269 - Eroding Mentorship Engagement: The Negative Effects of Misaligned Expectations

Publication Number: 1255.269

R Thomas. Collins, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, KY, United States; Sharon F. Chen, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, United States; Stephen J. Roth, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, United States

Background: Successful mentoring depends on alignment of expectations and goals. Mentoring best-practices include the establishment of clear expectations for the relationship. Failure to establish expectations could have negative impacts on junior physician faculty engagement with mentoring.

Objective: We sought to determine how misalignment of expectations may contribute to disengagement in receiving mentoring by junior faculty.

Design/Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews of pediatric physician faculty identified purposively at two medical schools (one public and one private) and split evenly between assistant and full professors. We used inductive content analysis to identify patterns of expectations and expectation misalignment between faculty mentees and faculty mentors.

Results: Forty subjects participated in the study (50% female, 50% full professors). Both mentors and mentees reported failed mentoring relationships related to issues with expectations. There were two themes leading to mismatched expectations: a lack of clear expectations and expectation misalignment. Multiple participants reported dysfunctional mentoring due to a failure to establish “clear […] expectations and […] goals […] upfront.” Among senior faculty mentors, there were two approaches to setting expectations. One group intentionally set clear expectations at the outset of the relationship, whereas the other group did not “come into it with a ton of expectations,” instead choosing to let the mentees establish what they hoped for the relationship. Yet, junior faculty mentees reported that they rarely expressly stated their expectations with mentors. Both mentees and mentors observed “sometimes junior faculty mentees have expectations of ideal mentorship, and when they don’t get it, that leads them to not engage in mentorship.” Multiple participants reported misaligned expectations between mentees and mentors. Mentees were more concerned with establishing personal relationships with mentors, whereas mentors tended to focus most on pursuing the mentees’ academic success. Additionally, mentors reported that mentees often entered relationships “not knowing what they don’t know,” while mentees saw mentors as sometimes imposing their own agendas.

Conclusion(s): Expectational misalignment undermines mentorship engagement and sustainability. To prevent disengagement, initial mentoring sessions should clarify goals, boundaries, and accountability while ensuring alignment between parties. Mentorship programs could be enhanced by training mentors and mentees in how to formulate, communicate, and negotiate expectations of the relationship.