Taslim Ahammad :
We may agree that mentoring can be associated with a wide range of positive outcomes for learners. Mentoring been discussed as an approach for positive development, in particular for youth, as a way to improve the academic adjustment, retention, career development and learning something new and so on. That is why this writing wanted to take a look at the origins of mentorship and remind to make sure that the mentor is not just a mentor. They need to be the epic account of Athena’s disguise role as mentor in mentee’s life.
Origin of mentoring arises from the mythical Homer’s Odyssey, written in 800 BC and is about Odysseus, the king of Ithaca who has to leave to fight in the Trojan War. At the same time as, the king gone, he leaves his son in the care of a person named Mentor. Within the Odyssey, Mentor was the son of Alcimus, in his old age Mentor was a friend of Odysseus. For the reason that of Mentor’s relationship with Telemachus, and the disguised Athena’s encouragement and practical plans for dealing with personal dilemmas, the personal name Mentor has been adopted in Latin and other languages, including English, as a term meaning someone who imparts wisdom and shares knowledge with a less-experienced individual. This is how, the history of the term “mentor” and the history of the mentor-mentee relationship are described, from its very first use in Homer’s Odyssey and Fenelon’s “The adventures of Telemachus, the son of Ulysses” to the contemporaneous. Here in the Greek of The Odyssey, a mentor is someone who installs a heroic mentality in somebody.
Mentoring is sharing knowledge, skills and life experience to guide another towards reaching their full potential. It is a positive, supportive relationship, also encouraging, in particular, the young people to develop to their fullest potential; it is in essence about helping people to develop more effectively. Moreover, it is a relationship designed to build confidence and support the mentee so they are able to take control of their own development and work.
Mentoring is not the same as training, teaching or coaching, and a mentor no need to be a certified person in the role the mentee carries out. The quality mentoring connections have powerful positive effects on people in a range of personal, academic and professional circumstances. Eventually, mentoring links a person to personal growth and development and improved social and economic prospect. They need to be capable to listen and ask questions that will encounter the mentee to identify the course of action they need to take in regards to their personal improvement.
The mentor may share with a mentee (or protégés) information about his / her personal career path, as well as provide guidance, motivation, emotional support, and role of demonstrating. The mentor may help with finding careers, setting goals, developing contacts, finding resources and others. There are mainly three types of mentoring: (i) Traditional one-on-one mentoring – the mentee and mentor are coordinated, either through a program or on their own (ii) Distance mentoring – the mentoring relationship in which the two parties / group are in dissimilar locations (iii) Group mentoring – the single mentor is matched with a unit of mentees.
The effective mentoring relationships go through four stages: preparation, negotiating, enabling growth, and closure. Mentors may develop leadership skills and gain a personal sense of fulfilment from knowing that they have assisted someone. Mentees may enlarge their knowledge and skills, gain valuable guidance from a more experienced individual, and shape their professional linkages.
The business and learning leaders have long recognised the value of mentoring their people to bring them to the next level in their professions. In addition to that in today’s business environment, where younger employee value development prospects, offering mentoring may lead to advanced levels of engagement and retention at work.
Mentoring is the great opportunity to provide a rewarding and potentially life-changing knowledge for both the mentor and the mentee. This is one of the most important effects a person may do to enhance their professional life, it takes time and commitment, and however, it is well worth the effort.
The mentor must be strong, offering experienced shoulders to those who will come after. A mentor does not indirect route the mentee’s path by reversing the relationship, by asking the mentee to lend support to the mentor’s own struggles. However, standing on the shoulders that lifted them, true mentors offer winging words that push mentees for their futures, which may be the next epics belong to them.
(Taslim Ahammad, Chairman, Tourism and Hospitality Management, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology University, Gopalganj)
