cohere, repeat. What Sanford reminded me was that both co-exist simultaneously. One can experience a disruptive event even while in the process of coherence-making, and change can occur at any point throughout the process.
This proved to be the case throughout the mentorship. I'd introduce a new application which challenged my mentee to think of her routines, processes, etc. in a new way, and then support her throughout the implementation. Along the way, moments of disruption and coherence-making would occur. Student challenges with the technology were mini-disruptions, while problem-solving tech issues were a small piece of coherence-making. In the end, the changes may have been small, but are representative of the change process writ large.
Dalton, J., & Crosby, P. (2008). Challenging College Students to Learn in Campus Cultures of Comfort, Convenience and Complacency. Journal of College and Character.
Fullan, Michael. Leading in a Culture of Change. Somerset, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2014. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 16 November 2015.
Copyright © 2014. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
Ragins, B. (2007). The handbook of mentoring at work: Theory, research, and practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Fullan (2014) states that, "the key phrase is to 'disturb them in a manner that approximates the desired outcome.'" (pg. 109). I did not enter into the mentorship with my colleague to disturb, but to support. Any disruption would need to come from them. This does not mean that change - growth in this case - was not a goal, but that it is ultimately to be defined by the mentee. What I discovered, however, was that even the act of suggesting a new approach to something was itself a disruptive event. My role would be to challenge, and support throughout the process. This reminded me of my time in higher education, and the work of Nevitt Sanford. Sanford believed that learning and development required the right balance of challenge and support, and his idea of challenge is consistent with Fullan's concept of disruption. (Dalton & Crosby, 2008)
Until reacquainting myself with Sandford, I had been conceptualizing disruption and coherence-making as a linear phenomenon. Disrupt, cohere, repeat. What Sanford reminded me was that both co-exist simultaneously. One can experience a disruptive event even while in the process of coherence-making, and change can occur at any point throughout the process.
This proved to be the case throughout the mentorship. I'd introduce a new application which challenged my mentee to think of her routines, processes, etc. in a new way, and then support her throughout the implementation. Along the way, moments of disruption and coherence-making would occur. Student challenges with the technology were mini-disruptions, while problem-solving tech issues were a small piece of coherence-making. In the end, the changes may have been small, but are representative of the change process writ large.
Dalton, J., & Crosby, P. (2008). Challenging College Students to Learn in Campus Cultures of Comfort, Convenience and Complacency. Journal of College and Character.
Fullan, Michael. Leading in a Culture of Change. Somerset, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2014. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 16 November 2015.
Copyright © 2014. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
Ragins, B. (2007). The handbook of mentoring at work: Theory, research, and practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.