Informal and formal mentoring programs can offer support and guidance to enhance professional development. Making these programs successful is the challenge.
Mentor/Mentee Training Programs
Most organizations have their own unwritten rules and behavioral norms that guide day-to-day interactions. Those who are able to navigate the environment are more likely to succeed. For others, it is more difficult. Women, people of color and/or open lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people (LGBTs) often have a more difficult time finding mentors and attaining positions of leadership within the firm or organization. As a result, many organizations have begun to implement mentoring programs.
Some people know intuitively how to be effective mentors but most people need some guidance as well as tools and techniques. Our mentoring training programs—for both mentors and mentees—provide information about "dos and don'ts," roles and responsibilities, and strategies for addressing diversity and cross-cultural differences.