What is Mentoring?
Mentoring is about relationship. It is a relationship that develops between and individual with specialized knowledge and experiences in a particular field and that of someone to whom these knowledge and experiences are shared. The term more commonly used in Christian circles is discipling as it relates to the application of one’s faith to their specific calling in life. It has been said that everyone needs a “Paul” in ministry as well as a “Timothy”–someone who mentors you and someone who you are mentoring. Here is another definition:
“Mentoring is a process for the informal transmission of knowledge, social capital, and the psychosocial support perceived by the recipient as relevant to work, career, or professional development; mentoring entails informal communication, usually face-to-face and during a sustained period of time, between a person who is perceived to have greater relevant knowledge, wisdom, or experience (the mentor) and a person who is perceived to have less (the protégé)”.1
In my first days as a medical student at the Morsani College of Medicine in Tampa, FL I remember how important it was to have a relationship with someone who had already completed their first year of grueling studies. Brief meetings with them went a long way to providing the encouragement and feedback I needed to be successful in my studies.
What about mentoring in my life today? Is it still important? You bet! In future blogs we will look at mentoring as it relates to professionals who are seeking to live out their Christian faith in their practice of healthcare.
Andy Koon, MD FACP
Chair, Central Indiana CMDA
Bozeman, B.; Feeney, M. K. (October 2007). “Toward a useful theory of mentoring: A conceptual analysis and critique”. Administration & Society 39 (6): 719–739. doi:10.1177/0095399707304119.