Situational Mentoring
Published by Dr. William A. Gray at Smashwords
© 2012 William A. Gray
ISBN 978-0-9868796-3-0
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Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
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ENDORSEMENTS
My introduction to Bill Gray and Situational Mentoring started in 1992, when he trained mentors and proteges to employ Situational Mentoring in CSX Transportation’s Associate Development Program. After eight years, I took over from Bill, teaching ADP participants how to use the four Mentoring Styles for giving and receiving assistance, identified by Bill’s Mentoring Style Indicator. This training still continues because Situational Mentoring produces mentoring relationships that benefit proteges, mentors and the organization.
~Dr. Doug Klippel, former Mentoring Coordinator at CSX and current President of People Development Partners (http://www.peopledevpartners.com)
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When I was Director of Human Resources for Eastman Kodak, I was responsible for orienting newly hired researchers into our research labs. We tried putting them beside veteran researchers in the lab – to receive informal mentoring when needed – but this didn’t work. So, I contacted Bill Gray to help us plan and implement a formalized mentoring program, and to train participants to employ Situational Mentoring to meet the situational needs of proteges as these were identified. Because this worked so well, I contacted Bill to help Kodak plan and implement two more programs. I’ve seen first-hand how Bill’s approach produces results, and can highly recommend Situational Mentoring.
~Bob Calman, former Director of Human Resources for Eastman Kodak
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FOREWORD
Situational Mentoring
Have you ever been in a situation where you needed advice and direction from your mentor, and did not get this because the mentor thought you should figure out what to do? Or in a situation where you asked a mentor to be a sounding board for your idea to do something, and the mentor started telling you what he would do?
Have you been in a situation where you knew from greater experience that your protege was going to make a critical mistake, and your protege would not heed your wise counsel? Or in a situation where your protege depended on you too much, and you didn’t know how to get your protege to take more initiative?
In a much longer, previous book – Mentoring Relationships that Work – I describe how to utilize four Mentoring Styles and associated mentoring behaviors in a flexible manner so proteges (mentees) will accept and utilize the various kinds of assistance mentors can provide, and mentors will provide assistance that is situationally appropriate for what each protege needs.
I also describe more than 30 very different, formalized Mentoring Programs I have helped organizations to develop. I explain why a Mentoring Program Development Expert (who has at least 10 years of dedicated experience and practical know-how) is needed to define, design and deliver all of the essential components that each distinctive Program requires to produce multiple benefits for proteges, mentors and their organization. And, I contrast informal and formalized mentoring to show how different they are on 10 key characteristics.
[You can preview or purchase Mentoring Relationships that Work at this URL: http://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=Mentoring+Relationships+that+Work .]
In response to many requests, my current book focuses entirely on the importance of Situational Mentoring™. What I share is based on over 30 years experience training over 40,000 mentors and proteges to employ four Mentoring Styles in a flexible manner – so mentors equip proteges with what they know (wisdom, practical know-how, etc.) and empower what proteges want to do and become.
Since 1978, different kinds of proteges have benefited from this: youth in grades 4-12, college students, new teachers and principals, new hires in corporate and government situations, as well as proteges needing guidance for career development and for becoming leaders. (I’ve developed a Mentoring Style Indicator for each type of protege and their mentors – to enable them to work together successfully. This is described in Chapters 3-5.)
I discovered that unless mentors employ Situational Mentoring™, they tend to “get stuck” overly using a Preferred Mentoring Style. Proteges can also “get stuck” wanting a Preferred Mentoring Style to be employed, if they don’t accept and request Situational Mentoring. The consequences of “getting stuck” are described in Chapter 1.
As I near “retirement” I’ve been looking back at everything my wife (Marilynne) and I did in the field of mentoring for over 30 years. I’ve realized that the most significant work was done during our first eight years (when we were academics), as we researched and developed our first formalized mentoring program – which we called Mentor-Assisted Enrichment Projects to enhance what is now called STEM Education (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). Doing this revealed the importance of Situational Mentoring. We became so energized, that we left academia to implement Situational Mentoring (our avocation) as a full-time endeavor (our new vocation). Read Chapter 7 to find out more.
Why should mentors read this book? Mentors will learn how to improve your effectiveness – by creating a better mentor-protege relationship, by interacting with proteges in new ways to equip and empower them, by helping proteges achieve desired goals. What you learn abut Situational Mentoring™ will save you valuable time (lack of time seems to be everyone’s main problem these days).
