INTRODUCTION

History tells us many stories of mentor-protégé relationship. The word 'mentor' originated in
the Greek legend, where the mentor was the wise and trusted counselor to whom Odysseus
entrusted the education of his son.  The great example from ancient Indian history is the
relationship between young Chandragupta, a great ruler and Kautilia, an effective mentor.
The term mentor is used to describe a favourite teacher a wise master, an insightful friend, an
experienced educator, a seasoned guide or a guru. A mentor is someone who helps to develop
the individual potential, capability, judgment and wisdom.  It is a more personal involvement
than coaching which aims to competence and help with tasks and the acquisition of skills. In
the highly competitive and new changing world of today the need for having a mentor has
increased manifold who can navigate their disciplines through all kinds of rough weather
directing their activities and concentrations towards their goal. Mentoring contributes to
social development of creating awareness, enhancing knowledge, promoting sociability and
sense of community living and making people conscious of their surroundings and
development of organizational effectiveness.

What is Mentoring?
Having a mentor can be one of the most powerful developmental relationships you will ever
experience. For example, four out of five chief executives say that having a mentor was one
of the keys to their success. Hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life and at all
stages of their careers are able to point to deep, personalised learning they have obtained from
a developmental relationship with someone of substantially greater experience, who has taken
a direct interest in them.

Powerful, often transformational mentoring relationships have helped young graduates find
their feet in an organisation, helped mothers of young children return to work, or enabled
young offenders to turn their lives around. People coming up to retirement have been eased
through this difficult time, by tapping into the experience of others, who have been through it
already. In short, mentoring can help anybody, who has a major transition to make in his or
her life, whoever or wherever they are.

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Two schools of mentoring
Structured mentoring, in which people are encouraged and supported in developing and
sustaining mentoring relationships, emerged as an important movement in the early 1970s, in
the United States. This early model was aimed primarily at high-flying young men in
business organisations and emphasised the role of the mentor as sponsor and protector of the
younger person’s career. In this approach, the junior partner in the relationship is typically
described as a protégé – someone to be protected.

When the concept spread to Europe a decade later, it very quickly changed to one, which
emphasised empowering people to take charge of their own development and career
momentum. In this approach, the mentor’s accumulated experience and wisdom is not
necessarily passed on directly – it provides a background, from which the mentee builds their
own. Mentors also expect to extract significant learning from the relationship, too. The less
experienced partner is typically referred to as the mentee – although a variety of other terms,
such as mentore e are also used. European or developmental mentoring is now the most
common approach in the rest of the world, and is gradually establishing itself in the United
States. These two philosophies of mentoring still compete today. Most research into
mentoring tends to be based on the original US approach.

A Comparison of Mentor with some other Roles

The roles of counsellor, Trainers. Coach, teachers are often compared with the roles of a
Mentor, especially in the organisational context, but there are specific differences that set
them apart as described below.

Mentor Coach Counsello Teacher/Trainer

r
Client Mentee Organisation/War Client Participant/Org
d
Time-line Long Intermediate Problem- Short
oriented
Focus Growth Performance Problem Learning and
enhancement solving Development
Emphasis Relationship/ Performance Process delivery

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 Development
Initiative Bilateral Coach Client Organisation
Cost None May have cost May have Yes
cost
Basis Trust/inspiratio Capability Trust Capability/techniqu
n e
WIIFM Altruism/ Pride in self Helping Profession
Desire to share
Gain Mutual More for Client Client Client
Solution/Approac Mutual More by coach More by Trainer
h client
/Work
Direction Non directional Directional Non Both
directional
Power Balance Equal One sided(coach) One sided One sided (trainer)
(client)
Initiation Mutual Either Either Organisation
Gratification Intangible Intangible Tangible Tangible
or
intangible
Take-Home Values Skill Problem Skill /knowledge
/Characteristics Solving
/ personality
Development

