PEER MENTORING
Peer Mentoring
The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but to reveal to him his own, observed the British politician Mr. Benjamin Disraeli. Most modern management thinkers would agree that mentoring is one such way to achieve this greatest good. Originating from a Greek word, mentoring has been one of the oldest forms of influence. Homer, the Greek storyteller, narrates how Odysseus trusts the care of his son with his friend, Mentor. The Oxford dictionary defines a mentor as a trusted adviser.
Many large organizations today have adopted mentoring as one form of coaching their promising talent. Retention, talent development, reduced employee turnover, motivation, culture building, increased cooperation among employees and departments are some of the virtues of mentoring for an organization. One of the important trends in mentoring is ‘peer mentoring.’ This form of mentoring is one wherein the mentor and mentee are both of the same age group. Such a relationship is typically found in the “buddy systems” incorporated in various companies. The more experienced employee is appointed to serve as a mentor to the new hires who have just debuted in the corporate world and find themselves quite lost in the new arena.
Peer mentors or “buddies” are those employees who have been a part of a similar program of induction that the new hires are going through and hence can help them settle down quickly. Any new hire in his/her first job is like a lost child in a crowded place. There is a lot of activity going around about which the child cannot make sense and feels very lonely and scared. There are people walking and talking around him who seem to notice him but don’t pay attention since he is not their child. He gets attracted to something in the crowd but is scared to go there. He does not know what to do. Suddenly, he finds someone who comes to him in a friendly way and starts talking to him. This person can be a saint or an
The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but to reveal to him his own, observed the British politician Mr. Benjamin Disraeli. Most modern management thinkers would agree that mentoring is one such way to achieve this greatest good. Originating from a Greek word, mentoring has been one of the oldest forms of influence. Homer, the Greek storyteller, narrates how Odysseus trusts the care of his son with his friend, Mentor. The Oxford dictionary defines a mentor as a trusted adviser.
Many large organizations today have adopted mentoring as one form of coaching their promising talent. Retention, talent development, reduced employee turnover, motivation, culture building, increased cooperation among employees and departments are some of the virtues of mentoring for an organization. One of the important trends in mentoring is ‘peer mentoring.’ This form of mentoring is one wherein the mentor and mentee are both of the same age group. Such a relationship is typically found in the “buddy systems” incorporated in various companies. The more experienced employee is appointed to serve as a mentor to the new hires who have just debuted in the corporate world and find themselves quite lost in the new arena.
Peer mentors or “buddies” are those employees who have been a part of a similar program of induction that the new hires are going through and hence can help them settle down quickly. Any new hire in his/her first job is like a lost child in a crowded place. There is a lot of activity going around about which the child cannot make sense and feels very lonely and scared. There are people walking and talking around him who seem to notice him but don’t pay attention since he is not their child. He gets attracted to something in the crowd but is scared to go there. He does not know what to do. Suddenly, he finds someone who comes to him in a friendly way and starts talking to him. This person can be a saint or an