Mentoring and coaching in academia: Reflections on a mentoring/coaching relationship

The changing landscape in Higher Education has made it more difficult for less experienced academics to find persons willing and able to invest in, and support their professional development. Mentoring and coaching provide psychosocial assistance in the work space, which assists mentees to deal more effectively with role ambiguity, role conflict and a perceived uncertain environment. This paper presents a single case study of two academics at a university in Jamaica. Using minutes collected from 19 meetings over nine months, the paper discusses the processes and outcomes of an academic mentoring/coaching relationship on the professional development of a faculty member. The main findings indicated that the mentee was positively impacted by opportunities related to career advancement, expanded thinking, scholarly confidence, facilitation of a collaborative culture, and the importance of goal setting in academia. Based on these positive impacts, the mentor and mentee theorize that mentoring is an important activity that should be facilitated in higher education through structures peculiar to each unique context.