Making Mentoring a Success in the Workplace
Almost everyone can think of a time when they have been influenced in a significant way through mentoring. Mentoring can come in a variety of different forms and in different areas of life. It is being increasingly used by businesses as a tool to train new employees and pass down knowledge from employees who have been with a company for a respectable length of time and have a great amount of knowledge to share. Having a mentor can be an important factor for an employee entering a new company. When an employee knows that someone cares about his or her success and is willing to help, that person can feel comfortable in the new work environment. Mentoring has become popular in the workplace because there
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Any time that a friend councils another friend or a teacher helps a student through a difficult learning process, it can be considered mentoring. Mentor is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as, “someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person”. People often associate mentoring with life coaching, but according to this definition being a mentor is much broader than that. Another definition, given by Mary Abbajay (n.d.) in her article titled, “The Working Life: The Importance of Workplace Mentors”, says, “A mentor is an individual—usually older, but always more experienced, who helps and guides another individual’s development”. This is taken from an article that is specifically discussing mentoring in the workplace, and it has nearly the same definition. This should mean that mentoring should be able to be used in the same manner in the workplace that it can be used …show more content…
According to Tingum (n.d.) in her article titled “Advantages of Mentoring in the Workplace,” the employer gains greater productivity within the workplace through the mentoring process. She states, “As employees turn to their mentors for advice, they make fewer mistakes on the job, cutting losses to the employer” (Tingum, n.d.). This is a great benefit for the employer because the mentee is being trained and developed from the best employees in the company, likely resulting in a greater number of excellent, experienced employees. As previously mentioned, employees that have been in a mentoring relationship tend to have greater satisfaction in their job. Because they have greater job satisfaction, the result for the company is likely to be a more positive work environment for the company overall (Tingum, n.d.). Companies are also using mentoring programs to attract new employees to the company, decrease turnover rates, and increase employee loyalty (Tingum,
Both formal and informal coaching and mentoring activities occur in workplaces on a regular basis and are key aspects of workplace learning that enable individuals to develop their skills , understanding, experience and knowledge bases.
Mentoring can be that hand that reaches down and pulls you out of the pit. Mentoring can change lives forever and create permanent relationships. Mentoring can help a child get on the right track if they do not have someone else to help them. Whether they have grown up without active parents, have gotten into trouble from time to time, or even if they are a straight A student, the youth needs mentoring. It will build a country that has a solid foundation in which the current youth of America will one day lead. Mentoring proves that “regardless of background, [all children] are equipped to achieve their dreams” (Bruce and
Harshman, Ellen M., Rudin, Joel P., Winter 2000. Corporate Mentoring Programs: Legal Landmines? Journal of Employment Discrimination Law, 15281337, Vol. 2, Issue 1. Retrieved from EBSCOHOST database October 15, 2005.
I have been a mentee in three mentoring programs and I understand from firsthand experience how important mentors have been in my life. Each relationship was very different; one of my mentors was about two generations older than me, while my two more recent mentors have been only a few years older than me.
Mentoring program becomes instrumental and breakdown barriers as employees are interacting and carrying out the organization’s vision. This allows employees to interact with employees of different cultures and backgrounds with the goal that one will learn more about the individual.
There is little scientific knowledge when it comes to mentoring effects on future outcomes; in addition posing confusion as to how these programs continue to emerge. A major component in regards to program effectiveness is in measurement or evaluation of its structure (Deutsch, N., & Spencer, R., 2009). This is done by conducting surveys, focus groups, and interviews (Deutsch, N., & Spencer, R. (2009); Karcher, M., & Nakkula, M. (2010); Diehl, D. C., Howse, R. B., & Trivette, C. M. (2011); Osgood, 2012; Williams, 2011). Studies gives the researcher insight into knowledge that otherwise wouldn’t be known, in order to understand mentoring reactions and relationship styles better (Karcher, M., & Nakkula, M. (2010); Christens, B. D., & Peterson, N. A. (2012); Diehl et al., 2011; Leyton‐Armakan, J., Lawrence, E., Deutsch, N., Lee Williams, J., & Henneberger, A. (2012); Meyer, K. C., & Bouchey, H. A. (2010).
A good mentor cans a new job applicant up to speed quicker and helps with answers to questions that may arise. Another sign of a good mentorship program that both parties involved can learn from each other. An organization having a mentorship program can assist with employee retention because it will foster employees feeling valued by the company and this in return develops employee loyalty to the organization (Mathis & Jackson, 2017). This can be a win-win situation for the company because employees who feel they are valued tend to take pride in their work and increase
He says that mentoring is something that leaders should do throughout their career since it is not only beneficial to themselves, but it is also beneficial to the person they are mentoring. It is important to identify and groom key players and use aggressive mentoring to not only lift up your employee, but it also improves the skills of the mentor. In today’s society, he has found that it is important to spend at least one day a month mentoring your key players including people who are showing great potential. Mentoring should be done at all levels of leadership, including junior managers. Mentoring is important at all levels of management in order to develop future leaders (Flaum,
“Organizational Management & Leadership A Christian Perspective” defines a mentor as “individuals that provide career guidance, advice, help with obstacles along the way and can explain off culture and politics or give insight into how to make a presentation to different managers within the organization.”
Workplace mentoring is a centuries-old model of teaching life and work skills to younger trainees. Workplace mentoring not only helps to equip young people to work but also with fundamental life skills.
Through the enhancement of opportunities, one peer can help another peer in search of optimism: mentoring. (National Mentoring Working Group) Mentoring does not take place overnight. One peer first needs to get engaged in the effect one wants to make
I believe the mentoring experience to be a valuable one for both the mentor and the mentee. In the educational system that exists today, students from majority groups and positions of privilege are more often set up for more success and opportunity than minority groups and lower income families. This system subscribes to a myth of meritocracy, which we read about in the article by Lorriz Anne Alvarado, Dispelling The Myth of Meritocracy, Lessons For Higher Education and Student Affairs Educators. This is the idea that the American Dream is achievable to all that work hard enough, where rather the reality of it is that the United States has a history of racial and class based exclusions, where k-12 education is “uneven on lines of race and
Mentoring is always long term, requires time in which both parties can learn about on another and build a climate of trust. The business world too has adopted the program in order to encourage the employees to take a more proactive part in their career planning. The program consist of orientation and integration program that helps aspirant to become accustomed to new climate or new conditions with the help of more advanced form of mentoring tools to foster new skills and career advancement ability. There are two types of mentoring: i. Informal Mentoring: It is a traditional form of mentoring which is also called as classical mentoring where the mentor chooses a protégé who can be relate with and the mentor is in turn the role model for the
Mentor orientation can be described as “Employees who have seniority… to oversee new hires for a certain time-period and are ultimately responsible for providing much of the training that will take place at work.” (Taylor, 2011) This enables newly hired employees to receive consistent support after the formal orientation and 3 days on the job training. The mentoring support should be planned based on the lessons in the formal orientation program identified above. Since supervisors must continue to do work-related tasks association with leadership at the job-site, mentors can direct, supervise and help new employees refine skills needed to become successful and productive.
Mentoring is a strong educational tool and is very useful especially within the New York City Department of Education. It is a great way for experience teachers to pass down information. The one and one interaction is more lasting than reading it from a book. This method will allow a smooth transition for new teachers. There are a lot of procedures that are confusing to beginners and mentors can uncoil those kinks. Beginning teacher will also get the opportunity to experience different teaching styles and also decide what will work for them and what will not. Mentoring is a valuable asset in guiding person’s development.