Why should proteges read this book? Proteges will learn how to manage the mentoring process – by requesting the mentor assistance you need – to help you handle especially challenging situations. In Chapter 6, I describe how I did this to make the transition from salaried professor to businessman who generates his own income. Proteges will also learn how to provide effective and efficient mentoring for others.
You noticed that I use the Anglicized word “protege” (meaning the “protected one”). I do this for four reasons: (1) “Protege” is of French origin, where “le protégé” (male) and “la protégée” (female) are used to indicate gender. (2) It is awkward using these two French versions when writing in English. (3) “Protege” has been used longer than “mentee” or “mentoree” or any other word, to designate the recipient of mentoring. (4) Beginning in 1984, I copyrighted over 20 customized mentoring products in which I use the word “protege” (e.g., Protege Needs Inventory, Mentoring Style Indicator, Mentoring Action Plan, Mentoring Compatibility Indicator).
Even if you use another word for protege, like some of my clients do, you will still learn helpful concepts and skills by reading this book.
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Chapter 1 – Why Situational Mentoring?
Chapter 2 – Equipping + Empowering => Successful Protege
Chapter 3 – Mentoring with the Right Style
Chapter 4 – Mentoring for Results
Chapter 5 – Applying Situational Mentoring
Chapter 6 – How Proteges Can Manage Situational Mentoring
Chapter 7 – Mentor-Assisted Enrichment Projects Enhance STEM Education
My wife and business partner for over 30 years is Marilynne Miles Gray (M.A.; M.Ed.). Drawing on her vast experience, Marilynne has written four ebooks – called THE MENTOR Series – that you will also find helpful:
#1. Best Kept Secrets About Mentoring discusses over three dozen ways to improve mentoring, such as: appropriate attitudes, barriers and solutions, reading body language, understanding counter-intuitives, what mentors look for in proteges.
#2. Mentoring A to Z examines topics alphabetically, such as: assumptions about mentoring, beliefs about mentoring, confidentiality, power, trust. Available for purchase or preview at: http://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=Mentoring+A+to+Z
#3. Best Mentoring Case Studies provides over two dozen, plus briefer scenarios.
#4. The Mentor-Telemachus Effect [Leadership Handbook] discusses themes such as: self-directed mentoring, transformation, becoming a reflective practitioner.
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Why Situational Mentoring?
“Mentoring is the most complex type of human activity,” according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Dictionary of Occupational Titles. Why so complex? Effective mentors provide many kinds of assistance to help their proteges be successful in different ways.
This requires Situational Mentoring™ to be employed by mentors and accepted by proteges – as illustrated in the poem below:
Mentor Me
© William A. Gray 2003
You've been there ... where I want to go,
Equip me to succeed ... by sharing what you know.
And, when I choose a different road ... the one less taken,
Empower my initiative ... and my passion.
Mentor me!
Impart your wisdom ... when I know not what to do,
Self-disclose hard lessons ... your life experience has taught you,
Explain the unwritten rules ... the do's and the don'ts,
Inform me and guide me ... as you teach me the ropes.
Mentor me ... with what you know!
Suggest options to consider ... when one method does not matter,
Give me strong advice ... when failure must be avoided,
Prescribe a game plan ... when there's one best course to follow,
Equip me for each and every different occasion I encounter.
Mentor me ... situationally!
Be my sounding board ... take the time to listen,
Clarify my ideas ... without being judgmental,
Understand my real concerns ... identify underlying issues,
Dialogue and problem-solve ... and make decisions together.
Mentor me ... to function proactively!
Confront my inconsistencies ... when I'm unaware of them,
Persuade me to take action ... when action must be taken.
Role model your practical know-how ... that works for you,
Coach the skills I need ... to enhance performance and results.
Mentor me ... realistically!
Encourage my creativity ... and my passion to set sail,
Protect me from unfair criticism ... when I try but fail.
Praise my successes ... bless my long-held dreams,
Equip and empower me ... depending on my needs.
Mentor me ... appropriately!
As I gain in confidence ... with each new thing I do,
And become more conscious ... being aware of what to do.
And develop new competencies ... being more able,
And I stretch and grow ... becoming ever more capable,
Let me ... mentor you!