Stages in Development of Mentoring Relationship: The Four Stage

model

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One way to view the evolutionary nature of mentoring relationships is to think of them in
terms of stages of development.
Stage 1: The mentor and recipient become acquainted and informally clarify their common
interests, shared values and professional goals. Occasionally matchmakers who assign
mentors to recipients can foresee "mentor marriages made in heaven," but more often
mentors and recipients prefer to choose one another. Taking time to become acquainted with
one another's interests, values and goals (Stage 1 ) seems to help mentoring relationships gain
a better start than when such activity is given a low priority.
Stage 2: The mentor and recipient communicate initial expectations and agree upon some
common procedures and expectations as a starting point. In the very few cases where a major
disparity is found to exist between the needs and expectations of the two individuals--and
where neither party can accommodate to the other--the pair is able to part company on a
friendly basis before the actual mentoring and inevitable frustration begins.
Stage 3: Gradually, needs are fulfilled. Objectives are met. Professional growth takes place.
New challenges are presented and achieved. This stage may last for months or years.

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Stage 4: The mentor and recipient redefine their relationship as colleagues, peers, partners
and/or friends.

The Process of Mentoring:

Recruitment and Preparation Recruitment and Preparation of

of Mentees
Mentors: -website
-Applications – Profiles, -handbook
Experience, CV -application Form
-3 Day Training Course (telephone discussion with
Or mentoring team
-Experienced/Trained Mentors – 1 and / or taster session for
Day
mentees)
Refresher and assessment

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Skills and competencies of a Mentor:
Effective mentors share a number of characteristics. The profile sketched below is based on a
synthesis of observations described by many mentors and authors. While any single mentor
may not possess all of the characteristics, effective mentors have many of these qualities:

Knowledge of Their Field

 They are considered by peers to be experts in the field.
 They set high standards for themselves.
 They enjoy and are enthusiastic about their field.
 They continue to update their background in the field.

Demonstrated Skills in Their Field

 Their work demonstrates superior achievement.
 They use a variety of techniques and skills to achieve their goals.

Earned Respect of Colleagues

 They listen to and communicate effectively with others.
 They exhibit a good feeling about their own accomplishments and about the
profession.
 They recognize excellence in others and encourage it.
 They are committed to supporting and interacting with their colleagues.
 They are able to role-play others and understand their views.
 They enjoy intellectual engagement and like to help others.
 They are sensitive to the needs of others and generally recognize when others require
support, direct assistance or independence.
 They exercise good judgment in decisions concerning themselves and the welfare of
others.

Basic competencies for mentors and mentees

 Communication skills to articulate problems and ideas

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  To listen and to challenge constructively
 The ability to be honest with oneself and the other partner and to reflect upon what is
being said, both at the time and subsequently
 Capacity for empathy

Ten core competencies of Mentors

 Knows what he is talking about
 Not intimidating, easy to approach at any time
 Interested in me (the mentee) personally, genuine concern
 Provides subtle guidance, but ensures mentee make decisions
 Actually questions mentee
 Willing to debate / challenge the mentee
 Will give honest answers
 Does not blame, stays neutral
 Is enabling, caring, open and facilitative
 Gives constructive and positive feedback

Internal mentor vs External Mentor:

Home grown mentors may have their own worth in the organisations but the virtue of having
an external mentor is not to be forgotten. The issue at hand is whether an internal mentyor
would be more functional or an external mentor.

