Mentor Benefits

To be a good mentor you have to have great qualities like being helpful and being really good at giving good constructive criticism. Whomever you're mentoring should receive information that is both positive and negative. You want to makes sure you give pros and cons so that your mentee can learn from them. (Patterson) Some social activities that you can do in mentoring programs include talking about life experiences, having lunch together, and visiting the mentor's home for a bonding experience. (Wexler) Although most mentoring programs usually have short durations and are claimed to be a “waste of money,” they are beneficial to girls because they prevent peer pressure, diseases, and pregnancies; encourage girls to be more mannerable, respectful, and ladylike; and results in kids being more likely to graduate high school and attend college.

“The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches but to reveal to him his own. - Benjamin Disrael This quote is similar to a Chinese Proverb that says “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”(Chinese Proverb). Both essentially say the same thing, and that is, you can only help someone so much until they need to realize they are capable of doing great things on their own. Higher Risk youth benefit from guidance, but once they have figured everything out they can move on alone. These two quotes apply to mentoring because, mentoring is like showing someone the way to life.

An advantage of mentoring is that it helps to acclimatise less successful workers to the job and organisational requirements. By having a "go to" person to ask questions, discuss scenarios and generally learn the nuances of the company, the mentee can become a productive member much more quickly and never feel that he has nowhere to turn for help. The mentee can gain the sense of achievement that comes from the mentor's feedback and assessment of his progress. The mentee's quest to gain the mentor's approval can serve as a motivating force to continue to improve his performance. The mentor can gain satisfaction from knowing that she is helping an individual and can take a measure of pride in her accomplishments. For a mentor that has already achieved a great deal of success, she can look at the process as a way of "giving back”.

Working in a group to achieve a high quality group project can be one of people’s most difficult school experiences. Working in a group is tough because there is often someone who does not pull their own weight. “There are five stages to group development, adjourning, forming, storming, performing, and norming” (John & Wiley pg 166). Christine’s group from the Case Study the Forgotten Group Member is in between the Storming and Norming Stages. The Storming Stage “is dealing with tensions and defining group tasks,” while the Norming Stage is dealing with high emotionality and tension among the group members” (John & Wiley pg. 166). Christine and her group could have had better

"Mentoring is a special quality, skill set and attitude," she says. "The benefits are not only between the mentor and mentee, but the future generations."

There are many benefits that could be useful for young adults to have a mentor, according to Blue Sky Coaching (2008). One of many, that personally stands out to me, is business and life skills. I think this is very beneficial because whether you have a career mentor as an employee or a child development mentor, they can help you discover the value of life and teach you things that will take you farther then you would go on your own. This skill is something you can't get from just anyone, they have to know the skill and tell you the do's and don'ts of the process the correct way. It could be a volunteer from an organization, all the way up to the CEO of a large flourishing company, they will show you the way to go. Other benefits include: knowledge and contacts, perspective

Mentors give you the advantage of learning from someone else’s mistakes. They share the experiences they went through to get to where they are today. By learning about the mistakes and experiences, you no longer need to waste your time. Having a good mentor allows you to find the best and easiest way to almost anything.

Overall groups have been a major part of my life from participating in them to facilitating them. While I have been apart of them I never really thought about the fact that I am in them until now, even being in groups in the last few weeks in class I have been more conscious of what I am doing. I have been in groups for children with anxiety, groups that are clubs, and have worked leading support and activity groups as well as groups for children including summer camps, out of school care and daycare. From this course, I hope to develop my skills more in these areas as well as learn skills in a therapeutic facilitator role.

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.

Fortunately, the advantages of the mentor-mentee relationship are balanced on both sides of the equation. Mentors have shared with me how helpful the experience was for them - how much it meant to be in a position to help another human being. While deriving some satisfaction from the arrangement isn’t a motive for becoming a mentor, it is a very nice side benefit.

Prior to starting the assignment, I was extremely confident in running groups because at my practicum site I ran two education groups and one process group each day I was at my site. Going into the assignment, I had an idea which direction I wanted to go in for the video. Being that I do not live in California like my classmates, and I completed my work at my practicum site, finding members for my group proved to be extremely

Functions provided by a mentor include both career oriented and psychosocial. Career oriented functions are done to “enhance career advancement” of the protégé (Greenhaus et al 2010). Career functions include sponsorship, increased exposure and visibility, coaching, protection, and challenging but doable assignments. Psychosocial functions are done to “enhance sense of competence and effectiveness” of the protégé (Greenhaus, 2010, p 212). These functions involve being a role model, providing acceptance and confirmation, being a counselor, and providing

The things I will have done differently in the group was to use my time wisely. I believe because we were on a time frame, I tended to rush things just to say okay where done. Also, more support and trust at a point of time I was kind of second guessing another idea. I feel that you have to have trust in your group member to make it effective.

Accompanied with the current shift towards more organic organisation structures and more emphasis on the learning organisation, mentoring provides a more all round experience to the mentees by getting them confident with their role with the organisation. It also improves communication throughout the organisation by allowing mentees to give feedback and learn in a not so formal fashion which helps people feel more relaxed and develops the formal and informal culture of the organisation.

I used to believe that I did not perform very well in groups. I am an observer who likes to learn alone. I thought I learned best when I worked on my own. Even though I always knew group work had many positive values, I was more comfortable with the lecture-based approach and resisted group work merely because it involved change, not because it had a collaborative learning approach. However, during the learning community project, I came to realize that I learn more effectively when I work in groups. Working in a group was like an adventure for me; there were both exciting and challenging times while preparing for the learning community project.