Strategic Mentoring: A Culturally Responsive Approach for Supporting Black Males

Abstract

Young Black males living in single-parent homes, in spite of never having a mentor, understand the value of a responsible same-sex mentor. Thirteen Black males between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five offered well-expressed thoughts on mentoring and why they believe mentoring adds value to their lives. They characterized unstructured mentoring as a process without a specific agenda. The consideration of Black males struggling without a father in the home requires the serious consideration of strategic mentoring as a solution for change. Strategic mentoring has a clear purpose, is communication-centric, is designed to develop during the course of a long-term mutual commitment between mentor and mentee, and incorporates the child’s mother into the mentoring experience.

Keywords

Black males mentoring strategic mentoring unstructured mentoring

Introduction

In Cullingford’s (2016) work on Mentoring and Education, a mentor’s objective is to enable learning in others by showing an interest in the individual’s life, supporting dreams and finding ways of offering stability for their future. Successful mentoring should be an organized process with planned activities that lead to emotional, educational and social growth. The mentor must serve as a trustworthy sounding board, a coach, and an experienced professional willing to commit to the academic and social well being of the mentee (Lockhart, 2016). While most youth can benefit from mentoring, Black males face circumstances that call for a greater understanding of how mentoring may positively affect their social and academic success.

Black Males

Over the past 25 years in the United States, Black males have experienced systematic biases resulting in social, educational, and economic disadvantages at a higher rate than any other racial or ethnic group in America (Jackson, 2012). Tolliver (2012) characterized Black males as “endangered species”: a class of individuals at inordinately high risk for failure across virtually all life domains. An overwhelming percentage of the literature on Black males speaks of a crisis in communities, public education, and in a social context (Brown & Donnor, 2011; Halx & Ortiz, 2011; Noguera, 2009). In her work on school success for Black males, Harper (2015) shared that Black males who enter educational institutions with high levels of preparation, mentoring support, and motivational influences are more likely to perform at a high standard that increases the likelihood of both their academic and social success than those who are unmentored.

Mentoring has been recognized as a powerful tool that can support efforts toward increasing social and emotional learning and connect underserved individuals with reliable human resources who can motivate students to achieve high standards. Effective mentoring links families to the educational process in a personal way and can be instrumental in encouraging a young mind to think critically about the future. New and exciting mentoring initiatives have been introduced in schools and communities for the direct purpose of challenging old mindsets and improving the classroom performance of Black male students. Toward the end of President Obama’s tenure, he initiated “My Brother’s Keeper,” a premier mentoring program intentionally designed to support the school performance of Black males and to encourage adult males to serve as their mentors. My Brother’s Keeper raises social awareness of the plight of Black males and fosters a support system for Black males being raised in single parent homes; additionally, it addresses the ongoing social and educational struggles faced by Black male students.

Mentoring

How the mentoring process is understood determines how the program will take root and whether it will yield intended results. Mentoring can be divided into two categories: unstructured mentoring and strategic mentoring. In unstructured mentoring, the mentor almost never receives professional training and there are no clear guidelines about how the mentoring relationship might proceed once it starts; my study suggests that unstructured mentoring rests on an unstable foundation and that it rarely operates at optimal efficacy. Moreover, parents are not included as a viable resource in the process and the strength of the relationship is almost never fully—or even accurately—understood by the mentor. Further, unstructured mentoring offers no clear methodology and it rarely reflects the quality of the service it is expected to provide. Finally, there are no definite long-term procedures built into the mentoring that quantifies the impact of the mentoring relationship. Specifically, unstructured mentoring is not anchored to sustainable procedures that could ground the mentoring relationship and establish a solid foundation for the mentee’s future. When the mentoring relationship collapses, it is the mentee who suffers the weight of the loss and must absorb the stress of being twice abandoned: by both father and mentor.

In contrast, Strategic mentoring is a well-coordinated, high-performing mentoring process centered on enriching the life of the mentee through formal procedures that avoid the common pitfalls associated with unstructured mentoring. The deliberateness associated with strategic mentoring is what makes the partnership between the mentor, the mentee, and the child’s mother sustainable. More importantly, the mentor understands that trust, open communication, ongoing training, and developing a collaborative relationship with the child’s mother contributes value to the relationship. Mentors who engage in structured mentoring recognize that a personal commitment must be established at the onset of the relationship and maintained throughout the partnership’s duration. This type of commitment to the mentoring relationship is a source of stability that yields positive relational outcomes. Mentors who engage in strategic mentoring are willing to invest quality time in both planning and developing a mentoring plan, which requires monitoring in order to quantify the success of the relationship in improving targeted areas. Unlike unstructured mentoring, strategic mentoring increases the probability that the legacy of the mentoring relationship will take root in the mentee and serve as a positive developmental tool for him.

