The Benefits Of Mentoring

The practice of mentoring exists in many oblivious forms society is unaware. Which leads to the following question of what is mentoring? The traditional stance of mentoring is the wise and old helping the young and lost in various aspects of life. Such as a high school academic counselor helping with students achieve better grades. College professor providing encouragement and support to an undergraduate of making next steps. Youth counselor mentoring at troubled youth. Throughout formal and informal mentoring, all reveal the bottom line of mentoring being worthwhile. However, coming across sources with subject of mentoring many focus on the benefits of mentee and not mentor. Answering the question if benefits do exist for mentors has been

Literature studies indicate that formal mentoring is commonly arranged or assigned in workplace or academia settings, therefore mentors and protégé may have never met but simply assigned to each other. However, acquirement of training and skills cultivates advancement opportunities and higher pay (Nemanick, 2000). Mentoring in organizations have mutual positive and impactful effects such as professional growth, career advancement and career mobility for the protégé; the mentor receives recognition of accomplishments, renewing communication skills, protégé linkage to issues in younger generations and development and retainment of talent in organization (William, 2000). The problem with formal mentoring is the duration, if formal mentorships are arranged or assigned within organizations, the preset duration can conflict the desired outcomes. What may take an protégé two month may take another two

The quality, content or mentoring functions received in the mentorship is a secondary component that affects the outcomes of mentoring. Quality mentoring refers to the content or discussion and type if its traditional one-on-one or group mentoring. The common exchanged content is career development and psychological mentoring. Career development is usually organizational process of teaching and practicing new occupational skills whereas psychological consists of guidance through life crisis and stages. Longer duration would allow time for the mentorship to develop and mature. Numerous studies support the ideology, Burke in 1984 found that longer relationships offer more mentoring functions than shorter ones. Another later study, conducted in 2000 by Chao et al., concluded that longer duration makes an impact on mentoring functions received, socialization, salary and performance proficiency. Again, duration makes an impact on all variability relative of mentoring especially the functions