'Women as Mentors'

Anita Parran's article appears in the January-February issue of flourish! magazine.

Find yourself a copy of the January-February 2007 issue of flourish! magazine and find some ideas you can put to use, as a mentor or a mentee (protégé).

Anita provides some interesting historical trivia about mentoring (Homer's Odyssey includes a character named Mentor) and brings it around to today, noting that mentoring is reaching into younger groups.

She notes that "the roles, responsibilities and expectations in a mentoring relationship involve four overarching components: teaching, encouraging, counseling and befriending." The key is to honor and respect the boundaries and commitments.

Parran highlights several mentoring relationships from around the Kansas City area as well as formal mentoring programs, such as the Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program (HEMP), founded by Barnett Helzberg, and YouthFriends, which is national school-based program active in 105 Kansas and Missouri school districts.

The article also includes:

• Tips for mentors and protégés to get the most out of the relationship, including patience, non-judgmental approaches, ethical behavior, time, initiative, feedback, and more.
• Web sites with information on mentoring

Posted 2/6/07