Because of the strengths and weakness of the unstructured mentoring approach and the strategic mentoring approach, this research focuses on strategic mentoring. The following review of the literature seeks to situate the research findings in this context.

A Review of the Literature

The purpose of strategic mentoring is to holistically respond to mentees and purposefully address their social-emotional and academic concerns. This strategic engagement counteracts the “no one cares” attitude commonly expressed by Black males who often feel marginalized and forgotten (Cohen & Galbraith, 1995). Additionally, mentoring should help close education gaps, build a foundation that allows the mentee to successfully advance in a unsympathetic environment, and teach coping skills that decrease the loneliness experienced by young men living without a father in the home. DuBois and Rhodes (2006) argued that mentoring can have a number of encouraging effects on developing a strong emotional foundation for the mentee, while Asante (1998) asserted that how the mentoring starts and how the mentor involves himself with the mentee should explicitly empower the disenfranchised and nurture a sense of connectedness that improves academic and societal conclusions for the mentee. Asante’s and Rhodes arguments justify the need for strategic mentoring as a credible tool congruent for the development of Black males struggling to find their way.

Chandler et al. (2011) described mentoring relationships as unique partnerships through which the mentor provides social and career guidance that encourages the mentee’s collective growth. Again it is emphasized that the mentoring be organized, purposeful and directed toward improving outcomes for the mentee. Similarly, Lockhart (2016) envisioned mentoring as the development of critical-thinking skills, and assisting and encouraging the mentee to focus on experiencing the bigger picture in order to find an academic and social fit that redirects the mentee’s path. According to Saenz et al. (2015), effective mentoring should focus on developing a positive mentee–mentor relationship, with an overall objective of promoting the societal, and academic development of the mentee. The literature outlines the notion that marginalized students experience several macro and microaggressions that affect their mental wellness, school progress and their daily functionality, it further explains that effective mentoring could be used to promote change for these students Gilliam et al. (2017). In his work on Mentoring for the Future, Torres-Guzmán and Goodwin (1996) rationalized that mentoring is an intense, dyadic relationship in which the mentor purposefully furthers the personal and academic development of the mentee.

Black Males

Black males have shown demoralizing results in public educational and social-emotional outcomes at a higher rate than any other racial or ethnic group, which has led to academic failure at all levels (Duncan, 2002). In The New Mentor, Evans (2000) suggested that the presence of a structured mentoring program with caring adults who coach, sponsor, motivate, and serve as role models can positively influence educational outcomes of minority students. Noguera’s (2003) work in school success and Black males has explained that most indicators for Black male educational achievement shows signs of trouble and distress. Milner’s (2010) work on understanding diversity maintained that Black males continue to encounter ever-widening educational gaps that stifle their ability to learn effectively. In “Implications for African American College Students,” Brittian et al. (2009) argued that mentoring provides opportunities for personal growth, motivation, social progress, emotional support, and access to academic resources that are essential to the educational experience for students of color. Jackson et al. (2014) reinforced Evans’ (2000) findings that a well-structured mentoring relationship is key for scholastic and social success for Black males without a father in the home. The literature frames the issue of social and school success for Black males in terms of a dilemma where they are bound to fail.

The general premise of mentoring programs should be to promote social-emotional growth, improve academic success, advance school retention, and motivate the mentee to perform to high standards (Brown, 2009). Bass (2011) reported that the impact of mentoring on African-American males is manifested at an effort to increase Black youth’s cumulative grade point averages and provide them with a sense of belonging in the school community. Black males who have a positive interaction with a father or a mentor inevitably view themselves as academicians, as studious, as competent and capable, and as intelligent or talented in school settings (Whiting, 2006), which supports the notion that effective mentoring can change outcomes and offer new learning and social benefits for the mentee. Varying definitions and divergent conceptualizations of the mentoring process, that aim to change academia and social trajectories for young men of color have expanded the mentoring conversation (Brown, 2009). In all, the literature supports advanced interventions that address problems faced by Black male students who are struggling. Including Black males in mentoring programs can increases their overall academic performance and their ability to successfully taking part in society as meaningful contributors (Bass, 2011; Ray et al., 2009). However, if the mentoring fails at its basic functions, how can one expect that the intended recipients of the mentoring will show expected improvements?

