„‚ CONDITIONS THAT HINDER EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

In addition, the nine mentors and thirteen protégés who were interviewed suggested that the
mentoring relationship is best cultivated under the following conditions involving mentor and
protégé behavior:
1. Shared responsibility. Mentors emphasized the importance of protégés’
formulating their own strategies and solutions to problems prior to engaging the advice
and wisdom of their mentors. Mentors also stated that protégés must recognize the
interactive nature of the mentor-protégé relationship and that protégés have a
responsibility to challenge their mentors’ preconceived ideas and positions.
2. Regular, structured contact. Protégés placed substantial value on meeting
regularly with mentors for specific periods of time; regular, structured meetings gave
them needed access to their mentors. Mentors were more concerned with the quality of
the interaction that took place during their meetings with protégés than they were with
the frequency and duration of those meetings; consequently, they tended to emphasize
the importance of creating a safe and supportive atmosphere that is conducive to open
communication. The “quality” of interaction, as defined by mentors, implied the
provision of appropriate psychological reassurance and affirmation, especially during
periods of struggle and crisis.
3. Mutual respect. Mentors perceived mutual respect as encompassing re-spect for
the protégé’s desire to learn. However, mentors also emphasized the importance of each
person’s demonstrating respect for the professional and personal integrity of the other.
4. Challenging and substantive issues and assignments for the protégé. Mentors felt
they should make sure that protégés develop an understanding of the broad,
philosophical and conceptual issues that impact both them and the organization. Both
mentors and protégés stated that mentors must teach certain necessary skills and career
strategies and must help to ensure that protégés receive work assignments that are
challenging and stimulating.
It is probably not possible to find all of the characteristics of the ideal mentor or
protégé in a single person, nor is it possible to construct the ideal environment for
mentoring. However, at the outset of the mentoring relationship, it is a good idea for a
mentor and a protégé to prioritize the skills and characteristics that are most important
for them to have and then to prioritize the elements of the relationship they desire. On
the basis of this prioritization, it should be possible to construct a relationship that meets
the established priorities. The conference participants may find it useful to conduct a
group-orientation session for mentors and protégés for the purpose of assisting these
people in identifying the skills and characteristics they find most important.
Creating an Action Plan for the Mentoring Program
The action plan is a list of steps to take in order to reach the objectives of the program.
Although creating an action plan does not guarantee that the best means for achieving
objectives will be selected, it increases the chances of success. Furthermore, the very act
of planning is useful in that it may reveal that the original objectives have to be adjusted.
The Pfeiffer Library Volume 6, 2nd Edition. Copyright ©1998 Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer ❚❘ 289