Articles

by Rik Nemanick, Ph.D.  January continues National Mentoring Month, with the 26th being set aside as “Thank Your Mentor Day.” I encourage you to think about the mentors you have had to this point in your career. They may be old bosses with whom you keep in touch. They may be coaches, teachers, or professors who inspired you. Find an opportunity to thank your mentors for what they have meant to you. When I work with formal mentoring programs, I find that feedback from protégés to mentors is often lacking. As a result, protégés are often much more satisfied with... Read More

by Rik Nemanick, Ph.D. Over the last ten years, I have trained over 2,000 mentors in formal mentoring programs. In that time, I have tried to understand what keys mentors and protégés need to successfully initiate their partnerships. While there is a lot to cover to help mentoring pairs get off to a good start, there are three key points that need to be covered:  Logistics: When I started working with mentoring programs, I interviewed dozens of participants in formal mentoring programs. The biggest predictor of whether an individual had a successful experience was whether they agreed on logistics up... Read More

The President has declared January as National Mentoring Month. While the mentoring we deal with at The Nemanick Leadership Consulting is more focused on workplace mentoring, it is worth noting that mentoring takes many forms, and is instrumental in the lives of many people. I encourage everyone who has benefited from mentoring in any form to consider becoming a mentor yourself. Look for opportunities around you and make yourself available to be a mentor. The National Mentoring Month website has resources for finding opportunities to be a mentor in your own community.