On Wednesday in class, Colleen and I presented to the
class on the topic of mentorship and its importance in life as well as the
workforce. I believe that it was a very educational and useful presentation for
the class. They can use the information we presented in the future when they
find a mentor or maybe even become a mentor themselves. Professor Bonica was
away at a conference, so we used Facetime in order for him to be able to watch
our presentation as well as make comments. I thought this was pretty cool because
he was in another State but we were still able to conduct our class as if he
was in the room.
A mentor is a person or friend who guides a less
experienced person by building trust and modeling positive behaviors. An
effective mentor understands that his or her role is to be dependable, engaged,
authentic, and tuned into the needs of the mentee. A mentee is the person that
is advised, counseled, and trained by the mentor. Mentorship is the
relationship between the mentor and mentee in which the mentor helps support and encourage the mentee to
manage their own learning in order to maximize their potential, develop their
skills, improve their performance and become the person they want to be.
The history of mentoring dates all the way back to
Greek mythology, where it originated from Homer’s famous book, The Odyssey. The
character Mentor coaches, advises, and counsels Odysseus’s son Telemachus. Mentor
prepares Telemachus to take over the family responsibilities while his father
Odysseus is away on his journey.
In our presentation we talked about five different
types of mentoring, which are: Peer mentoring, Role Model mentoring, Reciprocal
mentoring, Reverse mentoring, and Group mentoring.
Peer
Mentoring: Individuals
already having gone through the same experiences as you are now
- Academic
settings
- Employment
- Teams
or extracurricular activities
- Goals
of the relationship:
- Provide
support
- Encourage
- Build
confidence and trust
Role
Model Mentoring: Mentor relationship in which the mentor
is seen as a role model to the mentee
- Mentee
looks up to the mentor and seeks to imitate the mentors behaviors
- 5
qualities of the Role Model Mentor:
- Passion
and ability to inspire
- Clear
set of values
- Focused
on well-being of others
- Selfless
and accepting of others
- Ability
to overcome obstacles
- Similar
to Peer Mentoring as it is seen in academic, employment, and team
settings.
Reciprocal
Mentoring: Alternating roles as mentor and mentee
- Both
parties have similar experiences and success but a complementary skill set
- Keys
to success:
- Goal
setting
- Accountability
- Trust
- Goals
of the Relationship
- Share
knowledge
- Gain
insight
Reverse
Mentoring: An initiative in which older executives are paired
with and mentored by younger employees on topics such as technology, social
media and current trends
- Is
primarily seen in Work/Employment settings
- Criteria
for Success:
- Defined
expectations: Each party needs to be very clear
on their expectations
- Willingness
to learn: Both parties act in the capacity
of a mentor as well as a mentee; so they must both genuinely want to
learn from and share with each other
- Trust:
Reverse mentoring requires the trust of each party. The goal is to
push one another outside of their comfort zones and try new ways of
thinking, working and being
- Transparency:
Both parties must be open with their feelings and with what they are
thinking. They must be able to overcome differences in
communication style and be open to seeing situations from different
angles
Group Mentoring: Multiple individuals acting as mentors and mentees
- Peer Group vs. Team
- Guidance rather than training
- Benefits:
- Multiple viewpoints
- Cross-disciplinary and diverse perspective
Benefits
of Mentoring
- Benefits
for the Mentee
- Provides
impartial advice and encouragement
- Develops
a supportive relationship
- Offers
professional development
- Results
in higher job satisfaction, salaries, and promotion rates
- Benefits
for the Mentor
- Allows
for growth of leadership capacity
- Can
learn valuable lessons from mentees
- Helps
strengthen interpersonal relationship skills
- Leads
to more personal satisfaction
mentorship is a such a rich and interesting topic. The mentoring culture of the military was one of the things that drew me to it.
ReplyDeleteYou guys did a great presentation, and I wish I had been able to be there in person, but it was very cool to participate from another state, as you noted.