My poem might give you the impression that engaging in Situational Mentoring is easy to do. But it’s not. That’s why I’m writing this book.
It took me several years of doing research and development of four Mentoring Styles and a Mentor-Protege Relationship Model to discover what occurs during Situational Mentoring – so that mentoring relationships work successfully to meet protege needs as these are identified, and to achieve desired protege goals.
All researchers have found a good mentoring relationship is essential for success: unless mentor-protege partners can relate harmoniously, they will not keep meeting, which means protege needs and goals will not be met. Situational Mentoring creates a good mentoring relationship.
Before discussing this, I want to share what I discovered that does not work – namely, “getting stuck.”
Don’t Get Stuck
In 1978, when I began creating formalized mentor-protege partnerships, no one knew that mentors and proteges needed training – because none is provided for informal mentoring partners. Nearly 100% of the literature on mentoring at that time described informal mentoring – the kind that just “happens” spontaneously and naturally without any formal process for matching mentor-protege partners or for training them.
So, I matched mentors with proteges, gave partners a brief pep talk, and sent them on their way – without providing any training.
From structured interviews, I discovered that about half the mentor-protege relationships failed, and as a result, protege goals were not attained. When asked, “What went wrong?”, these mentors and proteges said: “Our relationship got stuck.”
How mentors “got stuck” telling proteges what to do:
According to the proteges, some mentors got stuck telling proteges what to do and providing direction when this was not needed. These mentors continuously provided advice, guidance and wise counsel because they thought it was their responsibility to equip proteges with what they knew, in accordance with the traditional dictionary definition of mentoring. Proteges initially welcomed such mentoring because it prevented needless mistakes. Unfortunately, these mentors did not recognize when proteges had become more competent and confident, but persisted in equipping them what they knew from greater experience (mostly telling them what to do). Proteges eventually viewed these mentors as being extremely domineering, and stopped seeking their help, which eventually caused the relationship to unravel.
How proteges “got stuck” wanting too much direction:
Some proteges got stuck wanting mentors to tell them what to do. These proteges were often new to a situation and wanted information and guidance to avoid making needless mistakes. They wanted to be equipped with what mentors know. So, they constantly asked mentors for advice and direction instead of showing any initiative or problem-solving on their own. At first, mentors were quite flattered to share their experience and wisdom. But when proteges persisted in this behavior, mentors began to view them as too dependent. In order to force these proteges to be more independent, mentors stopped meeting with them. Eventually, these relationships died.
In sum, we found that persistently providing too much equipping, or seeking it too much, caused the mentor-protege relationship to deteriorate. “Getting stuck” in either way results in relationships ending and protege needs and goals not being met.
How mentors “got stuck” providing inadequate direction:
In contrast to getting stuck persistently equipping proteges, some mentors got stuck overly empowering proteges to figure out or discover what to do – even when they couldn’t. These mentors got stuck being too non-directive because they wanted to encourage proteges to make independent decisions, initiate appropriate action, figure out how to solve problems, and take more risks. Even when proteges were struggling with a situation and went to their mentors for direction, mentors insisted that they handle it on their own. At this point, the proteges realized that the mentors were not going to provide needed assistance, and stopped seeking any mentoring.
How proteges “got stuck” wanting to do-their-own thing:
Some proteges got stuck wanting to be empowered to implement their own ideas because they were overly self-reliant. They tended to be highly motivated self-starters and creative problem-solvers, who could readily propose innovative ideas and usually discover what to do. Busy mentors eagerly anticipated working with them, because the relationship wouldn’t take up much time and they thought they would learn from these proteges. The relationships ran smoothly, until proteges were on the verge of doing something disastrous, but rejected the greater wisdom of their mentors. Upon realizing that these proteges would not listen to their wise counsel, mentors withdrew support. At this point, the relationship fell apart.
This same phenomenon was later documented in the well-known book, Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Can Women Reach the Top of America’s Largest Corporations? This 1987 book reported that 38% of the females being informally mentored by mostly high-level males (“savvy insiders”) did not heed their mentor’s wise counsel, and their career advancement derailed when mentors withdrew assistance. (In contrast, 100% of the females who did reach top corporate levels, listened to their mentor’s wise counsel and utilized such equipping successfully.)
