Chapter four of O’Hair and Wiemann’s The Essential Guide to Group Communication has an interesting section on the benefits of obtaining a mentor. The mentor is an experienced member of a group willing to train a new-comer. The person seeking this experienced organization member is called the “protégé.” The book notes four important steps that are common in the relationship between the mentor and protégé. The first stage is the “Initiation” stage. During this stage, the mentor begins teaching their knowledge to the protégé. Additionally, they begin building a standard relationship. The second stage is “Cultivation.” According to O’Hair and Wiemann, “the mentor and protégé begin to form an interpersonal bond.” The mentor starts to look out for and show considerable respect for the protégé. The third step is “Separation.” At this point, the protégé has learned enough in the organization to be considered an established member. Thus, the two slowly drift apart because the protégé is no longer so reliant on the mentor. The fourth stage is “Redefinition.” During this final stage, the mentor and protégé reunite as equals in the organization now that they hold similar positions. Clearly, the assistance of a mentor can be a promising training tool for any new member of an organization.
This post was a good review on a section in chapter 4. I have heard of mentors and protégés before, but I have never realized that there were so many steps involved. The four stages got me thinking about my training that I had a couple of months ago for my new job at a doggie daycare. I never really got to establish the ‘separation’ phase, where I was in a doggie playgroup alone for a small amount of time – this would have been really helpful, especially on my first day when I was then thrust into a group of dogs all by myself that I hadn’t experienced on my own before.
ReplyDeleteThis was a really good summary of the chapter. I feel like the four common steps between a mentor and and protoge is very similiar to the work force. When I got hired at my first job, I had no idea what I was doing. So in the initation stage, the cashier trained me and told me all the things I needed to know to do my job. In the cultivation stage, I was still new but my "mentor" if you will, would still help me when I would run into problems. A few months later, we were in the separation stage, I didn't need her help and was okay on my own. In the redefinition stage, we would work together as equals and would call on each other for help when needed.
ReplyDeleteAll this that I read in Chapter four also caught my eye because it applies to so many real life situations. In life there will always be a mentor and a protégé because thats the only way for people to expand their learning. I mean we all have been in school for most of our lives and the teachers have always been our biggest mentors who teach us their knowledge and ourselves as protégés learn. We then proceed to separate after learning all we had to learn from that teacher and move on to the next class or course. I really liked how you summarize part of the chapter because "Mentoring Communication in Organizations" is a very important concept.
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