|
Tormentor of the Year, a Cautionary Tale
by William Silen, M.D., Dean for Faculty Development
and Diversity and Johnson and Johnson Distinguished
Professor of Surgery
With thanks to Dr. William Silen for permitting
the following article to be reprinted. Please read more
articles on the benefits of mentoring in Mentations:
News from Faculty Development and Diversity at Harvard
Medical School.
At the same time we proffer kudos upon outstanding
mentors, it behooves us to call attention to those who
engage in actively negative mentoring, which for want
of a better term we shall refer to as "tormentoring."
Perhaps an award should be given to "Tormentor
of the Year."
In the office of Faculty Development and Diversity,
many students and faculty seek advice, and in the course
of such they provide us with many insights into the
vagaries of what we call mentoring. Recently, an excellent
young person, stimulated by one of our focus groups
on the subject, came seeking advice, and his saga provides
the gist of this piece. Granted that I have not conferred
with the accused tormentor, nevertheless, the story
of the mentee bears repetition.
Case in Point
The mentee in question had completed a standard residency
at an excellent institution. He is currently in the
midst of a year of additional training under the supervision
of an assistant professor of the discipline in which
he hopes to receive further clinical sub-specialty training.
According to the mentee, he is the first such of his
preceptor.
The mentee has applied for a number of sub-specialty
fellowships and has received several invitations for
interviews. His supervisor (I choose not to use the
appellation mentor) has agreed to write a letter on
behalf of the mentee, but will not call persons of his
acquaintance to whom the mentee has applied, insisting
that he has been around Harvard long enough (at his
tender age?) to know that such calls are of no value!
The supervisor suggests that the mentee should consider
himself fortunate to be under the guidance of such an
exalted individual! When the mentee proposed that he
apply for some fellowship support, the supervisor discouraged
him with the admonition that this might interfere with
the possibility that the supervisor himself might obtain
such a grant. The mentee is, thus, effectively cast
adrift to fend for himself. My advice to the mentee
was that he: (1) insist on some telephone calls on his
behalf, and (2) recognize that he needed to sever this
relationship, hopefully in an amicable fashion.
Acknowledging that I have not heard the other side
of the story, I present this as a severe case of active
negative mentoring. The supervisor does not realize
that in the long term he is probably not enhancing his
own career, and in fact may be adversely affecting it.
Even if the mentee is not of the caliber that indicates
active support for the most desirable positions, the
supervisor should be in the best position to counsel
the mentee as to his various options and to offer alternative
plans of action. He has done neither. For that reason,
as well as those recounted above, I nominate him for
"Tormentor of the Year." |
