mentoring
Mentoring is a planned process of career development, in which an experienced practitioner helps a less experienced individual develop and achieve career goals. With the mentor’s guidance and counsel, it is the mentee’s responsibility to develop the plan and the action steps to achieve the plan’s goals. The mentor provides a reality check to both the plan and the action steps, and holds the mentee accountable. It’s the mentee’s career, and the mentee is primarily responsible for development.
A mentoring program is only successful if both parties are fully committed to it. Therefore, the mentor and mentee will co-sign a “contract” or agreement that clearly spells out each party’s expectations and responsibilities. There is also a program facilitator to make sure that the mentor/mentee pair meets, or discusses progress, regularly. At the end of the process, the mentee should have achieved advanced industry knowledge and/or significant career goals, and the mentor should have further developed his/her personal coaching skills. Success means everyone grows.
Program Administrator:
Robert Beavers – Director of Chapter Development, SMPS Atlanta
Merrick & Company
Email: robert.beavers@merrick.com
P: 404.739.5113
Reference Articles
Finding Your Way in the Work World
Mentoring – Enhancing Your Career
Who are the Mentees?
What Makes a Mentor Tick?
Overcoming Challenges – in a Mentoring Relationship
The Mentoring Relationship: You have to want it!
Mentoring Up: How Marketers Coach Their Principals
SMPS National Resources (Note: Membership required)
Want to learn more about the benefits of a mentor/mentee relationship?
Mentor – "Successful people are busy. And real mentoring requires a commitment, but the rewards are well worth it!”
Mentee – “My mentor has been instrumental in helping me decipher the craziness of the A/E/C industry.”

