A mentor can be defined as someone who helps others to achieve their potential. Mentoring may involve coaching and encouraging, constructively criticising, explaining, listening and guiding. One feature of mentoring is a one-to-one relationship between a mature mentor and a young mentee, established to help the young person to achieve his or her goals.
The mentee receives individual attention from a wiser, experienced person who can shortcut their learning, provide them with insight, help them understand “how things work” and ensure their best interests are protected.
The benefits of a formal mentoring process have been accepted by many organizations as a way to help staff achieve their potential.
This particularly applies for staff new to the organization, those in critical operations and those who demonstrate potential for rapid movement in the organization. (“high flyers”)
Effective mentoring enables these indviduals to learn rapidly, to absorb the culture and to align to the organizational goals, with obvious benefits to the organization.
Group mentoring schemes (i.e. one mentors to a number of mentees) are also producing results.
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