Personal Development as a Mentor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Personal Development as a Mentor - Essay Example Novices need golden wisdom that only comes from hands-on experience. The needs above are only a handful of reasons why the concept of having a mentor emerged. The pleasure of finding an experienced colleague who can impart a legacy to the new generation of practitioners is invaluable. Yet despite the proliferation of the mentoring in almost all professions, the concept of a mentor is still vague. Many mistakenly consider a mentor as an ordinary friend that they can deal with lightly and unprofessionally. Others, on the other hand, highly venerate mentors to a point where they already consider them as their formal professor and instructor. As a nurse mentor, I need to elucidate what my role really is and to elaborate my obligations to my mentees. According to the paper submitted by Ehrich, Hansford, and Tennent, the term "mentor" was coined from the classic Greek epic, Odyssey wherein Odysseus on his trip to the Trojan War entrusted his son, Telemachus', education to his loyal servant, Mentor (2003). Whilst mentoring is initially done informally, in the last thirty years, this practice has gradually blossomed into an official and legitimate position in many companies. Still despite the general acceptance of the term it is still vague for most of those practicing the mentor-mentee relationship. Part of this is the lack of formal research regarding the practice and effectiveness of mentoring. Definition of Mentoring Technically, mentoring is defined by The Standing Committee on Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education as a process by which "an experienced, highly regarded, empathic person (the mentor) guides another individual (the mentee) in the development and examination of their own ideas, learning and personal and professional development (1998)." As a practicing nurse mentor, this technical definition is insufficient to provide an overview of what mentoring really is. To have a more vivid picture of what a mentor is let me provide a functional definition of mentoring using SWOT analysis and Gibbs Reflective Model. SWOT Analysis Strength Being a mentor my most familiar strength would be my extensive experience and the wisdom and values that I acquired from it. As a mentor, my job is to guide new nurses to succeed in their career by imparting them in different ways the knowledge I had for years. These practical knowledge that I have used for my own career advancement is what I would advice them to do. A role model that they can follow, I can use myself as an example to inspire them in reaching their career goals and in realizing their fullest potential. I can also use my experience as a yardstick in measuring the level of their success and in appraising their skills and current career status and what they can still achieve. This way I can open doors for possible career improvement. I can also become their advisor, someone that my mentees can lean on when they experience problems and dilemmas. All in all, as a mentor, I act as a bridge to link them from their current status towards their career plan. Weaknesses Being merely a link and not a superior to my mentees, my relationship with them might be tinged with "coolness" or become too personally attached with mentees, which might result into loss of respect and professional treatment to me by my mentees. Also my