Mentoring In The Workplace

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.

Attached is a completed application for the mentoring program I would like to pursue. Not sure if I have overstepped my boundary, but I have discussed this with my RA, Nick Lalpuis, and he supports the proposal. I also discussed this with Laura Watson this morning and she is in agreement with it as well. Please advise if there are any additional documentation or steps I need to go through to get

The issues I have decided to address are the lack of formal in group mentors and mentorship opportunities available for female students, faculty, and staff of color. The University has been intentional about recruiting students, faculty and staff of color. Despite these efforts our women of color who work as faculty or staff are the few available mentors available for students. Unfortunately, they are burdened with few professional growth opportunities while juggling work, mentorship requests, as well as providing the minority voice on committees throughout the campus. Subsequently, these women do not have in group mentors to support their growth. While some research shows, professionals who have been mentored are more likely to engage in mentoring, this does not seem hold true for women in general, it is especially untrue for women of color (Wright and Wright 1987). Increased professional expectations, distress and demands are likely the reasons for this difference. With all this, it is clear that women of color are at a significant disadvantage for finding mentors on this campus, and in most male dominated fields.

1. I believe in order for a mentor program to be successful there should be a formal type of structure with support from all levels of management. I believe that employees who are going into the mentoring program as either Mentees or Mentors should also be motivated individuals who choose to participate and not instructed to do so. If I were building a mentoring program I would first start with a formal structure that would have a set up of expectations as a mentor and a mentee of what is expected from both parties. I would complete a match process for mentors to mentees that would use a character/trait comparison of what accomplishments both have and

Throughout this week’s team discussion session the group identified three resources needed for collaborative consultation to be effective in a school setting. Our team discussed how mentoring and training is needed to develop and improve teaching practices. Mentoring and professional development can be arranged by administration to assist both novice and seasoned teachers. Another skill identified by our group was the need for teachers to develop efficient organizational systems, in order to maximize the use of your time. For example, a group member discussed the importance of collecting and organizing your students’ IEP goals, benchmarks, and data in preparation for meetings. This skill may be developed with the help of asking other teachers

Formal mentoring programs are ubiquitous on college campuses and yet there is a lack of high quality training for mentoring participants online. The Entering Mentoring training is a notable exception (more here). However, this training is in person. More here about lack of inclusive mentoring / cultural intelligence.

As an aspiring Educator, I strongly believe that having an assigned mentor for new teachers would be a significant benefit to the newly hired educators and the students in the classroom. Teaching is not an easy position and requires plenty of hard work and dedication in the classroom. A mentor would definitely enhance a new teacher’s experience by providing support, building morale and assisting with academic support for students in the classroom.

The use of coaching and mentoring is on the rise within the workplace. Several organizations have adopted the process of coaching and mentoring as development tools to develop those employees who are seeking future advancement. Also, they are setting the foundation for future leaders. The adaption of these developmental tools within an organization is providing employees with the necessary feedback and support to establish and plan their career. Coaching and mentoring provides an employee with the necessary leadership and management skills they would need to strive up the career ladder within an organization. These processes are both ‘helping’ activities, employed either as distinct interventions or together

One thing I believe is a necessity in growing up is having a mentor. Having a mentor is, not only, beneficial for the mentee but also the mentor. Being a mentor is a learning experience for everyone participating, it helps people grow as a person and friendships are created when a bond if formed. Some people might think it's a waste of time for a child or that it'll never work out for a troubled delinquent but based on the research I've done, I have proven them wrong. Through-out this paper I will provide the pros and cons of mentoring and how they affect both mentor and mentee. To back up my proposal that mentoring is supporting, I will supply examples to answer the question: Is mentoring really important?

When learning something new, the quickest easiest most successful way is to find a great coach and mentor. Recommendations are great, or Google the trainer you have in mind especially if the training involves the internet.

As part of my introduction, I would like to mention that my research project is about mentoring where I have chosen ‘questioning’ as my strategy. In this report, I will discuss in detail about my ‘Mentoring through Questioning’, which is a key for my research project report. Here, I will cover the project’s context in which it was set, my aims and focus of the project, my justification on why I have chosen mentoring through questioning and the types of questions being used during this project, in support of the relevant literature. And then eventually, I will mention about the interactive sessions between a mentor and mentee, the reflection or the perspectives, specifying the self-analysis as well as the required feedback from mentee as part of the research strategy. Later, I will conclude this report by mentioning about the effectiveness of mentoring sessions and the future actions planned for my skills development.

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.

In today’s volatile business world, it is vital for organizations to engage employees both intellectually and emotionally. Through mentoring, employees identify themselves as a vital part of the organization while creating a heightened level of ownership. Mentoring programs are of great value to any company. In most cases, these programs are considered essential. By developing and implementing a mentoring program, the learning process for employees is accelerated. It is said that mentoring “can accomplish things that training cannot” (Johnson). Even though, developing a mentoring program is not an easy task, the benefits outweigh the challenges. A mentoring program will help alleviate high employee turnover and assist in building a pipeline of diverse employees.

Our research concludes that while mentorship is embedded into the company culture, there is an opportunity to enhance and make it a more efficient tool. In an investor report, Citrix indicate “We build talent by attracting, developing and keeping the best people. We are authentic, building trust, mutual support and credibility” (Citrix, 2004). In other words, developing talent is a fundamental part of Citrix culture and mentorship fits in this foundation. We find this a positive aspect; as explained in the journal of values based leadership: “mentoring is tied to organizational culture and reflects organizational values and beliefs” (Hester & Setzer 2013). In our research, we asked employees if they believed the company supports and provides the necessary tools for a mentorship program, 66% responded positively. Similarly, 100% of the responses from manager indicated that mentorship was part of the culture. Also we found out that organizational commitment is essential for the effectiveness of a mentoring program (Ehrich & Hansford, 1999). We can conclude by indicating that leadership has nurtured the mentorship concept and employees perceive this as an available tool for career advancement.

Because of the powerful synergy that exists in informal mentoring, companies have attempted unsuccessfully to replicate the conditions of informal mentoring in an imposed mentoring practice. Informal mentorship agreements grow from an attitude of mutual respect between two people, where the senior member values the junior member and facilitates his/her movement through difficult tasks and through the organization with no mandate to do so. Given that most of the research is on informal mentoring, isolating the skills required to be a good mentor can be elusive, as it is important to recognize that mentorship occurs as a unique relationship each time it occurs. No two mentoring relationships are typically alike. Thus to determine the prescribed qualities of a mentor and apply them across the board as we did in facilitation is not feasible nor is it useful in practice. The qualities in a protégé that inspire an informal mentorship arrangement depend on the matching or complementary qualities in the mentor to attract. Malcolm Gladwell (2005) in his book entitled Blink describes this important quality of “initial chemistry” and suggests that it occurs at an unconscious level ‘in the blink of an eye’.