The Classical Understanding Of Learning

Mentoring involves a manager passing on his/her knowledge and expertise to an employee. Typically, the employee has a mentor who is at management level but not directly involved in his or her work area, so that issue s can be discussed in an impartial and confidential manner.

One of the great things about mentoring is that it is something that has been around for ages. In fact, its origins can be traced back to the Greeks and is even found in the ancient legend of Odysseus. Mentoring occurs when one person elects to pass their knowledge onto another person.

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.

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”.

"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."

Mentoring may be considered as a tool to support the ongoing development and success of people undertaking a new role or new within the organisation altogether. As a means of introduction to my workplace the Boatswains Faculty, which is a sub organisation of Training Authority Maritime Warfare (TAMW) within the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) new staff go through an induction period to ensure they hold the necessary knowledge and skills to teach. Throughout this essay, I will refer to correspondence with a mentee, mentor and supervisor within my workplace. I have changed the names of the correspondence for privacy reasons. I will analyse the mentoring scheme its strengths and weaknesses, and the perceptions of those interviewed on its effectiveness, my mentoring progress and strategies for the ongoing development of my roles as a mentor.

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 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.

Mentoring takes many forms and has many purposes, however, no uniform definition of mentoring exists (Bochke, 2001). Caffarella (1993) defined mentoring as “intense caring relationships in which person(s) with more experience work with less experienced person(s) to promote both professional

Mentors have an important role in ensuring the acquisition of knowledge obtained at university translates into competency in practice and does not lead to the 'theory practice gap' described by Cope et al (2000). Mentors have to consolidate the knowledge taught in university into practice in the learning environment and allow the student to reflect on their performance and experiences.

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.

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.

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.

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