(For presentation at the ASCE Zone III Younger Members Conference, Houston, TX, on Saturday, 6 February 1999)

By James (Jim) T. P. Yao, Department of Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3136; E-mail: jtpyao@tamu.edu; Homepage: http://lohman.tamu.edu

1. Introduction

Many companies, universities, professional societies, and other organizations have their own career paths and have developed various mentoring programs. Members of the ASCE Committee on Professional Practice-Task Committee on Career Development have established this set of guidelines in an attempt to summarize those available for use by interested civil engineers. While attempts have been made to list references and other resources for further reading, this list is not exhaustive. We also find that there is overlapping information as given in various references. It is difficult to attribute credits to specific sources. Moreover, a certain degree of subjectivity in selecting these guidelines cannot be avoided. Inputs to career paths are being collected by Mike Peralta (E-mail: jets1@nae.edu), and inputs to mentoring guidelines are being collected by John Pizzi (E-mail: geotech@hardesty-hanover.com).

2. Career Paths

In October 1998, the ASCE Board of Direction has approved the following policy statement:

It also said, "The implementation of this concept will not happen overnight, nor can ASCE will that it be done in a specified time period. This concept is a legacy for future generations of civil engineers. However, perhaps the most important aspect of the implementation of this policy is already in place. Within the U.S. system of higher education, high quality, innovative and diverse master’s degree programs currently exist in colleges and universities to support this concept. The active support of this policy by all the stakeholders in this process, such as the educational institutions, the registration boards, and the various employers of civil engineers, will be required to develop and promote the elements necessary to eventually implement this concept."

The recommended career paths as summarized herein are consistent with the above-mentioned ASCE policy statement and current practice. The flow-chart as shown in Figure 1 follows that of Moore and Yao (presented as Paper P316-2 at the Structural Engineering World Congress (SEWC) in San Francisco, CA on 18-23 July 1998) and was modified by Greg DiLoreto and me. In Figure 1, the general career paths toward private practice, education and research, and government are outlined. More sample career paths are being developed along these lines. As an example, Figure 2 shows the career paths for civil engineering educators in general (with the valuable advice of Don DeGroot and Joe Manous). As a specific example, my own career path is shown schematically in Figure 3.

3. Mentoring (initially prepared by John Pizzi and modified by Jim Yao)

1. MENTORING MISSION STATEMEMT

The goal of mentoring professional engineers at different stages is to foster a setting within the professional work environment. In this environment, (1) employees have opportunities for guidance and assistance in achieving career goals within a personal and one-on-one relationship, and (2) students and practicing engineers have mentoring relationships with one another through societies such as ASCE. Mentoring becomes a part of the professional workplace culture and is available to all staff members within a given organization and other professional engineers who desire it.

2. DEFINITION OF MENTORING

Mentoring is the counseling and coaching of students, junior employees, and civil engineers in general by more senior colleagues and other licensed professional engineers. These counseling relationships help contribute to the professional development of both the person who does the coaching ("mentor") and the person coached ("mentee"). Mentoring relationships enable both individuals to build new skills, prepare for advancement and other growth, and build self-esteem and self-confidence. In so doing, mentoring contributes to the fulfillment of personal professional development and the goals of the employer organization.

A mentor is a teacher, friend, guide, counselor, and role model for the mentee. A mentor sometimes pushes and challenges the mentee to do his/her best, sometimes is just there to lend an ear, and always acts as an advocate for the best interest of the mentee. Mentoring is a development, caring and helping relationship where the mentor invests time, knowledge, and effort in enhancing the mentee’s growth, knowledge, and skills. It is important to both mentors and mentees to

• Establish a common ground.
• Establish communication methods (e.g., E-mail, telephone, and face-to-face).
• Make a commitment.
• Share experience.
• Be honest with each other.
• Have positive attitudes.
• Be active listeners.

In the following, more attributes of mentors and mentees are presented.

1. BENEFITS OF MENTORING

• To Employers

- Improved employee performance and satisfaction.

- Better organizational decision-making.

- Succession planning.

- Improved technical competence.

• Improved quality of work.
• To Mentors
• Intrinsic satisfaction.
• Earn mentee’s respect.
• Develop lasting relationships with mentees.
• To Mentees
• Benefit from mentor’s guidance.
• Develop lasting relationships with mentors.
• Have the benefit of experienced advice.

1. MENTORING PROGRAM ORGANIZATION

1. Role of the Employer:

• Foster a professional work setting that provides a stimulating, stable and rewarding environment. It will help to attract, retain, and develop employees in providing professional engineering services to clients.
• Focus senior resources on the mentoring issue.
• Establish and implement the mentoring program.
• Monitor the performance of the mentoring procedures.

