While mentoring may be a relatively new concept in the United States, it has existed in various forms in other cultures for thousands of years

Do you know the history behind the word "mentor"? Despite mentoring being a somewhat recent phenomenon, its origins are surprisingly ancient. 

While the concept of mentoring is rather simple, sometimes the act itself can seem somewhat daunting. What exactly should a good mentoring meeting look or sound like? 

Here are some solutions to the the problems mentioned in our last post titled "Bad Mentoring Relationships". Once again, these came from a great article co-authored by one of the keynote speakers from last years UNM Mentoring Conference, Dr. Lillian Eby. To read the article in full, click here. 

While mentoring is an established way to improve workplace and academic skills, not all mentoring relationships are equally successful. In a Wall Street Journal Article, Dawn E. Chandler, Dr. Lillian Eby (a keynote speaker at the 2013 Mentoring Conference) and Stacy E. McManus, point out some common issues with mentoring relationships. 

While the act of mentoring has a long-standing reputation for helping and nurturing the growth of individuals, it is inevitable that some mentors will be more effective than others. Moreover, although effective mentoring characteristics are generally based on the needs of the mentor or mentee, there exists some good "universal" mentoring characteristics, which are applicable in almost all situations.