Mentorship

Mentoring, as well as mentoring, referred to as a staff development tool - especially in companies, but also the transfer of knowledge in personal relationships - the activity of an experienced person ( mentor ). She gives her professional knowledge or their knowledge and experience to an even less experienced person ( mentee or protégé ) on. A goal is to help the mentee or in personal or professional development. Areas that are addressed in mentoring relationships, ranging from education, career and leisure through to personal development, faith and spirituality.

Generally, the word mentor ( female: mentor ) the role of a guide or an experienced consultant who promotes the development of mentees with his experience and knowledge. Mentor was originally in Greek mythology, friend of Odysseus and tutor of his son Telemachus (see Mentor ( mythology) ).

Use

Mentoring is used to promote the transfer of knowledge between experienced and less experienced. In contrast to the coach, the mentor is usually not trained specifically for this activity, but only has an experience and / or knowledge advantage. Also organized mentoring programs within companies, universities and other institutions ( formal mentoring ) refer only rarely a professional organization external mentors (or coaches ). Mentoring partners are usually assigned to each other in such programs from a central coordination point and supports goal setting and overall flow. A popular expectant approach from the U.S., however, recommends formal mentoring programs, in which tandems come together on their own (self -selection ) and only get an edge care from a central location.

Informal mentoring relationships found again, outside of institutional structures and usually arise from personal relationships and networks. A well-known example of such compounds is Konrad Adenauer, who was a political mentor and mentor Helmut Kohl.

The focal points of mentoring relationships are fundamentally dependent upon the particular form and the application range of mentoring. In principle, however, is always the placement of ( experiential ) knowledge in the foreground.

Areas of formal mentoring programs:

• Business
• Universities
• Train
• Foundations
• Clubs
• Social institutions
• Cities and municipalities

Benefit

Although benefit at first glance, especially the mentees from the promotion should not be underestimated the benefits for the mentors, the concept is based on a mutual give and take from.

Mentees obtained, inter alia, the possibility of

• Know their own abilities better and assess learning
• For assistance with activities ( eg in courses, the company, in party )
• To make more efficient selbige
• To develop ideas for finding a job
• To gain insights into the structures of the world of work and to establish appropriate contacts
• To develop the courage to own career and tackle them determined
• Can provide connection to a network, the new impetus as well as concrete help ( internships, jobs, career development, etc.)

For mentors, the chances are that,

• To gain insight into current research
• To get fresh ideas and inspiration from young academics
• Build qualified young for their own companies / their own institutions and to recruit
• To reflect on their own work
• To train social and communicative skills
• Establish contacts at other mentors
• To gain new opportunities for cooperation in the network

Forms of mentoring

• Informal mentoring ( contact is random, the course does not necessarily disclosed pursuant to option and highly dependent on the prevailing conditions )
• Institutionalized mentoring program ( contact is made through intermediaries, in the course includes an accompaniment formalization contributes to the seriousness and official recognition of the relationship, disclosed as a rule)
• Internal mentoring ( within an organization (eg company ) are members taught each other, usually no hierarchy freedom )
• External / cross-organizational mentoring, cross-mentoring ( mentoring pairs from different organizations and industries, hierarchy -free)
• Individual Mentoring ( exclusive one-on -one relationship between mentor and mentee )
• Team - mentoring (mentoring a group of mentees by a mentor )
• Cross-gender ( mixed-gender mentoring pairs )
• Equal - gender mentoring ( same-sex mentoring pairs )
• E - mentoring ( mentoring relationship mainly online)
• Peer mentoring ( mentoring among peers / peer, often in groups)
• Support Mentoring ( For example, in Internet forums ask the issuing person to help )

Quality standards

The Forum Mentoring Association has determined quality standards for mentoring programs. The criteria are minimum criteria that must be present, and additional criteria divided that refer to a differentiated program. The list of criteria can be used both for self-evaluation of mentoring programs, as well as serve as guidelines when designing new programs. The quality standards are available at the following link: http://www.forum-mentoring.de/files/4613/6853/8496/20120531_broschuere_A5_3_Auflage_PRINT_kl.pdf