Mentoring is a system where an experienced person shares one’s knowledge and skills in order to enhance the knowledge of a person who might be new in that particular field.

It is an at-will relationship that is built on the basis of collaboration between a senior and a junior employee and it leads to the betterment and growth of self as well as the institution.

Usually, the mentor and the mentee have an internal connection in the organization where their relationship is highly based upon achieving the goals of the organization.

The mentor has to make sure that he is active and prepared to provide any help that his mentee needs at any point in time. It is quite presumable that the mentors at present also had their mentors to guide them once, thus, it’s a chain for ‘passing on’ good practice so that the benefits can be widely spread. Often mentors and mentees form a personal kind of relationship within the workspace as it makes it quite easy for them to share advice as well as feedback with each other for smooth functioning.

Mentoring is so much more than giving advice or passing down experience for a particular situation but it is about motivating and empowering the other person who desperately might need it, but mentorship cannot be categorized under counselling or therapy.

There are usually two types of mentoring which can be seen in a workspace, formal and informal. Informal mentoring relationships, the mentee is judged upon the measurable goals and achievement whereas it won’t be the same in an informal relationship as it mainly runs upon the understanding and faith two people have between each other.

For a mentee, it helps to achieve goals more quickly and effectively than working alone and it also builds a network of expertise to draw on which is highly beneficial. For a mentor, it is extremely rewarding and can benefit skills development and career progression.

There are various models/ techniques of mentoring which includes:

One-on-One Mentoring which is the most traditional type of mentoring that includes a single mentee who is quite young in the particular field. This includes a touch of personal connection as there is no kind of involvement of a third party in this category. The less experienced mentee here is paired with an extremely experienced mentor. Group Mentoring is a model in which a group of mentors look over various mentees. This kind of model is often beholden in schools or colleges where the mentees are huge in number and there are fewer amounts of resources that can be invested upon them. It is an efficient model as it saves crucial resources like time and money. Peer Mentoring is where the people who are holding the role of mentors are actually the participants from the particular role or department or have shared or similar experiences, whether in their professional or personal lives. These peers pair up to offer support for each other and guide them to the path of perfection and development. Here mentoring can take place in both one-on-one and group styles. Distance or E-Mentoring is done by using advanced technology, which makes it unnecessary to have a face-to-face relationship between a mentee and a mentor. Using online software and emails, participants in this type of mentoring can connect virtually without losing the personal touch and share all the necessary details with one another.

Speed Mentoring and Reverse Mentoring are few other examples under this category.

Therefore, we can conclude that Mentoring is a reciprocal and collaborative relationship.

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