Mentorship

Mentorship refers to a developmental relationship between a more experienced mentor and a less experienced partner referred to as a protégé—a person guided and protected by a more prominent person.

Historical

The roots of the practice are lost in antiquity. The word itself was inspired by the character of Mentor in Homer's Odyssey. Though the actual Mentor in the story is a somewhat ineffective old man, the goddess Athena takes on his appearance in order to guide young Telemachus in his time of difficulty.

Historically significant systems of mentorship include traditional Greek pederasty, the guru - disciple tradition practiced in Hinduism and Buddhism, the discipleship system practiced by Rabbinical Judaism and the Christian church, and apprenticing under the medieval guild system.

Famous mentor-protégé pairs include:

Socrates and Plato
Plato and Aristotle
Aristotle and Alexander the Great
Paul of Tarsus and Timothy
Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot
Andrew Carnegie and Napoleon Hill
Benjamin Mays and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Franz Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Franz Joseph Haydn and Ludwig Van Beethoven
Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei
Henry Kissinger and Alexander Haig
William Amerson and John C. Holmes
Kau Sze and Grandmaster Chan Sau Chung
Daws Butler and Bill Farmer
Diana Ross and Michael Jackson
Dr.Dre and Snoop Dogg
Dr.Dre and Eminem
Timbaland and Keri Hilson
Akon and Brick & Lace
Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini
Don Nelson and Avery Johnson
Krishna and Arjuna
Sir Laurence Olivier and Sir Anthony Hopkins
Trent Reznor and Marilyn Manson
Larry Brown and Kim Gooley
Kautilya (Chanakya) and Chandragupta Maurya

In fiction

Batman and Robin
Mr Miyagi and Daniel LaRusso
Dr. Perry Cox and Dr. John Dorian
Claude Rains and Peter Petrelli in Heroes
Dr. Molly Clock and Dr. Elliot Reid
Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi
Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker
Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker
Darth Sidious and Darth Vadar
Yoda and Luke Skywalker
Master Yehudi and Walter Claireborne Rawley
Terry Bogard and Rock Howard
Chubz and Vee
Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles "Tails" Prower in most games, cartoons and comics
Princess Sally Acorn and Miles "Tails" Prower in Sonic the Hedgehog Saturday morning cartoon (though Sally is perhaps more of a mother-figure than an advisor)
Master Splinter and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Yusuke Urameshi and Genkai
Might Guy and Rock Lee
Yoruichi and Soifon
Mameha and Sayuri

Typology

There are two types of mentoring relationships: formal and informal. Informal relationships develop on their own between partners. Formal mentoring, on the other hand, refers to assigned relationships, often associated with organizational mentoring programs designed to promote employee development or at-risk children and youth.

In well-designed formal mentoring programs, there are program goals, schedules, training (for mentors and mentees), and evaluation. Mentors inspire their mentee to follow their dreams.

There are many kinds of mentoring relationships—from school- or community-based relationships to e-mentoring relationships.

In 1990, MENTOR created The Elements of Effective Practice, a tool for state and local mentoring organizations matching mentors and youth mentees in formal mentoring relationships of all kinds. Revised and updated several years later with a companion toolkit, The Elements guidebook reflects the latest in mentoring research, policies, and practices.

New-hire mentorship

For example, in some programs, newcomers to the organization (protégés) are paired with more experienced people (mentors) in order to obtain information, good examples, and advice as they advance. It is considered that new employees who are paired with a mentor are twice as likely to remain in their job than those who do not get mentorship.^[1]

High-potential mentorship

In other cases, mentoring is used to groom up-and-coming employees deemed to have the potential to move up into leadership roles. Here the employee (protégé) is paired with a senior level leader (or leaders) for a series of career-coaching interactions. A similar method of high-potential mentoring is to place the employee in a series of jobs in disparate areas of an organization, all for small periods of time, in anticipation of learning the organization's structure, culture, and methods. A mentor does not have to be a manager or supervisor to facilitate the process.

References

^ Kaye, Beverly (2005). Love 'Em or Lose Em: Getting Good People to Stay. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. p. 117. ISBN 13: 978-1-57675-327-9. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)