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MENTORING AND MENTORSHIP


By Fredy E. Chavala (King Chavala-Mc)

v  What is Mentorship?
v  Who is the Mentor?
v  Who need a Mentor?
v  How Mentorship is been done?
v  Why is so important to a Mentor/Mentors?
v  What differentiate A Mentor from a Teacher, Coach and Role Model?
v  How can we rate the successfulness of a Mentorship?

MENTORSHIP
Is a personal/close/social developmental/future oriented relationship in which a more experienced/skilled/certified/trusted/knowledgeable person (Whom we call <a Mentor>) helps to guide a less experienced or knowledgeable person (Whom we call <the protégé or mentee>) who aspire and desire to reach higher levels, and a good mentee always performs above his Mentor’s records!
IN GENERAL; Mentorship is a relationship formed between a mentor and mentee with the goal of sharing knowledge/wisdom/psychological support and expertise between the mentor and the mentee. It can be a formal relationship with written goals and scheduled meeting times or it can as informal as an occasional chat or email exchange.
MENTORING; is that process of transferring informal knowledge and experience from a Mentor to a Mentee
A MENTOR; is a person/friend, coach, guide, tutor, facilitator and trusted advisor who guides a less experienced person by building trust/capacity/faith/hope/confidence and modelling positive behaviors/right attitudes and perfect reactions to Realities.
A mentor might be older or younger than a mentee but what matter is his experience/contents in a certain area of expertise.
A MENTEE; is a student, protégé, apprentice and eager learner. Is someone who wants to learn from someone who knows and seeks their valuable advice in order to grow personally/or professionally.
An effective mentor understands that his or her role is to be dependable, engaged, authentic and tuned into the needs of the mentee.

IN SWAHILI
“Kwa Kiswahili <Mentor> ni <Mshauri> , ingawa Kiingereza kwa tafsiri hiyohiyo kina maneno kama Counsellor, Advisor, Guider, Consultant n.k, lakini kimantiki kila neon lina muktadha wake na vivyohivyo Mentorship ni utaratibu au mpango au kitendo cha kuhamisha ujuzi,mtaji wa kijamii(social capital) na msaada wa kisaikolojia kusiko rasmi, maana rasmi ni kama shuleni ambako unajifunza kwa miongozo maalum(syllabus), kutoka kwa mtu mwenye ujuzi/uzoefu ama taarifa nyingi Zaidi kwenda yule asiyenazo ama mwenye uzoefu kiasi….sawasawa na eneo la kazi/ujuzi ama kipaji na haya nyanaweza kufanyika kwa umbali au uso kwa uso, kwa njia za mitandao na inaweza kuwa ni kwa muda mfupi au muda mrefu…hayo yote yanategemea sana Ukubwa wa tasnia na uhitaji/mahusiano ya hawa wawili na mazingira/uhalisia”

HOW MENTORSHIP IS BEEN DONE?
Mentoring techniques:
The idea/focus of mentorship is all about developing a whole person and so techniques are so broad/variety and thus wisdom is highly required to be applied effectively
Here are best five common and proved to be effective Mentoring techniques;
i.                    Accompanying; making a commitment in a caring way, this involves taking part in the learning process side-by-side with the learner.

ii.                  Sowing; mentors are often confronted with the difficulty of preparing the learner before s/he is ready to change. Sowing is necessary when you know that what you say may not be understood or even accepted to learners at first but will make sense and have value to the mentee when the situation requires it.
iii.                Catalyzing; when change reaches a critical level of pressure, learning can escalate. Here the mentor chooses to plunge the learner right into change, provoking a different way of thinking, a change in identity or a re-ordering of values.
iv.                 Showing; this is making something understandable or using your own example to demonstrate a skill or activity. You show what you are talking about, you show by your own behavior.
v.                   Harvesting; here the mentor focuses on “picking the ripe fruit”: it is usually used to create awareness of what was learned by experience and to draw conclusions. The key questions here are: “What have you learned?”, “How useful is it?”


N.B; Different techniques may be used by mentors according to the situation and the mindset of the mentee.

