"Mentoring is to support and encourage people to manage their own learning in order

that they may maximize their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance
and become the person they want to be."
Mentoring is a powerful personal development and empowerment tool. It
is an effective way of helping people to progress in their careers and is
becoming increasing popular as its potential is realized. It is a partnership
between two people (mentor and mentee) normally working in a similar
field or sharing similar experiences. It is a helpful relationship based upon
mutual trust and respect.
A mentor is a guide who can help the mentee to find the right direction and
who can help them to develop solutions to career issues. Mentors rely
upon having had similar experiences to gain an empathy with the mentee
and an understanding of their issues. Mentoring provides the mentee with
an opportunity to think about career options and progress.
A mentor should help the mentee to believe in herself and boost her
confidence. A mentor should ask questions and challenge, while providing
guidance and encouragement. Mentoring allows the mentee to explore
new ideas in confidence. It is a chance to look more closely at yourself,
your issues, opportunities and what you want in life. Mentoring is about
becoming more self aware, taking responsibility for your life and directing
your life in the direction you decide, rather than leaving it to chance.

Mentoring is a highly valuable development activity implemented in many

organizations. At the core of the activity is the relationship between the mentor and the
mentee, where the development of the mentee is the key focus. The development
needs satisfied through the relationship can vary in focus from guidance on settling into
a new organization, performance improvement to career management. The main point
with mentoring is that the focus is determined by the mentee. They must lead in
identifying issues and, with guidance from the mentor, resolving them. The mentor is not
there to provide the answers, but to guide the mentee towards the answer that is right
for them.
The mentoring relationship can be both short and long term. It may develop to focus on
a particular issue or it may be one that lasts for years covering a range of issues.
Typically the mentor and mentee meet at designated times and places to discuss
issues; make plans to resolve and then review.
It is reported that researchers develop successful career more rapidly in environments
where expectations for successful performance are explicit and intellectual strengths

and career development are supported (University of Manitoba, 2005). Expectations, in

the form of goals and objectives, can become a roadmap that allows the trainee to
navigate through the challenges of a research environment. Without clearly defined
goals and objectives, there is no certainty what the final outcome of training will be. It
would be akin to beginning a long journey without a destination in mind.
The most commonly stated goal for a trainee/mentor relationship is the professional
development and establishment of a productive, independent researcher. While this
broadly stated goal does delineate the scope and thrust of the mentoring relationship,
the focus could be sharpened further by establishing objectives (Simons-Morton, Green,
Gottlieb, 1995). These objectives are really more manageable and measurable steps
that become meaningful to both trainee and mentor. A mutually agreed upon list of
objectives will allow the trainee to better handle the complexity of both research training
and the mentoring relationship. Depending on the expectations that were discussed, the
trainee might be reasonably expected to pursue a number of objectives (not an
exhaustive list):

Making changes in skills, knowledge, values, beliefs, attitudes

Fast tracking learning

Passing on the experiences, expertise and wisdom from one person to another
and also covers the following.

participate in activities that allow one to adjust to a new research environment

identify

identify

identify

and

adopt

discipline-specific

multiple

procedures

for

successfully

manage

develop

survival

research

research

institutional

submitting

research

skills

through

values

resources

for

IRB

research

interactions

review

agenda

with

mentor

set

identify

identify institutional policies and procedures related to conducting research

identify the code of responsible research conduct specific to field of study

Derive performance results that meet the needs of the group and the business.

Build high levels of employee commitment.

Develop employee skills and abilities.

research

strategies

priorities

to

and

avoid

develop

pitfalls

in

professional

conducting

profile

research

Challenge employees to perform to their best and as self-sufficiently as

possible.

Increase productivity by maximizing your resources.

Build constructive working relationships with your staff.

Maximize the use of your time so that you can have the greatest impact.

Provide leadership to encourage progress not only today, but also in the future.

Reinforce quality performance and employee accountability.

Make your life as a manager just a little bit easier and avoid compromising
situations that may lead to scientific misconduct.