Mentoring is a long term, relationship based association that seeks to establish a continual all round individual/ organizational development. It has its roots lost in antiquity in ancient Indian and Greek tradition. This intellectual and spatial association seeks to transcend the barriers of the conventional instructional system of learning in order to achieve a more comprehensive development.
There are differences between instructing, coaching, and mentoring. Instructing deals largely with the dissemination of knowledge. Coaching deals primarily with skill building, whereas a mentor is one who helps shape the outlook or attitude of the individual.
An effective mentoring relationship is characterized by mutual respect, trust, understanding, and empathy. Good mentors are able to share life experiences and wisdom, as well as technical expertise. They are good listeners, good observers, and good problem-solvers. They make an effort to know, accept, and respect the goals and interests of a mentee.
There are five major tactics used as mentoring techniques:
- Accompanying: Involves making a commitment in a caring way wherein the mentor seeks to take active part in the learning process by being around the mentee in order to monitor, assess and comply with the objectives of the association.
- Sowing: Mentoring involves the responsibility of preparing the mentee for the change after revealing the need for the same in the best interests of the individual. Sowing is necessary owing to the initial resistance to change the normal mode of thinking and living on account of lack of awareness of the need for the same
- Catalyzing: The presence of a mentor catalyses the process of leading the learner into change by provoking a different way of thinking, a change in identity or a re-ordering of values.
- Showing: This is the process of making things more understandable by setting an example. The mentor facilitates the learning process by drawing examples from his own life or way of living. These are often used to illustrate a skill, thought process or activity. The mentor thus lives the change that is sought to be brought about in the approach or life of the mentee.
- Harvesting: The mentor seeks to create an awareness of what was learned by experience in the process of association and draws conclusions. The conceptual learning and the benefits of the same are assessed for compliance and relevance to the success of the individual/ organization under consideration.