MULTIPLE MENTORS; A new upcoming trend in the world now is having multiple mentors. This can be helpful because we can all learn from each other. Having more than one mentor will widen the knowledge of the person being mentored. There are different mentors who may have different strengths.

TYPES OF MENTORS:
v  Profession or Trade Mentor: This is someone who is currently in the trade/profession you are entering. A mentor like this this will be someone you can discuss ideas regarding the field and also be introduced to key and important people that you should know.

v  Industry Mentor: This is someone who doesn’t just focus on the profession, but this mentor will be able to give insight on the industry as a whole. You will get to know all key things about the industry.

v  Organization Mentor: Politics in the organizations are constantly changing. It is important to be knowledgeable about the values, strategies, and products that are within your company…An organization mentor can clarify missions and strategies and give clarity when needed.

v  Work Process Mentor: This mentor can help to get things done quickly and efficiently.
v  Technology Mentor:  This mentor will help with technical breakdowns, advice on systems that may work better than what you are currently using.

THERE ARE CAN BE MAMY MORE TYPES OF MENTORE, JUST LOOK AROUND AT YOUR WORK PLACE, SCHOOL, LIFE AND FIND SOMEONE WHOM YOU CAN COMMIT YOURSELF TO LEARN FROM.

TYPES OF MENTORSHIP:
There are two major types of Mentorship, these are

a.      Formal; this referred to structured package/pattern of a given expertise to be transferred to a mentee in given specific time schedule.

b.      Informal; this refereeing to transferring of knowledge/expertise occasionally or whenever a mentor see a need of meeting a mentee, in short here Nature, life reality and Mentor’s wisdom matters a lot.

Anybody who wants to be the best/Updated/at the top and maintain such a position in any industry s/he need a mentor or mentors.
Life is the continuous learning process, as how you learned to be born and now we see you, and how you will learn to die and pass the test of getting away, thus in daily life you need to learn learning and because you won’t get everything from Formal education syllabuses then you Other life reality teachers and those are whom we call them MENTORS.
There are different Benefits of Mentoring/Mentorship, this vary from individual capacity to organization level.
Ø  Nurturing people to set new records/standards/Qualities and news!
Ø  Maintaining a certain capacity/potential/talents/skills in an organization, that is why we need another one like you in the company, so that when you leave, there will someone remaining to do what you was doing.
Ø  Transferring knowledge/experience/expertise from one generation to another and it might from older generation to younger generation which is common or vice versa, which is applicable nowadays and we call it “Reverse Mentoring”.

Role Model is a person whose behavior, example, dignity, image, or success is or can be emulated by others, especially by younger people. That is to say other people are aspiring to be like the one who they admire and is not necessary to have any relationship.
Teacher is a person who is having a knowledge in a certain area of study and is trained/equipped with special skills called “Teaching Methodologies” to transfer that knowledge to others. There are can be a relationship between a teacher and a student but it is just formal relationship!
Coach is the person who teach/impart and help in a mode of supervising or working with the student until when a student is capable of what is supposed to know or to do.
Having say so, A mentor can be Role Model, though not every role model can be a mentor, hardly the teacher with added closely relationship, though not every formal teacher can be a mentor and is a coach though not everybody called Coach can a mentor.

Effectiveness of Mentorship can be fostered by
a.      Smartness of a mentor and Sharpness of a mentee
b.      Willingness of a mentor and Humbleness of a mentee
c.       Proud of a mentor about a mentee and Eagerness of a mentee and proud of his or her mentor
d.      Shareable Visions, Mutual discipline and Respect, Active consciousness and Seriousness in whatever they are doing
e.      Truth, Honest and passion of both of them in a given realm of learning and life realities

That is just a summary of the knowledge about Mentoring and Mentorship!
There are lot to learn, find books, browse sites and talk to people then you will learn more and more!

Appreciations: I have prepared these notes in my capacity, also with a help of Online Dictionary, Wikipedia, Mentorship sites and books.

King Chavala-Mc
Twitter @kingchavala
Instagram: Kingchavvah
+255 713 883 797

e-mail; lacs.project@gmail.com