With the understanding that structured mentoring can improve academic and social consequences for Black male students, this paper aims to broaden the mentoring discussion with a specific purpose of unpacking strategic mentoring and highlighting it as a meaningful mentoring process that adds considerable value to both the mentor and the mentee. This paper will explain why the practices of strategic mentoring should be adopted over the existing practices associated with unstructured mentoring.

Framework

I employ the social-ecological theory of social development as developed and adapted by Urie Bronfenbrenner (1979, 1986, 1997), Bronfenbrenner and Morris (1998) as the primary theoretical framework for this study. Bronfenbrenner’s framework is applicable given that his social-ecological theory creates linkages between how Black males might connect with those who influence how he functions and moves through society, consisting of five interconnected “environmental” systems that range from the individual in close interpersonal interactions to the broad influence of institutions and cultures. He calls the five systems the macrosystem, exosystem, mesosystem, microsystem, and chronosystem; however, this study focuses exclusively on the microsystem, which centers on the individual and the people of his life. The microsystem includes the specific settings in which an individual spends time: the school, the home, the neighborhood, the church, and so forth, and, therefore, is the most appropriate when studying mentorship.

Within each microsystem, the individual has direct interactions with parents, teachers, peers, or, if present, mentors. Each can directly impact a Black male’s self-esteem, sense of responsibility, success in school, social development, and self-discipline. For Bronfenbrenner, the individual is not simply a passive recipient of experiences in these settings but, like people in all settings, is someone who reciprocally interacts with others and helps construct the settings themselves and the meanings of the settings for themselves and those around them. Therefore, at any given time, a mentor within the microsystem can directly act as a support for educational and social goals, or that same mentor may act as a barrier if the mentoring is not structured and well planned. Building on Bronfenbrenner’s microsystem, strategic mentoring can substantially impact both Black males’ sense of self and also their academic and social outcomes within their microsystems.

The following research questions will guide this research:

Does strategic mentoring result in positive educational outcomes for both mentee and mentor?

Does Unstructured Mentoring provide the necessary support and guidance needed to improve educational and social outcomes for Black males?

What are the key components of Strategic Mentoring and how might they encourage parties associated with the mentoring process to work together to achiever intended outcomes?

Method

This qualitative study is exploratory in nature and involves the collection and analysis of data gathered from Black males in Northern California. The purpose of this study was to explore gaps between both the intended and actual outcomes of the mentoring process and discover specific ways strategic mentoring could be used to improve educational and social outcomes for Black males. Qualitative methods were used to gather data for this study because it allowed me to capture responses from participants while giving them the opportunity to share personal experiences and specific knowledge about their understanding of mentoring. The validity, meaningfulness, and insight generated from the qualitative inquiry has more to do with the information generated from cases selected for their explanatory power than from sample size exclusively; importantly, qualitative research allows the emergence of themes and patterns that provide a deeper understanding of the issue (Patton, 2002).

Participants

Participants were selected through convenience sampling. The logic and power of purposeful convenience sampling lies in selecting participants who are unusual or special vis-á-vis the issue at hand and who can provide rich, meaningful information (Patton, 2002). Participants who completed the questioner offered a unique perspective on mentoring and how they believed a mentoring relationship should be conducted. Data were obtained from thirteen Black males between the ages of 18 and 25. Participants were recruited from barbershops, coffee shops, churches, and basketball courts—places selected because such locations feature activities wherein mentorship might occur and, therefore, potential participants might congregate there.

Instruments

Participants were approached and asked to complete a questioner that specifically focused on the participants’ understanding and opinions on mentoring, along with questions about how they understood and perceived the mentoring process. The prompts were developed to extend, illustrate, and deepen understanding of the research questions on unstructured and strategic mentoring.

Participants were not selected on the basis that they had knowledge of mentoring or a past mentoring relationship. The questioner asked participants’ opinions about mentoring that allowed participants to share their personal thoughts and ideas regarding mentoring and their perception of the process. Specifically, there was no time limit forced on participants to respond to the questions. Allowing freedom to respond to questions addressed possible limitations, including participants not feeling comfortable developing a written response.