In sum, I have repeatedly found that mentor-protege relationships deteriorate when mentors persistently empower proteges to figure out what to do when they cannot do this, or when proteges overly seek out empowering for their ideas even though they do not know what to do to be successful. “Getting stuck” in either way results in relationships ending and protege needs and goals not being met.
A “dynamic” mentoring relationship produces success:
In marked contrast to the failed relationships described above, mentoring relationships were successful when no one “got stuck.” These mentoring partners found it very difficult to describe their relationship because, instead of being stagnant, it continually changed: “Our relationship was dynamic.” “We didn’t do any one thing all the time.” “Mentors provided many different kinds of assistance.” “Proteges were receptive to any assistance I provided.” “We achieved the goals we set out to achieve.”
In these dynamic relationships, mentors employed different kinds of mentoring behaviors to provide appropriate kinds of assistance, depending on what proteges needed at any given point in any situation. And, proteges were willingly receptive to the varied assistance provided, and utilized this to function successfully and achieve desired goals. Neither partner “got stuck” in the ways previously described.
Relationships stayed dynamic, ever-changing, developing in a positive and productive manner, because both equipping and empowering occurred in a flexible, appropriate manner to meet situational needs.
While listening to these mentors and proteges report what occurred in these successful relationships, I realized that the 24 behaviors mentors provided could be grouped into four categories, which I called Mentoring Styles. (This is akin to doing a factor analysis, using statistics, to determine which variables “cluster” together to form a “factor.”)
Over time, I’ve changed the names of these Styles as I’ve identified new mentoring behaviors. Yet, the basic concept behind each Mentoring Style has remained the same.
This discovery led me to conceptualize Gray’s Mentor-Protege Relationship Model, and to portray the four Mentoring Styles within this Model. This is illustrated below (from my Mentoring PocketCard):
Informational and Guiding Mentoring Styles equip proteges:
Effective mentors employ 14 behaviors (described in Chapter 3) to equip proteges with wisdom, practical know-how, critical knowledge, “tricks of the trade” and other “lessons learned” when they employ the Informational and Guiding Mentoring Styles. Equipping ensures that proteges learn what to do (e.g., gain needed competencies, learn unwritten rules) so they perform capably and “fit in” with the organizational culture (become part of the organizational family).
Collaborative and Confirming Mentoring Styles empower proteges:
Mentors must do more than just equip proteges with what they know, so they don’t produce clones. Mentors must also empower the protege’s creativity, diversity, passions, and goals so the protege becomes a contributor, who adds value to the organization and prevents stagnation. Effective mentors employ 10 behaviors (described in Chapter 3) to empower what proteges want to do and become when they employ the Collaborative and Confirming Mentoring Styles.
NOTE: Costly employee turnover can be significantly reduced by equipping proteges so they know what to do and perform capably and by empowering what they want to do. This is a major reason for starting formalized mentoring programs. Reducing turnover more than pays for the program.
Mentoring Styles are not Stages:
I discovered that the four Mentoring Styles are not four Stages that must occur one after another – from left to right in the Mentor-Protege Relationship Model. Instead, any Mentoring Style can be used at any time when it is appropriate for helping the protege function successfully. In fact, such Mentoring Style Flexibility is the key to successful mentoring.
Situational Mentoring is different from Situational Leadership:
While employing any Mentoring Style behavior with proteges, mentors can be highly concerned about their proteges in all of these ways:
Person-oriented: concerned about the protege’s experience, capability, motivation.
Process-oriented: concerned about providing the right kinds of assistance.
Task-oriented: concerned about what you’ll be working on together or separately.
Results-oriented: concerned about achieving desired goals.
Such multi-faceted concern is possible when using any of the four Mentoring Styles associated with Situational Mentoring, but is not possible when using Situational Leadership Styles for these two key reasons:
First, when employing Situational Leadership, the leader essentially “pigeon-holes” a follower (subordinate; direct report; worker) as needing a particular SL Style for doing particular work, and then uses this SL Style exclusively while the follower is doing this task (until the subordinate’s ability and motivation warrant the use of a different SL Style). In contrast, Situational Mentoring is used to guide career exploration and develop protege’s talents, to help them “learn the ropes” as well as core competencies needed for career advancement. Seldom are proteges direct reports, with mentors overseeing their work performance (except when C-level officers – CEOs, CIOs, COOs, etc. – are mentoring the next generation of organizational leaders).
