KMC 1) - CONFIDENTIALITY (Part 2)

Key Mentorship Characteristics (KMC) 

1) CONFIDENTIALITY - An understanding between a limited number of parties regarding the extent to which information shared between them will be kept private or revealed to those outside of the group. Information that has been shared between the parties was communicated in confidence, with the understanding that it’s distribution will be carefully handled.

We had such a great response to our request for comments on the role of “CONFIDENTIALITY” in Mentorship that we felt we had to post these separately in order to keep these special comments intact for your benefit and reading pleasure.

This is a continuation from the first in a series of BLOG posts related to Key Characteristics found within Healthy Mentoring Relationships.

Here's a quick glimpse of the following special posts featured on this BLOG.

* IN THIS POST - Prof David Clutterbuck, David Clutterbuck Partnership (United Kingdom)

Coming Soon:

Feb. 21, 2013 - Tuulikki Juusela, Womco Ltd (Finland)

Tuulikki has a M.Sc. focussed on psychology, national economics, social policy and statistics. She has long been active at an international level in mentorship.  A Finnish citizen, she owns a training and public relations company as well as an antiques business. Formerly the Executive Director for the Finnish Council for Health Education, on the Executive Committee for the European Union for Health Education and the International Union for Health Education, Tuulikki has been the Head of the Statistical Office of the Finnish Municipal Association and Researcher for the Statistical Office of Finland. Drawing on her many and varied experiences in mentorship, Tuulikki highlights the importance of trust, honesty and confidentiality. She offers practical insights that help the participants respect the boundaries established within mentoring relationships.

Previous Post: 

Feb. 7, 2013 - John Kuypers, Performance Shift Consulting (Canada)

Please feel free to share your experience with respect to this aspect of mentorship and invite others to participate where you feel they could add value to our discussion.

We asked:

•       What is the role of CONFIDENTIALITY within a mentoring relationship?

•       What does CONFIDENTIALITY mean to you?

•       How is CONFIDENTIALITY developed between the mentoring partners?

Here are some comments that we've received from our friends, respected professionals and experts who are familiar with this subject:

Prof. David Clutterbuck

David Clutterbuck was one of the very early pioneers of mentoring and coaching. Author of 55 books, a third of them on coaching and mentoring themes, he is visiting professor at both Sheffield Hallam and Oxford Brookes Universities.  David co-founded the European Mentoring and Coaching Council and chairs the International Standards for Mentoring Programs in Employment.

 

"Confidentiality - When people glibly say that the mentoring relationship is confidential, what do they mean? In helping hundreds of organizations define confidentiality, here are some of the lessons I’ve learned:

• Confidentiality is about confidence — trust in the other person’s discretion and judgement. The greater the level of co-confidence, the higher the level of honesty and personal disclosure within the mentoring conversations
• It’s surprisingly rare in well-managed programmes for either party to break confidentiality. When it does happen, it often destroys the relationship and can undermine the entire programme
• Confidentiality is never absolute. Among exceptions:
• The mentor’s duty of care towards the mentee takes higher priority, should they be in mental or physical danger
• The mentor also has higher responsibilities in the context of duties in law (e.g. avoiding complicity in crime) and in their role as an officer of the organization (to avoid damage to its reputation)
• Privacy is often a more accurate term than confidentiality
• The existence of the mentoring relationship should always be public (otherwise it is open to misinterpretation, particularly in the context of cross-gender mentoring); however, the content of the mentoring conversations is private to the mentoring pair
• It’s important to agree on protocols for how to handle discussions with third parties. For example:
• What is an appropriate response when a mentor is asked for their views on the suitability of the mentee for a new or more senior role? How much of the content of the mentoring conversation is it appropriate to reveal in this situation, with regard to the mentee’s strengths and weaknesses, career aspirations and so on?
• What can the mentee say to their line manager about advice they have been given by their mentor?
• If mentor and mentee meet with the line manager to discuss the mentee’s development options, what should be revealed and how?
• If confidentiality has to be broken, for good and ethical reasons, it should never come as a surprise to either party. It’s important that mentor and mentee talk with each other to:
• Establish that there is an ethical issue
• Clarify each other’s responsibilities and duties of care
• Explore, and if possible agree, who should make the disclosure of the confidential information and how
• If one party refuses to behave ethically, and the other believes that a disclosure is necessary, the latter should set out clearly what they are going to say, to whom and when. This may not save the relationship, but at this point the level of trust (confidence) is likely to have been damaged irreparably anyway
• When in doubt, the party, who feels that disclosure is appropriate, should seek professional guidance (for example, from a professional mentoring supervisor)."

Prof David Clutterbuck
David Clutterbuck Partnership
Woodlands, Tollgate, Maidenhead, Berks, UK

Website: www.davidclutterbuckpartnership.com

NOW - Please feel free to share your comments and experiences with respect to this aspect of mentorship.  Also, help us to reach others who could benefit from participating in this discussion. We welcome your 'sharing' this page with those in your circle of contacts!

Questions:

•       What is the role of CONFIDENTIALITY within a mentoring relationship?

•       What does CONFIDENTIALITY mean to you?

•       How is CONFIDENTIALITY developed between the mentoring partners?