„‚ CONDITIONS THAT HINDER EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

enthusiasm. In settings in which employees in mid-career receive few rewards and little
recognition, few are likely to want to actively coach and guide younger colleagues.
Opportunities for self-assessment and skill development are critical for this
population. People can examine their own careers and state how mentoring either played
a significant role or how it was missed at critical points along the way. Skilldevelopment
activities help them to develop confidence and competence in providing
mentoring functions to junior colleagues and also in building alliances with peers and
superiors who might provide developmental functions that are needed during the middle
career years.
For People in Late Career. Members of this population are likely to be anticipating
retirement or at least experiencing some conflict about how much to invest in the
organization and how much to invest in other life domains (Kram & Jusela, 1978;
Levinson et al., 1978). Concerns about what they will leave behind become salient.
Mentoring can provide an important vehicle for passing on their wisdom and
experiences to younger generations, and both individual and organizational benefits are
derived from the process.
The educational design should encourage people to review their pasts, to identify
positive and negative experiences (particularly in relationships), and to define
opportunities to provide mentoring functions that would be mutually beneficial to
themselves and to junior colleagues. With this group, cognitive input and skill training
are not as critical as the opportunity to identify ways in which to create consultative
roles for themselves (Hall & Kram, 1981). Of course, some members of this group
already may be providing mentoring functions to junior colleagues.
Educational programs for employees grouped by age or career stage may not be
practical in many instances. Although these have the advantage of bringing together
people with similar developmental concerns and opportunities, heterogeneous groups
have advantages as well. In training groups that include people at every career stage,
people develop greater empathy for those with whom they are likely to develop mentor
relationships.
For heterogeneous populations, the training designs must be more generalized.
Perspectives on life and career stages and the role of mentoring in career stages are
appropriate topics. It also is valuable to address special-interest topics with the group as
a whole or in smaller discussion groups. For example, newer employees might discuss
their concerns about “learning the ropes,” and women and men might discuss the
complexities of cross-sex relationships. Clearly, particular groups will have concerns
unique to their histories in the organization; an opportunity to explore these in an
educational context contributes to the awareness, attitudes, and skills necessary for
building supportive alliances in the work setting.
The appropriate objectives, designs, and target populations for educational
interventions depend on the nature of the programs that currently exist in the
organization, the role of training in the organization, and the readiness and needs of
The Pfeiffer Library Volume 6, 2nd Edition. Copyright ©1998 Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer ❚❘ 255