Facilitator

Dr Johan van der Merwe (PhD, MBA) has been developing people and leading organizational change processes for the past 25 years.  He has been involved in the tertiary education sector on different levels, including lecturing, supervising PhD and Masters Students, and publishing articles in accredited peer-reviewed journals.  At NWU he has been involved in Strategic Processes in several Schools, supported Masters Students with Leadership Development, and even facilitated change management processes in the student residences environment.

In Business Administration, Dr Van der Merwe specialized in the areas of executive coaching, as well as the application of sustainability frameworks to internationalized enterprises.  He has a proven understanding of business models and strategy development and consults with companies in different industries and of different sizes and complexities on their identity, market positioning, and strategy execution.  His exposure to industries includes the wine, engineering, packaging, cargo securing, sports management, financial trading, retail, hospitality, and data-mining industries. Johan, who is also a registered StrengthsFinder™ and Keirsey Temperament Sorter™ Coach says on his mentoring approach: “My executive coaching mission is to be keenly aware of the unique individuality of each person I coach.  I have a sincere curiosity and will always endeavor to understand the context and needs of the specific individual.  I will embark on a learning journey with this person, for whom I will be a travel partner, marveling at the discovery and development of this person's dreams, skills, and life purpose."

Background

For individuals following an academic career, mentors can be a steady guiding force assisting them in the navigation of the institutional and academic landscape.  An effective mentorship programme can support the setting of personal and career goals, advise strategies to work towards those goals, and provide support to ensure execution.

The Role of Academic Mentors

The main contributions of academic mentors are:

1. Transmission of Knowledge, where mentors share their experience and knowledge on how research goals are set, publications prepared and submitted, and which goals in teaching and research can align with the mentee’s personal and career development. 
2. Social Capital, where mentees are guided on how the institution they are part of functions and should be navigated, what academic networks should be engaged, how academic funding works, how grant bidding can be more successful, and how collaborative partnerships in academic projects (intra- and inter-disciplinary) can be formed. 
3. Motivational Support, where an emotionally supportive role is fulfilled towards the mentee.  Acting as a sounding board and being open to mentees’ vulnerability and anxiety can be incredibly validating for mentees.  The support is to be motivating, challenging and relentlessly optimistic – discovering and pointing out the potential of the mentee, who may at this stage lack the necessary self-esteem. 

Being an Academic Mentor requires a good deal of self-awareness, sensitivity for the context and needs of mentees and the passion to impart knowledge and experience to mentees in a supportive environment.  The upcoming Training Workshop will assist participants to raise their level of self-awareness, get an understanding of what the characteristics of a meaningful mentor-mentee relationship are and practice the skills to support and motivate mentees in the academic environment.

Workshop Program

The first day of the two-day workshop will be an introduction to learning styles, mentoring styles and will lead up to a personal mentoring statement in which participants will incorporate their own unique strengths profile and personality traits. The day will conclude with a StrengthsFinder session where mentors will jointly discuss their unique strengths (but also be cautious of possible blind spots in their mentoring styles). 

On the second day a framework for the mentoring journey will be developed collaboratively and mentors will be trained in interpersonal skills needed for mentoring conversations.  The mentors will also engage in personal goal-setting and time-management in a way that they can replicate in their mentoring discussions.