Mentoring: An Essential Component of Leadership Development

Mentoring has been traditionally defined as “a deliberate pairing of a more experienced person with a less experienced one, with the agreed-upon goal of having the less experienced person grow and develop specific competencies” (Murray, 1191, p. xiv as cited in Kahmi-Stein & de Oliveira, 2010).  Such a view of mentoring assumes that mentors, much like classroom teachers, have little to gain from the mentor-mentee relationship.  In this session, the presenter will propose an alternative view of mentoring, one where both the mentor and mentee take and create learning opportunities to grow personally and professionally.   I will then describe a mentoring relationship I have had since 2006 and offer recommendations on how to have a successful and productive mentor-mentee relationship.