Mentoring and Peer Support:
Mentoring is not a new thing. The term Mentor comes from the Greek language. The process of advice and guidance has been in use since the far past. Mentoring relationships are important for lasting personal growth in any environment. Mentoring is a relationship between two people that is built on a common desire to progress towards career goals and objectives. These are an excellent addition to various forms of mentoring such as classroom teaching, on-job training, coaching, etc. In the mentoring relationship there is a mentor who advises and a mentee who takes advice. Advice or counseling and guidance provide opportunities for the progress.
Benefits of Mentoring:
*Ambiguity in life matters is removed by advice or
guidance, career choice becomes easy.
* A better understanding of the company's environment,
organization's vision and cultural values can be achieved.
*There is an opportunity to create a new network of
contacts.
*New resources are accessed.
*Career brings satisfaction.
*Development and success is achieved in those areas which
have been neglected during training.
Mentor also gets many benefits from the process of advice
and guidance. They are as follows:
*A mentor becomes aware of the problems at the new level
of the organization.
*There is an opportunity to meet new colleagues of the
institution.
* He gets a chance to see the business world from a new
perspective.
Where both mentor and mentee get benefit there, this
process is also in the interest of the institution.
As:
*By increasing the knowledge and skills of the staff, the
performance of the organization is also improved.
*Staff is present regularly.
*Networking increases productivity.
*The situation of communication improves in the entire
institution.
Types
of Mentoring:
If the value of different types of mentoring is known,
opportunities for quality mentoring can be identified. Important types of
mentoring and their features are as follows:
Formal:
* Constructive and systematically connected programs
often can be achieved from mentors and Trainee.
*Their format is different for each program.
*They usually focus on specific goals.
*Accountability is done based on traditional agreement
between Mentor and Trainee.
Natural:
*It starts from mentor which means one who is senior
provides guidance.
*Inexplicably, most people participate in it.
Peer:
* People working at the same level also train colleagues
in different skills.
* Age fellows help each other , show sympathy and give
useful advice.
*People in the same position in a career share their
opinions and goals with each other.
Situational:
* This counseling or guidance is for a specific purpose
or a specific skill.
* It is for a short period of time.
* This is common at every stage of career.
Supervisory:
* Sometimes mentors are also direct supervisors.
* Not all supervisors are always good mentors.
* There is a possibility of conflict of interests.
Trainee
Initiated:
* It starts with selecting and establishing a
relationship with a mentor.
Mentor
Roles and Responsibilities:
* Providing assistance in creating an action plan
regarding incentives and goals.
* Reviewing the Mentee's progress towards desired goals.
* Asking the questions to know the Mentee’s thoughts so that the issues at hand
can be solved.
*Listening carefully to the mentee and express excellent
communication skills sothat the mentee’s needs can be met.
* To inform mentee about the difficulties you have faced
and overcome.
* Encouraging and facilitating self-learning and research based learning provide mentee
the opportunities of finding the answers by himself.
* Keep training
yourself continuously so that you can provide all kinds of help to the
newcomers.
* Be interested in improving yourself and others.
* Acquiring the ability to establish an atmosphere of
trust.
* Recording of meeting for revision and review.
Mentee’s
Role:
* Willingness to seek guidance and be fully engaged.
*Be punctual to achieve goals.
* Understanding the role and limitations of a mentor.
* To respect the relationship fully.
Phases of Mentoring Relationship:
The various stages of counseling and guidance are as follows:-
Phase
1:
i-Focus on Growth:
The process of counseling and guidance is long-term by the mentee begins with an examination of development objectives.
As :-
* What skills do I possess?
* What are the expectations of me regarding career?
* How can these expectations be met considering the
company's objectives?
* What is possible while staying at the company?
Mentee can also consult with his manager to determine the
objectives of the consultation. Mentoring process can also be traditionally
included in the annual development plan. Mentee may choose a Mentor.
A mentoring relationship is built on trust. In order to
build a better relationship with colleagues, it is important that a mentor has
the following qualities.
* Honest.
* Having moral values.
* Confident.
* Passionate about the betterment of others.
* Be aware of the values of counseling.
* Find out time for his colleagues and shares his
experiences with others.
* Demonstrates maturity in his work and life.
* Focused on people who want to succeed.
* Possess communication skills that can listen to others,
ask questions and express new ideas without ambiguity.
In addition to the above-mentioned attributes, positive
mental attitude, sense of humour in the mentor are also important.
Phase 2:
ii-Building
Rapport.
After selecting a mentor, the next step is to establish a
relationship with him. In this mentee confronts his mentor, however, this stage
is characterized by uncertainty, more people give a positive answer but the
difficulty arises when the other side refuses.
However, people should direct him to a suitable person
instead of rejecting him directly. One of the first meetings between Mentor and
Mentee is an attempt to know each others such as:
* Each other's past.
* Interests.
* Information about the family.
* Expressing likes and dislikes in the situation of the
company or institution.
* Plan for the next five years.
* Great successes and great failures.
* The areas you want to develop.
* Your current and future role.
* Values.
* Life goals.
After getting to know each other in this initial meeting,
the parties recognize and appreciate each other's individual characteristics
and styles.
Phase
3:
iii-
Setting Direction:
At this meeting, the goals and expectations of guidance
and counseling are also included in the agenda. This is the third phase usually
referred to as the Contracting stage.
(1)-
Goals:
What are my goals for this relationship?
How will compatibility be established between our point of
view?
(2)- Scope:
What are the areas that do not need attention? Is there a
limit to the scope of our discussion?
(3)-
Trust:
What will be our case regarding privacy? Do we agree that
trust and honesty are required for the best relationship?
(4)-
Fit:
When and how can we check that this relationship is right
for both? If there is a problem, what can be done so that both are not harmed?
Even if the relationship ends, the parties share mutual learning as should take
responsibility for the discussion.
(5)-
Meeting Logistics:
When, where and how will the meeting take place? How many
times will it be meeting? (usually meet at least once a week), will we talk by
phone or email as per the rules? How to schedule our meeting? Will there be an
agenda for the meeting beforehand? Is there a written notice for that too?
Phase
4:
All good mentoring relationships eventually come to an
end, meanwhile the mentee achieves his goals to a great extent, sometimes goals
change during the relationship, sometimes the mentee is able to move forward independently,
so he doesn't need any more help.
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