1. Role of the Mentor: The mentor is a consistent, comprehensive advisor, advocate, and coach – as opposed to a more technical, project-specific teacher.

• As Individual
• Accept the mentee for what he/she is.
• Be supportive and realistic.
• Be honest and encouraging.
• Build confidence in your mentee.
• Maintain open and clean lines of communication.
• Be respectful of the mentee’s social and cultural environment.
• Offer useful information.
• Teach networking and make introductions.
• As Career Coach
• Help mentee define his/her skills and career goals.
• Motivate mentee to initiate activities on their own behalf and to perform at his/her highest level.
• Guide mentee by providing him/her with frank, constructive information and feedback.
• Advise mentee on career paths and technical development opportunities within the organization and at professional societies.
• As Advocate
• Advise mentee on official and unofficial organizational practices that may be helpful in developing their full professional potential.
• Intercede, where appropriate, with personnel up, down, and across the organization to provide the mentee with challenging development opportunities.

1. Role of the Mentee:

• Assess your development needs and goals.
• Demonstrate an interest in your development and be proactive about pursuing opportunities.
• Develop a plan for your mentoring relationship and be prepared to discuss the plan with your mentor.
• Schedule a meeting with your mentor.
• Communicate your development needs and goals to your mentor.
• Think of and discuss possible mentoring activities.
• Maintain open and clear lines of communication.
• Listen carefully to mentor.
• Accept the mentor for what he/she is.
• Have confidence.
• Do not expect the mentor to work miracles for you.
• Be flexible in the mentoring relationship.
• Be willing to give open and honest feedback about the mentoring program.
• Use experience, knowledge, and wisdom of the mentor.
• Do not become intimidated.

1. GENERAL MENTORING RELATIONSHIP GUIDELINES

• Know what you want and need in a mentoring relationship.
• Seek and recognize opportunities to build developmental relationships.
• Keep in mind that it takes time to build a mentoring relationship.
• Consider building a system of supportive relationships, of which identifying a mentor is one part. Sometimes, more than one mentor is desirable (e.g., one in the company, and another one outside; or one in the specialty area, and another one in the general discipline).
• Understand that mentoring relationships are not forever; rather, they change as individuals’ needs and circumstances change.
• The mentor-mentee relationship is not a substitute for the supervisory relationship and should not address matters that are the purview of the supervisor.
• The mentoring program complements normal organizational processes and procedures.

1. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON MENTORING

The following list of publications and website links contain additional and more detailed information regarding establishing and implementing mentoring programs, the roles of mentors and mentees, selecting mentors, preparing for mentoring sessions, and case histories of successful mentoring relationships:

• National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine, Adviser, Teacher, Role Model, Friend, National Academy Press, 1997 (http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/mentor/)
• Camp Dresser & McKee, Mentoring Guidelines (Courtesy of Charles Parthum).
• Parsons Brinkerhoff, Inc., Office of Professional Practice, Mentoring Guidelines, July 1997 (Courtesy of Frank Lane Lynch).
• Luna, G., and Cullen, D. L., Empowering the Faculty (Mentoring Redirected and Renewal), ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report 95-3, George Washington University, Washington, DC.
• Sandler, B. R., "Mentoring: Myths and Realities, Dangers, and Responsibilities," A Hand Up: Women Mentoring Women in Science, pp. 271-279.
• Kaye, B., and Jacobson, B., "Reframing Mentoring," Training and Development, August 1996.
• Wood, W., "Mentoring Newsletter," Women Faculty Network, Texas A&M University, January 1997.
• Rinehart, J., The Mentor Program, Women in Engineering, Science, and Technology, Texas A&M University, 1995-1996.
• McClendon, R., ExCEL program for minority students, Texas A&M University.
• http://fairway.ecn.purdue/wiep
• http://mentornet.net
• http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/mentor
• http://www.ptgirlscouts.org
• http://www1.usa1.com/masspep

1. Concluding Remarks

I am pleased to have been given this opportunity to make this presentation and to meet with you. Your continued advice is always appreciated as are your constructive comments and suggestions. Any feedback comments you might give us will be appreciated (Mike Peralta jets1@nae.edu is in charge of career paths, and John Pizzi geotech@hardesty-hanover.com is in charge of mentoring guidelines). In addition, I wish to thank the members of the ASCE CPP Task Committee on Career Development for their diligent work. My colleague Lee Lowery has given me valuable advice and assistance, and the Lohman Professorship in Engineering Education at Texas A&M University has enabled me to remain active in ASCE.

  Figure 1 Civil Engineering Career Paths (based on a Moore/Yao paper in July 1998 and modified by Greg DiLoreto)

Figure 2 Career Paths for Educators

Figure 3 A Sample Career Path – Jim Yao

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