Data Analysis

The analysis of the surveys took place both inductively and deductively with the goal of discerning themes and patterns that would give rise to a structure for future empirical research. In Transforming Qualitative Research, Boyatzis (1998) argues for connecting the language of research to themes. Following procedures outline by Boyatzis, the analysis began by reviewing the data and then applying inductively derived codes to it. These codes were then grouped and regrouped into themes based on similarity. These themes more were then deductively pared-down in relation to themes derived from a review and synthesis of the literature. Using matrix displays (Miles & Huberman, 1994), themes were then mapped and cross-case comparisons generated a framework that compared unstructured mentoring with strategic mentoring.

Findings

Finding of the study suggest that Black males understand the importance of mentoring; they want strong, committed adult males who can provide mentoring that will add value to their lives, and they believe that their mother should be included in the mentoring. Data from the study showed that participants lived in single-parent homes with either their mother or their grandmother. While some participants revealed that they never had a mentor, all participants expressed that, at one time or another, they wanted an adult male role model who could or would provide them some guidance and leadership. Expressing desire for an adult male mentor was a common theme that developed throughout study. Because fathers are missing in their lives, participants have come to believe that an adult male mentor could assist them in improving their scholastic performance and also with them becoming strong, confidant men. Comments included, “Since my father has not been around a mentor would be a good idea, I need someone to help.” Moreover, participants also believed that their mothers should be included as part of the mentoring; they felt that the mother could contribute positively: “I think my mother would be happy to know I had a mentor, especially if she knew who the person was.” Excluding mothers from the mentoring process is commonly associated with unstructured mentoring. It is this deliberate disengagement that turns single mothers away from the mentoring process altogether. The participants brought mothers into the conversation—one reason the study generated an impetus to include the mentee’s mother as a valuable component of strategic mentoring.

Participants appeared to have a broad understanding of mentoring and its potential impact on the quality of their lives. Comments included, “mentoring can provide an example of healthy life and leadership,” “mentoring is a way to model good behavior,” and “how can a boy ever aspire to be something if he never sees or is exposed to what he should be.” Although young men who participated in the study expressed that they had never had mentors, they felt certain in their understanding that a mentor could improve their lives in meaningful ways. Participants also expressed thoughts of being in a caring, mentoring relationships with an adult male who would fill the gap of an absent father. This finding is congruent with the findings in Chandler et al. (2011) study that suggest that a mentoring relationships with an adult male can provide guidance that encourages emotional growth for young men struggling alone without the support of a father figure.

In the survey, participants provided several descriptors of the ideal mentoring relationship, which included structure, clear directions, academic support, check-ins, communication and constrictive feedback, goal setting, skill building, and teaching the mentee how to respect women. When asked how they envisioned strategic mentoring, they described it as having clear objectives, defined goals, a specific purpose for activities within the mentoring relationship, and a detailed plan for how mentoring would proceed. When responding to the question, “How would you go about defining unstructured mentoring?,” participants explained that they believed it to be an unclear, jumbled way of communicating and characterized it as informal and both mentoring without rules and also something that would only last for a short period of time. The survey also revealed that participants were adamant in their desire to be included as part of a mentoring relationship that provides leadership and guidance where they felt it were lacking. Without ever having the benefit of a mentor, participants imagined the mentoring process could serve as a tool to redirect their lives in positive ways both academically and socially. One participant stated, “a mentor is like having someone be a father who cares what kind of man I’m gonna be in the future.” Findings from the study correspond with Evans’s (2000) The New Mentors, which suggests that well-thought-out mentoring leads to positive overall developments for both mentor and mentee.

Discussion

Discovering that Black males grow up in single-parent homes is not new or surprising information; for years, research reported that a large percentage of Black males live in single-parent homes without fathers. Young men living without a father in the home appreciate the utility of a mentoring relationship and they have a personal understanding of how the process should be conducted and specific ways it might impact their individual lives. Participants were clear that an effective, well-developed mentoring relationship could change their attitudes about school and how they perform in the classroom. More importantly, it would provide them with tools to move through society more effectively. Whiting (2006) suggests that having a father or a mentor present in the lives of young Black males can make a difference in their overall school performance. It becomes increasingly apparent that young Black males without fathers in the home need structured guidance from adult males who are willing to commit to the mentoring process. Evans (2000), along with Jackson et al. (2014), both suggest that structured mentoring can provide the needed support to help change educational outcomes for young Black males and that it can serve as a key element in the well-being of fatherless young Black men. However, in order for this to happen, adult Black males must take up the charge and serve as mentors and, when they do, they should approach mentorship strategically.

