Mentoring Works (For You?)

If you are lucky, you have had at least an informal opportunity to mentor a younger person in your community, your church, or on the job. Frankly, there isn't much that feels better. What's the point of all your hard-won experience if you can't pass it along to others?

As you might suspect, there is a wealth of research that demonstrates mentoring not only feels good for mentors, it also delivers high-impact for those who are mentored. According to the Mentoring Partnership ofMinnesota:

A Mentor May Be: Friend, Listener, Tutor, Confidant, Coach

A Mentor is Not: Foster Parent, Therapist, Cool Peer, Parole Officer, ATM Machine, Savior

The Minnesota Partnership, while specific to activities in that state, offers a wide range of resources created to help mentors, and mentoring staff engaged anywhere in this life-enhancing activity.

The site also points to the need, and provides resources relevant to, mentoring youth who have one or more parents deployed by the military.

Susan Herr

Comments

I totally agree. Am a consultant now, but from my last staff position the thing I miss the most was mentoring our young interns. For the last 3 years I've had my own professional mentor -- I call her my "Mother Duck" and I'm one six "Ducklings." Have learned more from the experience than if I had gone back to grad school. She's family to me now. That experience has inspired me to recently taken on 2 new mentees of my own. I swear though, I don't know who is growing more from the experience, them or me. Perhaps that is the way it is supposed to be?