“... I can see them no more as they are, but as they were meant to be, as they would have liked to be if they had a chance…”- Axel Munthe
It seems as if mentorship is the business buzzword of the moment. Against the backdrop of a decade long commitment to the York University Learning Disability Mentorship Program (LDP) and a six year involvement with the Canadian Women in Communications (CWC-AFC) Mentorship Program, I am alarmed at the increasingly transactional slant that appears to regard mentorship as a fast-track networking vehicle or an opportunity to rapidly download the hard-earned knowledge of others. My own interaction with a succession of people with vastly differing professional and personal mentorship requirements has been intensely rewarding and has resulted in strong opinions on the subject:
What is Mentorship?
Perhaps the essence of an evolving mentor/mentee relationship it is to provide a stepping stone or sounding-board that will assist mentees realize their full potential – Becoming who they are and what they want to be, rather than who they are supposed to be. To this end, establishing a good fit and mutual availability is critical if the relationship is going to work. Consider the following criteria as a potential check list:
An Effective Mentor will display:
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Recognition, understanding and preservation of unique mentee thinking, competencies and impact
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Preparedness to accept value and priority differences (the ability to transcend personal approach
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Acceptance of changing realities as the relationship progresses
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Ability to work with uncertainty and intangible results - And will not care more about outcomes than the mentee!
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Ongoing commitment as a resource/sounding board
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Belief that the process is a two-way street – A relationship of equals builds trust and opens the door to mutual learning (An unusual example of this approach would be the CWC-AFC Mentoring Circle set up by their Calgary Chapter. A group of like-minded, high calibre broadcast professionals mentor each other with great success) More...