Some organizations have mentoring programs designed to promote employee development.

Mentoring can be formal or informal. In formal mentoring programs, there are usually program goals, schedules, training (for mentors and mentees), and evaluation.

New-hire mentoring

For example, in some programs, newcomers to the organization (protégés) are paired with more experienced people (mentors) in order to obtain information, good examples, and advice as they advance.

High-potential mentoring

In other cases, mentoring is used to groom up-and-coming employees deemed to have the potential to move up into leadership roles. Here the employee (protege) is paired with a senior level leader (or leaders) for a series of career-coaching interactions.

Further reading

• Boreen, J., Johnson, M. K., Niday, D., & Potts, J. (2000). Mentoring beginning teachers: guiding, reflecting, coaching. York, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers.

• Carger, C.L. (1996). The two Bills: Reflecting on the gift of mentorship. Peabody Journal of Education, 71(1), 22-29.

• Cheng, M. & Brown, R. (1992). A two-year evaluation of the peer support pilot project. Evaluation/Feasibility Report, Toronto Board of Education. ED 356 204.

• Clinard, L. M. & Ariav, T. (1998). What mentoring does for mentors: A cross-cultural perspective. European Journal of Teacher Education, 21(1), 91-108.

• Cox, M.D. (1997). Walking the tightrope: The role of mentoring in developing educators as professionals, in Mullen, C.A.. In M.D. Cox, C.K. Boettcher, & D.S. Adoue (Eds.), Breaking the circle of one: Redefining mentorship in the lives and writings of educators. New York: Peter Lang.

• Daloz, L. A. (1999). Mentor: Guiding the journey of adult learners. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

External links

• Teacher Mentoring
• New Perspectives on Mentoring
• The Mentoring of Disadvantaged Youth
• Teacher Mentoring: A Critical Review
• Principal Mentoring