Understanding a mentorship relationship and its effects

Abstract

Mentorship relationship as a system of knowledge, reciprocal learning, acting and relationship-building After the introductory discussion on how to conceptualize mentoring, a process with many dimensions: teaching, counselling, guidance, animation, friendship and many other, the author deals with the mentoring relationship (edu-cation and communication) within mentoring pairs. In a mentoring relationship there are two actors, a mentor and a mentee. There is also a »third, excluded partner« (company, educational organisation, etc.) providing supportive organisational rules for the mentoring relationship. The author examines the transformation of the mentor, mentee and their social environment as well as the process of transmission of knowledge. She points out that the significance of a mentoring relationship lies less in the transmission of knowledge than in the mentor’s and mentee’s joint creation of new knowledge. She stresses the importance of action, the main drive for learning. A mentoring relationship includes communication and reciprocity as well as transmission of knowledge by means of predominantly non-informal edu- cational programmes, as well as learning and relationship building. It has several phases, some of which are more interactive than others, with more cognitive dissonance and with richer emotions.