Second, the SL model is only two-dimensional (task-oriented and person/relationship-oriented), so that a leader cannot be high in both dimensions all the time (whereas a mentor can be while using any Mentoring Style). These two dimensions are shown in the Situational Leadership Model below:
Notice how the two dimensions are used with Followers (workers) to enable them to do their work:
• Directing Style “tells” Follower what to do; involves high task-orientation, but low person/relationship-orientation.
• Coaching Style “sells” Follower on what to do; involves high task-orientation and high person/relationship-orientation.
• Participating Style invites Follower “participating” about what to do; involves low task-orientation, but high person/relationship-orientation.
• Delegating Style involves “delegating” all decision-making and action to Follower; involves low task-orientation and low person/relationship-orientation.
It’s important to emphasize that the four Mentoring Styles are not something a mentor does to a protege, but are actually different types of relationship that exist at any moment in time. This means that the protege must also engage in behaviors that correspond to those the mentor employs.
For example, the protege needs to receive and act on the mentor’s wise counsel, suggestions, feedback, etc. – for equipping to occur. The protege must take risks, propose decisions and actions, and enter into dialogue – for empowering to occur.
Before learning more about the four Mentoring Styles and associated behaviors (in Chapters 3-5), it will be useful to understand the bigger picture – how equipping and empowering produces successful proteges – as described in the next chapter.
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Chapter 2
Equipping + Empowering => Successful Protege
For over 30 years, I’ve trained different kinds of mentors and proteges to use all four Mentoring Styles in a flexible manner to meet situational needs. From this, I discovered the importance of equipping and empowering proteges – and how this can sometimes have a transformational impact on proteges and their organization.
The Importance of Equipping Proteges with What Mentors Know:
Throughout nearly all of human history, the mentor’s main function was to equip less-experienced proteges with what the mentor knew. This had to be done because there were no books available on a mass scale, no public education, and no formal training in the workplace. The only way for someone to “learn the ropes” on a sailing ship, or learn the “tricks of the trade” needed to be a craftsman or merchant, or learn any occupation, was to be attached to more experienced persons, who served as mentors. This attachment occurred formally, for example within the guild and patronage systems, and usually lasted for 4-7 years until a prescribed level of mastery was attained.
Back then, proteges were essentially empty vessels into which mentors poured their wisdom, practical know-how and expertise. From this classical concept of mentoring came our dictionary definition: a mentor is a person who provides wise counsel, a trusted guide, an advisor, a confidant. In these ways, mentors equipped proteges to earn a livelihood.
When books and public education became more commonplace, such formalized mentoring was not needed as much. And so, mentoring was provided informally – for the chosen few. Much like a puppeteer or Mafia godfather, these mentors pulled strings or made things happen to highlight their protege’s talents and sponsor their career advancement. Mentors usually chose proteges similar to themselves and often proceeded to equip them to continue what the mentor had begun. More often than not, the mentors were males and so were the proteges they chose to help. This “old boy’s network” typically excluded women and minorities. The consequence of this informal mentoring was to maintain the status quo more than to empower innovation or change.
As a counter measure, formalized mentoring programs began to be created (in-house and by consultants) in the late 1970s, and have proliferated from that time to now. They were primarily started to assist women and minorities, but also included white males to avoid a new kind of discrimination. They mostly focused on equipping proteges with what mentors know, to shorten the learning curve or increase competency and performance. (In contrast, the formalized mentoring programs I helped over 150 organizations to create have emphasized both equipping and empowering – because today’s proteges need both, and so does their organization.)
The traditional concept of mentor as equipper is still prevalent in many mentoring programs because it produces the following benefits for proteges:
Imparts practical know-how and wisdom so this does not have to be discovered by trial-and-error learning over many years.
Prevents the transfer-of-training problem, because mentors can ensure appropriate application of what’s been taught.
Orients proteges to the organization so they get up to speed faster and feel welcomed into the “organizational family.”
Disseminates and retains intellectual capital, so critical organizational knowledge is transferred, retained and utilized.
Improves person-job fit, so proteges transition smoothly into new jobs and perform successfully.
Equipping proteges so they know what to do and perform successfully reduces costly employee turnover.
