- Chances of success of the relationship increase if both parties:
- Appreciate and complement each other in that the mentor’s experience fits well with the skills that the mentee wishes to develop;
- Are prepared to invest in the relationship and wish to create an effective relationship;
and
- Have a good understanding of their reciprocal responsibilities and do not have unrealistic expectations.
- Key issues to consider in this process are:
- For mentor to be a person with greater experience and knowledge. It is important to have a gap in status/experience which both parties are comfortable with;
- Mentor is someone other than the mentee’s immediate manager. This is important to avoid conflict in the two roles. Mentoring is more than supervision and it is also important to ensure that the mentee expands their networks (kping mentee’s manager informed and involved in the process is important as the manager can make valuable contributions);
- Mentee must have the ability to trust the mentor and know that their confidence will be kept;
- Geographic accessibility;
- Language, culture and gender;
- The mentee’s preferences.
- There are various ways in which people can be paired: (Treasury Board of Canada)
- Program coordinator makes the decisions on the basis of his or her knowledge of the candidates and their
preferences;
- Coordinator reviews the evaluation of mentors and mentees and then proposes one or more choices to the mentee. The mentee may then be invited to meet the mentor in a social meeting after which a final decision is made by the
mentee;
- Social meeting of mentors and mentees where choice is solely made by mentees. (need to be an informed choice, mentees should be aware of the variables which will affect the success of the
relationship;
- Highly structured and formal selection of mentors and mentees similar to a job interview and then pairing on the basis of
skills; and
- Mentee identifies and selects their own mentor.
- The more the mentee can feel ownership of the choice of mentor they more commitment to
relationship
- Free choice does not always help. A pragmatic approach is for the facilitator to guide the mentee’s choice by providing a short list of
candidates
- Choices are easier to make if there is no fault get out clause
- Clutterbuck identifies the key issue as being to ensure that the participants have some role in the pairing process, even if this is indirect by indicating preferences or expectations. The more they participated in the pairing process the more committed mentors and mentees will feel to the mentoring relationship.
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