Internal mentor:

 Understands the organisation and its needs intimately and also from the inside.
 Would also be cued-in to the internal dynamics of the organisation.
 Would have a better measure of the interpersonal dynamics between people and the
relationships within the organisation.
 Would have greater stakes in the organisation
 Would be clearer about the organisational issues relating to growth and career
progression
 May bring in excessive subjectivity to the process

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  Being intimately a part of the processes in the organisation, may not be able to rise
above them
 May have perspectives and views constrained by the bounds of the organisation
 May become more work- and task- oriented than required
 May make the whole process incestuous

External Mentor:

 Can take an independent perspective as is not related to internal dynamics

 Relationship and individual development take precedence
 Is not bound by the requirements of the organisation-can make unbound decisions and
choices
 Does not have an axe to grind, so may not come in with a fixed solution
 Has the liberty to question set routines and sacred rituals in the organisation
 Does not have to pay obeisance to organisational authority
 May not be fully aware of organisational dynamics, so may miss subtelities
 May lack the required organisational support

Towards Co-Mentoring: The Mentor as Co-mentor, or Collaborative

Mentoring
Co-Mentoring is an equal relationship between two people who value and respect each other
and who believe that each one has something to offer the other. It requires each person to
give the other unconditional time and space for an agreed upon period of time.
A collaborative relationship is developed in which each participant is both learner and
teacher. In collaborative mentoring both parties are equal: the potentially negative imbalance
of power that can often develop between teacher and learner should not exist. The
relationship between co-mentors is based on mutual trust and openness.

Collaborative mentoring extends the co-enquirer model and is centred on the practitioner. It is
experiential, research oriented, reflective, and empowering. It is an opportunity for
professionals to become directly involved in each other’s learning and to provide feedback
while developing along an agreed path.

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This type of mentoring is also based on social equality. It is intended to be proactive and thus
be a catalyst to challenge traditional practices, the hierarchical systems within teaching and
the stale cultures that can develop in schools. Its scope is wider than other mentoring models.
Co-mentoring is thus seen as an evolution in mentoring that meets the needs of an
organisation juggling the challenges in the new millennium: a changing workforce; a change
in employee numbers; and the imposition of governmental policies, attrition and retention.
Understanding the development of these challenges is valuable in further recognising the
importance of co-mentoring.

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References
Books:
 Harvard Business Essentials; “Coaching and Mentoring : How to Develop Top Talent
and Achieve Stronger Performance”; Harvard Business School Press, 2004
 Guptan ,Sunil, Unny; “Mentoring : A Practitioner’s Guide to Touching Lives”;
Response Books, 2006
 Whittaker, Mike; Cartwright, Ann; “32 Activities on Coaching and Mentoring”;
Gower Publishing, Aldershot, 1997
 Hendricks, William, Dr.; “ Coaching, Mentoring and Managing”; Jaico Publishing
house, 1998

Journals:
 Monaghan, J.; “Mentoring: Person, Process, Practice and Problems”; British Journal
of Educational Studies, 1992
 Özkalp, Enver; Cigdem, Kirel; “Mentoring Relations in the Aircraft Industry: A Case
Study In Turkey”;International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring
Vol. 6, No.2, August 2008
 Madlock, Paul E.; Kennedy-Lightsey, Carrie; “The Effects Of Supervisors’ Verbal
Aggressiveness And Mentoring On Their Subordinates”;Journal Of Business
Communication, Volume 47, Number 1, January 2010 42-62
 Johnson, W. Brad; Andersen, Gene R.; “ Formal Mentoring In The U.S. Military”
;Naval War College Review, Spring 2010, Vol. 63, No. 2
 Thorndyke, Luanne E.; Gusic, Maryellen E. Milner, ; Robert J.; “Functional
Mentoring: A Practical Approach With Multilevel Outcomes”; Journal Of Continuing
Education In The Health Professions, 28(3):157–164, 2008
 Mullen, Barbara; “Co-mentoring – Critical Reflection in Practice” ;Melton Secondary
College, 2005

Websites:
 http://www.search.ebscohost.com

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  http://www.mediapro.com/Services/mentoring/A%20Proven%20Process%20for
%20Successful%20Mentoring.pdf
 http://mentoring.londondeanery.ac.uk/mentees/introduction

 http://www.indianmba.com/Faculty_Column/FC246/fc246.html

 http://google.co.in

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