Mentoring Roles & Responsibilities

Mentoring Organizational Model

The organizational model of mentorship encompasses three components:

Each of these components or levels is mutually dependent and has distinct roles and responsibilities. Most importantly each of these components is responsible for identification and measurement of outcomes related to the mentoring process.

Things to Consider When Assigning Mentor-Mentee Pairs

 

Mentor Considerations Mentee Considerations
  1. Usually a senior or higher-level faculty member who takes junior or lower level faculty under their wing and helps them prepare to move ahead in their careers
  2. esires to be a mentor and demonstrates professional success
  3. Demonstrates skills that support the needs of the mentee and mentoring process
    • Excellent communication skills
    • Available time for the mentee
    • Flexible and patient
  4. Aware that they should not expect to fulfill every mentoring function
  5. Focus is on the mentee
  1. Possesses professional goals that provide purpose for mentoring
  2. Novice in identified areas needing support/help
  3. Desire for mentoring that is an active collaboration
  4. Compatibility in values/approaches with mentor
  5. Time availability
  6. Flexibility/responsive to advice/suggestions
  7. Open communication

One technical aspect of mentoring support is Coaching. Coaching is one of the sets of strategies mentors must learn and effectively use to increase their mentee’s skills and success.  Coaching is technical support focused on developing the techniques effective professionals must know and be able to do as they relate to their role performance in a given setting. Coaching by its nature is inherently task oriented. Because of this focus, it cannot be the sole criterion on which a mentoring relationship is (internally or externally) evaluated. When the mentee requires support related to specific expertise that the mentor does not possess, other aspects of mentoring come into play based upon the identified need (e.g. networking).

Best Practice Exemplar