Background on Mentoring and Mentoring Programs.
A mentor is usually an older and more experienced person who provides support and guidance
to a less experienced individual. Throughout the ages, mentoring occurred spontaneously.
Often taking the form of an “apprenticeship,” a young person could learn to be a
hunter, warrior, or craftsperson by working alongside of an accomplished adult. Not only
could the apprentice learn a trade, but they would also have consistent contact with
someone modeling the actions and qualities it takes to be productive and responsible
member of society. With the advancing complexity the workforce, the apprenticeship system
dissolved.
To fill the gap made by the loss of spontaneous mentoring, structured mentoring programs
came on the scene starting in the early 1900’s. But, it has only been in the past 20
years that there has been a virtual boom in mentoring programs—this is now known as
“the mentoring movement.” There currently exist many thousands of mentoring
programs for both youth and adults.
In a structured or formalized mentoring program, professional staff recruit mentors and
mentees, and then they use industry-accepted best practices to screen, train, match and
monitor program participants. This takes the guesswork out of the process and leads to
happier program participants--and therefore more successful matches.
Mentor Management Systems (MMS) was founded in 2000, by Jerry Sherk.
Since that time our consultants have assisted in the design of hundreds of mentoring
efforts of all types across the U.S. We have also provided interactive trainings to
thousands of staff, mentors, and mentees. Our expertise includes working with mentoring
programs in three primary areas: youth, adult business-based, and ex-prisoner populations.
MMS is a proponent of the philosophy that the three most important things in mentoring, no
matter the type of program, are “relationship, relationship, relationship”
(these also known as the “three ‘R’s’ of mentoring”). Our
consultants also understand that the goals of specific mentored populations are different.
Youth Mentoring efforts train mentors that their primary goal is to
develop a relationship of trust and respect. When a young person begins to trust his or
her mentor, they also begin to trust the world, and this leads to an increased hope for
the future. During the mentoring process, mentees also improve communication and social
skills, making them better able to interact with their peers and adults.
Adult Business-Based Mentoring programs have goals of educating
participating mentees (and therefore improving productivity and the company’s bottom
line), along with strengthening the succession and retention efforts for the business.
Mentees are matched with more experienced employees and the focus is in setting and
achieve specific learning goals. Business mentors act as a sounding board, and they also
often help their protégés to identify resources.
Former-Prisoner Mentoring efforts help recently incarcerated individuals
to navigate the many obstacles they face after release. This can include transportation,
housing, employment, family reunification, victim restitution, mental illness, substance
abuse, as well as other issues. As with young mentoring, “building trust” is
also a central theme for this type of mentor, as ex-prisoners need to be surrounded with
caring and stable people.