An Overview of Mentoring

Mentoring: is the process of a more experienced person advising and guiding a less experienced (and usually younger) person, typically a colleague.

It takes a lot of commitment to be a mentor, an appropriate meeting time needs to be discussed between mentor and mentee so that it doesn't conflict with family, school, and/or social life. Mentors are usually provided for: troubled teens, young children with busy parents that work, children or teens with special needs such as Autism or ADHD, or anyone under or over the age of 18 who needs to have one on one time with someone they trust and can talk to confidentially.

Mentors are influential, senior organizational members with advanced experience and knowledge committed to providing perception to a mentee’s career development. A mentor supports a mentee’s views of self within a work role as well as it supports the mentor’s sense of self for the valuable wisdom and experience they have to share.

Mentoring is a process where a more experience person creates a supportive relationship with an inexperienced, mostly younger person with the aim of providing information and advice. The process of mentoring must benefit both parties.

Mentoring relationships has its roots beginning in ancient Greek mythology, when Odysseus (a.k.a. Ulysses) entrusted Mentor with his son, Telemachus, while he left to fight the Trojan War. Odysseus, king of Ithaca, left home for 20 years on the famous journey that Homer ccalled the Odyssey. Mentor was responsible for raising Telemachus, shaping his character and helping him make wise decisions as he grew up to be a man. Eventually, Telemachus begins searching for his father, and Mentor joined him. The myth says that the Greek goddess Athena assumed Mentor’s form for the purpose of giving advice to Odysseus (Shea, 1997). Mentor’s name, with a lower-case “m,” has passed into our language as a shorthand term for wise and trusted counselor, advisor, teacher and friend. Mentoring is where a person invests time and energy to help another person grow and learn (Shea, 1997). “Mentor served as a coach, teacher, guardian, protector, and kindly parent. Mentor shared wisdom, promoted Telemachus’s career, and actively engaged him in a deep personal relationship (BOOK – Johnson –Ridley, xxx, p. xv). Like today the mentoring model is pairing a mentor and a mentee where the mentor is a role model and provides direction and guidance.

Mentoring is relationship orientated – it provides a safe environment where the mentore shares any issues which can affect their mentors professional and personal success. Mentoring also focuses on work/life balance, self confidence and self perception.

Mentors serve as a confidant, counselor, guide and advisor to a participant. They share an understanding of the organization, its mission, and the formal and informal operating processes, and share experiences which contributed to their own success, setting an example for the participant to follow. They assist the participant in career development ideas or for pursuing career opportunities. Mentors encourage participants to become more efficient and productive in their career field through self-development and other activities, and suggest appropriate training and developmental opportunities to further the progress of the participant toward leadership positions. The Mentor will provide input to the participant 's supervisor in developing their Individual Development Plan (IDP), helping the participant to set clear, realistic career goals and periodically reviews progress, making constructive suggestions on career development. Vitally important, the Mentor must ensure the mentoring relationship remains visibly and consistently professional. Mentors must ensure that their meetings are for clear purposes related to mentoring, that there is visible progress by the participant toward legitimate mentoring goals, and that office relationships between the mentor and participant

Mentoring in the workplace can be described as a relationship in which a more experienced colleague uses his or her greater knowledge and understanding of the work or workplace to support the development of a more junior or inexperienced member of staff.

Point Definition: Mentors are people who provide new employees or interns with knowledge and skills in their area of expertise. Levinson states, “Mentoring is an active creative process that demands energy and commitment invested in another person’s career” (165). Mentoring is often a two-way street between the mentor and the mentee. There has to be equal involvement and interest in order for the mentee to become successful.

Mentoring for the mentor is about challenging himself to perform to greater capabilities while nurturing a mentee and stretching them to realise their full potential. Mentors counsel, tutor and guide their mentees in developing themselves.

Mentoring is an action related to developmental supports and relationships “between two individuals, normally of unequal status and experience, the mentor and the protégé” (Bozionelos, Bozionelos, Kostopoulos, & Polychroniou, 2011, p. 446). Mentoring is a three way approach to support individual (protégé), managerial/supervisory (mentor) and organizational needs, expectations and goals (Dunn & Jasinski, 2009). Protégés can benefit from the mentor relationship through career recognition and satisfaction, while mentors can benefit through a rejuvenation of interest and engagement, increased power and position, and work related accesses (O’Neill, 2005). Bonzionelos et al. (2011) has shown a correlation between socio-emotional supports, positive career success and positive work related attitudes and engagement for both mentors and protégés. Research provides a framework of support for organizational benefits including enhanced organizational learning, competitive advantages, motivated employees, increased performance, and employee retention (O’Neill, 2005). Mentoring systems for new hires provides new employees with a staff person to support the learning process and be accessible for assimilation during the onset of the orientation period (Kiazad, Holtom, Hom, & Newman, 2015).

Mentorship is very important in the workplace especially in the area of training and development. The mentor-protégé relationship is a much needed relationship that begins in the early career stage and this relationship involves the current or new employees and the supervisor or other colleagues that provide work-related guidance. The relationship itself is comprehensive and involves “educational, occupational, physical, social, and spiritual development” (Greenhaus,, Callanan, & Godshalk, 2010, p 211). One of the initial task of the early career the establishment of the career field which involves the gaining of the workplace competence, learn what is needed to excel in the organization, and to gain acceptance in the workplace to be recognized as the valued employee. There are many ways of achieving the above mentioned advantages in the workplace which one main method is through the use of the mentorship program.

1.Mentoring helps both the mentee and the mentor recognize their abilities and limitations, thus highlighting areas for future development. It helps prompt thought about career development and come to a realistic conclusion about their career potential. It can help increase the motivation of both the mentee and the mentor. The mentee gains a new direction or perspective while the mentor feels a sense of achievement when their mentee succeeds. It will develop communication skills. As well as the obvious listening/questioning skills, we will gain experience of talking to a younger or older colleague. We will be grooming future allies. Within the same company this could help with internal promotion prospects for both the mentee - gaining a

This essay will start by defining mentoring, and giving a brief understanding of mentoring. This essay will then go on to identify and evaluate a number of key factors that may influence the effectiveness of a mentoring relationship. This essay will focus on the example of mentoring within schools and a learning mentor to be more specific.

Mentoring  Mentoring is a relationship between someone who is experience and someone who isn’t experienced, with the more experienced person helping the less