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Figure 2. Areas of mentoring benefits for the mentor (blue), mentee (red), and both (purple), leading to benefits for the or- ganization and future mentees.
Is it worthwhile to deliberately work to become an effective mentor? Thankfully, the documented benefits of mentoring are numerous. There are clear benefits to the mentee, the mentor, and the “organization,” which could variously mean the research, academic program, university, research spon- sors, future employers, and future mentees.
Some benefits derived from academic mentoring are sum- marized in Figure 2, with the different colors depicting those derived by the mentee, the mentor, and both parties. The benefits to the mentor range from increased stimulation and satisfaction to enhanced leadership skills, while the mentee develops maturity, confidence, and autonomy and learns to more deeply reflect about learning experiences. Both men- tor and mentee learn more effective communication skills and benefit from enhanced learning and productivity in a positive work environment, which improves overall morale and can result in lasting friendships. Future mentees, just beginning their progression, are positively impacted by the established mentoring culture.
Principles of Mentoring
There are many effective mentoring styles but all have com- mon underlying principles. We review classes of mentoring environments, identify the stages of a mentoring relation- ship, describe characteristics of effective mentors, and sum- marize the roles of mentors and mentees. Understanding mentoring principles helps current and prospective men- tors and mentees evaluate their past and present experiences with mentoring and think purposefully about how to im- prove relationships.
Mentoring Environments
There is no single framework for effective mentoring. Dif- ferent research problems and mentee learning styles (Honey and Mumford, 1992) are conducive to different mentoring environments, four of which are shown in Figure 3. Ulti- mately, it is beneficial for the faculty member to think delib- erately about which type of mentoring environment might be optimal for a given situation or student to best aid in his or her overall development.
Traditional mentoring is most common and involves a one- on-one relationship between a faculty mentor and a student, whereas peer mentoring could be a more advanced student mentoring a novice or a senior faculty mentor mentoring a junior faculty member. A faculty member mentoring a new postdoc may begin as a traditional mentoring relationship that evolves into a peer-mentoring experience. Team men- toring can also be effective. This could be an involved the- sis committee on a collaborative research project, where the various research mentors bring different expertise and per- spective to the mentoring relationship.
Figure 3. Illustration of different mentoring environments. Adapted from Byrne and Keefe (2002).
So, one goal of purposeful mentoring might be for the men- tor to help evolve a traditional one-on-one relationship into a team approach where the mentee has access to multiple experts. The remaining mentoring environment in Figure 3, referred to as “Mentoring Forward,” is a hybrid between
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