Expanding Leadership Diversity Through Formal Mentoring Programs

As Finkelman (2006) stated, “Mentoring, and important career development to that can be used by nurses any type of set or specialty, can be used to develop the critical leadership skills needed by nurses. All successful leaders have had mentors are our mentors” (Finkelman,2006, p. 390).

Watt, L. (2004). Mentoring and coaching in the workplace: an insight into two leading leadership

Clutterbuck & Megginson (1999, p.17) describe mentoring as being like ‘standing in front of a mirror with a trusted other, who can help you see things that you do not know how to see, or that have become too familiar for you to notice’. It is a helping relationship between an individual with potential and an individual with expertise. This multi-dimensional relationship is a partnership between those in similar roles, who can support each other. A number of roles of the mentor have been listed by Bolton (2010, p.193): role model, enabler, teacher, encourager, counsellor, befriender, facilitator, coach, confidante, supporter and ‘un-learner’. To be successful roles and responsibilities of those involved need to be clear and they need to be matched to each other and understand expectations of them.

After a 32-year career in human resources and nine years in her current position, Tamara Trummer still considers the benefits of the mentoring relationships she took advantage of as a newly minted college graduate. They gave her the "business smarts" necessary to get off to a good start.

As well as reveal how the effective mentoring experiences can be utilized to create tailored mentoring program for specialized populations. The researcher expected the results of the data collection and analysis to add to the existing body of literature from an African American woman’s perspective on the impact of mentoring in higher education. More significantly, the study revealed the mentees career development needs, expectations, and the impact their mentor’s influence had on their careers. These components are vital to understanding and providing suggestions for future African American women seeking leadership

The Closing Bell Speaker Series “Iron Sharpens Iron”: Why Mentoring Matters So Much was presented by Forest Harper. Forest Harper is the current Chief Executive Officer and President of INROADS Inc. Harper grew up in a poor neighborhood in Fort Pierce, Florida. In high school, Harper was a star athlete in his high school’s Army ROTC program. He attended Morgan State University on a football scholarship. His plan was to become a professional football player. He suffered two knee injuries that ended his football career. He graduated from Morgan State University with a Bachelors of Arts in Social Work. After graduation, he joined the Army and served as a Lieutenant. He spent six years in the Army and rose up to the position of Captain. After the Army, Harper participated in the Executive Leadership Training program at Harvard University. Before becoming the president of INROADS, Harper worked at Pfizer for twenty-eight years. He started as a pharmaceutical sales representative and later became the Vice President of Capability Development in Worldwide Public Affairs and Policy. He was the only African American in his division. This fact inspired him to join INROADS and become a mentor to minority college student. His goal is to help get as many minority college students into the industry they choose. Harper’s own mentor is his uncle Walter Crenshaw, the oldest documented Tuskegee Airman.

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 an initiative that has been found effective and transferable from business to education (Wallace, Montgomery and Pomerantz, 2010), indeed Linney (1999) suggested that mentoring is a very popular tool in various contexts and fields. In the field of education, Daloz (1987) felt that teachers and mentors played a vital role in allowing students to gain confidence, insight and passion to progress in their academic lives.

The growing diversity within organizations has made it crucial for managers to mentor their employees as a “tool to nurture and grow these individual” (Bailey & Cervero, 2002). The Successful mentoring of these individuals also translates into positive outcomes for organizational initiatives. Nonetheless, the cultural characteristics of this diverse population has also made it harder to understand how to properly mentor these employees. Mentoring across cultures boundaries is an “especially delicate dance that juxtaposes group norms and societal pressures and expectations with individual personality traits” (Bailey & Cervero, 2002). The following areas of focus are crucial building blocks for a successful cross-cultural mentoring

[This paper will include research on mentoring millennials and how this will impact their professional experiences. This paper will also look at the differences of personalities, attitudes, and morals from generation to generation. This research will attempt to prove if millennials are as bad as they seem, or if these are only false stereotypes. An analysis will be done to determine if mentoring will change some of the stereotypes that millennials currently hold. This paper will look at the different behaviors observed by the millennials as they work through the

The workplace of today involves interactions among people from four different generations often causing much conflict for leaders and organizations. Each generation represented has its own set of different values and beliefs. These differences can easily lead to conflicting barriers within the workplace. This can pose a significant problem for those in leadership. In order to combat this issue, leaders and organizations can effectively deal with these issues by offering different programs such as executive mentoring, town hall meetings, and leadership seminars for those in leadership.

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.

Attached is the proposal to implement a mentoring program at Anderson, Lower, Whitlow P.C. In early summer, ALW hired fifteen recently graduated individuals and 12 have already taken positions at other firms. There needs to be a system in place to develop and foster relationships for these individuals within the firm. This firm has a high turnover rate of new hires; currently, the turnover rate is 85%. Firms that are considered the Big Four are offering mentoring programs that make their employees invested in the company’s future. Unfortunately, if ALW does not start to compete with this issue, more employees will be lost to the Big Four Firms.

With the development of the more organic and less formal organisational structures the role of mentors has shifted with these changes. Unlike previously where mentors where seen as formal trainers who taught newcomers the processes and got them acquainted with the cultures and the systems within the organisation. Which required good interpersonal skills and a good knowledge of the activity or tasks the mentee would have to undertake, and be able to effectively relay or demonstrate the tasks or activities to the mentee. As opposed to more recently where a mentor would have to be more of an emotional counselor and demonstrate more skills than were traditionally required from

Mentoring - Mentoring is an indefinite, relationship based activity with several specific but wide ranging goals. It does not have to be a formal process. The mentor is a facilitator who works with either an individual or a group of people over an extended time period. The agenda is open and continues to evolve over the longer term. Mentoring seeks to