Frances Mumford and Her Board of Advisors
This case details the early career trajectory of a recent college graduate who effectively leveraged mentoring to achieve career success. The protagonist, Frances Mumford, was not a naturally gifted computer scientist and found herself struggling to climb the learning curves necessary to be effective both during her college studies and again in her first post-college job. However, she did possess relational savvy, defined as protégé adeptness with nurturing and managing developmental relationships (Chandler, Hall, and Kram, 2010), which she used to build a personal board of advisors to help her meet her developmental needs (Shen, Cotton, & Kram, 2015) and increase her productivity and effectiveness. The discussion illuminates the value of mentoring and the importance of embracing and utilizing relational learning for career success.
- Discuss and categorize the benefits of mentoring for protégés and mentors as well as the types of support that developers provide.
- Explain the nature of a developmental network in terms of its primary dimensions, as well as some positive outcomes associated with the support received from mentors and certain network structures.
- Determine the influence of the employing organization’s context in enabling and hindering opportunities for nurturing developmental relationships.
- Devise strategies for targeting and reaching out to potential mentors and nurturing and utilizing a responsive developmental network capable of meeting one’s career advancement and personal growth aspirations.