The Importance of Empowering Proteges:
Today’s better-educated proteges also need to be empowered by mentors to use their intelligence and creative ideas to solve challenging problems, to use their diversity and initiative to pursue desired goals and passionate dreams, and to make innovative contributions so their organization does not stagnate but surpasses competitors.
Did you know that Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was empowered by two mentors, and that this significantly influenced the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain and made it a supreme power at that time? Sir Isaac Barrow, the only professor of mathematics at Cambridge University (university departments had only one professor in the 1600-1700s), stepped down and gave Newton his position because he recognized Newton’s innate genius. This empowered the 25-year old Newton to further his work and discoveries on: (a) the Laws of Motion and Universal Gravitation and (b) the differential and integral calculus for solving complex mathematical problem. Newton disseminated these discoveries by writing the Principia, which described the principles of mathematics and mechanics, thereby influencing the Industrial Revolution. (Edmund Halley encouraged the publication of this book, which is arguably one of the most influential books in the development of Western Civilization.)
Did you know that America’s unique form of federal government primarily resulted from mentors empowering three proteges? George Wythe mentored Thomas Jefferson while he was a law student at William and Mary College – empowering him to learn about and embrace the “democratic ideals” that Jefferson later wrote into the Declaration of Independence (this helped launch the American Revolution against England, to create the United States of America, which Jefferson called the “great experiment”). After serving as the third President, Jefferson mentored the fourth President, James Madison – empowering him to be the principal author of the U.S. Constitution (for which he became known as the “Father of the Constitution”). Jefferson also mentored the fifth President, James Monroe – empowering him to create the Monroe Doctrine, which stated that America would not tolerate European intervention in the Americas (more importantly, this Doctrine kept the young USA out of Europe’s many wars, so its resources could be used for domestic purposes).
Below are six very important benefits that result from empowering proteges:
Proteges adapt and apply what’s been taught to meet emerging challenges.
Proteges maintain their uniqueness/diversity while fitting in and assimilating to organizational norms.
Proteges make creative contributions that prevent organizational stagnation and make themselves indispensable.
Proteges explore career paths to choose the best one for them and for the organization.
Proteges change career direction to “follow a dream” and do something new and different.
Proteges make what’s learned more personally meaningful.
Equipping plus Empowering can have a Transformational Impact:
Sometimes, mentors can have a transformational impact on proteges and on their organizations. For this to occur, mentors must know the transformational process and facilitate proteges progressing through its five levels – by providing appropriate equipping and/or empowering for each situation encountered. Providing such Situational Mentoring can produce transformational impacts on proteges, such as these:
The protege no longer does science, but is a scientist.
The protege no longer simply applies learned creative strategies, but is a creative problem-solver.
The protege no longer simply fulfills learned leadership functions, but is a visionary leader who positively influences others.
Organizations also benefit from these impacts, by having scientists, problem-solvers, leaders and others who function as experts and peak performers.
This transformational process occurs over five levels. Each successive level requires more effort on the part of the protege:
At the first level, the protege must be receptive – aware, attentive and willing – to be equipped with what the mentor knows. Once the protege is able to focus full attention on what is being learned, the protege becomes interested enough to move to the next level.
At this second level, the protege must respond to this equipping in a much more active way instead of simply receiving what was taught. At both levels one and two, the protege is dependent on someone else (the mentor) to provide what is being received and responded to.
At the third level, the protege must actively value what is being learned. Both equipping and empowering are involved at this key transition point, so that the learner becomes committed to these new lessons learned and is now intrinsically motivated to become a top researcher or influential communicator or effective leader (or become whatever they want to become).
At the fourth level, the mentor empowers the protege to be even more active, in order to compare previous and current learning, and incorporate this into a larger conceptual framework. The protege now understands the difference between doing research versus being a top researcher, or giving a speech versus influencing the audience to action, or simply fulfilling leadership functions versus leading others to produce desired results. The protege is still in the process of “becoming” who/what they want to become. At the next level, they “are” who/what they wanted to become.
At the fifth level, the protege is empowered to internalize all that has preceded this level – to be characterized by what was learned – to develop a new modus operandi (way of operating). For example, the protege will no longer just know about and do science, but is a scientist – able to envision and carry out complex research projects. (This is the Unconsciously Competent Level of functioning, where you are on “automatic pilot” because you are so aware of what to do and have acted successfully so many times, that you don’t have to think much about what to do – you just “intuitively do it.”)