Strategic mentoring is a way of improving academic and social skills while supporting intrapersonal development for Black males. Asante (1998) argued that how a mentor effectively involves himself in the mentoring process is what empowers the mentoring and makes the mentoring strategic, purposeful, and life changing. Strategic mentoring is an organized collaborative process that forces reflection and motivates the mentees to participant academically and socially; importantly, it focuses on the future and emphasizes that choices carry consequences. Strategic mentoring demands that the mentees’ mother is included and given the opportunity to share in how decisions are made. Strategic mentoring is directly associated with building a path of support associated with improving the social-emotional and academic growth of the mentee. According to Grantham (2004), how the mentoring is structured is a direct function of the type of mentoring experience in which the mentor and mentees will engage.

Conclusion and Implications

This study reveals that in spite of never having a mentor, participants understand that a same-sex mentor can benefit them in important ways, such as: leadership development, substantial improvements in their academic performance, and providing them with tools necessary to navigate social situations. Participants repeatedly articulated that they believed mentoring could positively affect their lives if the mentoring was built on communication, trust, commitment, and the simple act of including their mother as part of the mentoring process. The study also revealed that Black males are thinking about mentoring and how it can change and enrich their lives. As we continue to research, discuss, and explore the academic and social dilemmas involving this population of young men, mentoring should be at the top of the conversation agenda. However, mentoring must be thought of as a strategic process specifically designed to improve targeted areas of the mentee’s life. This research suggests that mentoring must be high performing and centered on enriching the mentee through a formal, well-structured process. When we do think about mentoring, all thoughts of mentoring should be guided toward strategic mentoring. Strategic mentoring is deliberate, well organized, inclusive and has a defined purpose that communicates connectedness and allows the mentee to feel confident in the relationship. According to Georgia, when Black males can feel certain the mentor is committed to their success, their motivation to be successful increases (Chao, 2004). Strategic mentoring is built on planning, collaboration, open communication, empowerment and a commitment to seeing the mentoring through. What defines Strategic Mentoring is mutual trust, ongoing formal training, mindfulness, including the mentee’s mother in the mentoring, and a coordinated timeline for preparation and implementation that will ultimately guide the interaction; each of these strategic components becomes a pledge to the mentee that affirms his sense of importance and worth.

There is an abundance of research that supports mentoring as an important influence toward changing educational and social trajectories for Black males; however, if mentoring is to succeed, this research shows that we must first distinguish between unstructured and structured mentoring, and divert resources from unstructured mentoring so that we can direct them to mentoring that both begins and concludes with purpose and deliberation. Unlike unstructured mentoring, strategic mentoring begins with a proposal for the mentee to become strong-minded and confident by equipping him with both tools and knowledge to contribute to his microsystem as described in Bronfenbrenner’s social development theory. This study revealed both that Black males understand what successful mentoring entails and also that they are able to distinguish between strategic and unstructured mentoring. If we expect to see changes in the scholastic performance of Black males who are faced with ongoing cultural, societal, and personal challenges, it is strongly suggested that strategic mentoring be employed as a resource for change; it will provide the support and guidance necessary to effectively initiate the process of improving the educational and social results for Black males struggling in the absence of a father figure’s support.

Plans for developing strategic mentoring include outreach to qualified, adult Black males who are willing to serve as mentors. These individuals must understand the value associated with supporting young Black males in need of strong, supportive role models who can provide direction in their lives. Executing the strategic mentoring process includes the implementation of a detailed handbook that lays out requirements, obligations, expectations, and general rules associate with serving as a mentor. More importantly, the potential mentor is required to take part in a formal training that comprehensive prepares the individual to serve as a mentor. Finally, the potential mentor is requires to formally meet with mentee’s mother for the purpose of establishing a working partnership. What makes strategic mentoring beneficial for the mentee, is that the mentor undoubtedly understands what is required at the very start of the mentoring process and mentor willfully makes a commitment to engage in the mentoring process with a complete understanding of what is expected of his role as someone who can transform a life.

Mentees who are involved with a mentor who follows guidelines associated with strategic mentoring will benefit from a structured, organized mentoring process connected to positive outcomes. More directly, the mentee receives help and learns leadership skills from a mentor who cares about his academic and social well-being.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Quintin Leon Robinson

Author Biography

Quintin Leon Robinson’s work focuses of school success and the academic performance of Black males. He believes that mentoring can have a profound effect of how Black males perform in the classroom and, if done correctly, it can change educational outcomes in a powerful way. Mentoring should be thought of as a way of adding value to the life of an individual in need.

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