Still Do Not Have a Mentor? What Is Mentoring?

We will discuss a field whose importance for our country’s development and scientific progress we believe has been somewhat overlooked and insufficiently understood: mentoring (mentorship), in other words, a field encompassing guidance, development, career advice, and even life counseling.

Mentors help open new doors in our careers, but mentoring involves more than that. What should we expect from mentors beyond career advice? What do mentors and people seeking mentoring want from this relationship?

What Is Mentoring?

Mentoring is a master–apprentice relationship in which an experienced person shares work and life experience with a learner and offers appropriate guidance about career and life. This helps the learner gain knowledge and skills to achieve the fulfilling life they truly want. It includes guidance but has a broader meaning. Experts say that people working with mentors are more knowledgeable, make better career decisions, are more productive, have fewer negative experiences, and understand which decisions will truly make them happy.

Dr. Shrewsbury, from the United Kingdom, describes meeting a mentor while deciding the course of his life. Career planning had left him facing a difficult choice. Although he loved pediatrics, he thought hospital work would make him unhappy; general practice, however, did not seem sufficient to satisfy his academic ambitions. With his mentor’s guidance, Dr. Shrewsbury began a PhD related to general practice and now combines general practice with academic work at the Royal College of General Practitioners.

Better Medical Education Is Possible Only with a Mentoring System

Dr. Goldein says that mentoring was almost entirely a formal relationship until the 20th century. In an article comparing medical education across two generations, he explains that older physicians dedicated themselves to developing successful trainees. A trainee’s success was regarded as the mentor’s success: the apprentice’s success is the master’s success.

Dr. Goldein says that this long-term mentoring relationship, once governed by specific rules, no longer adheres to its principles as closely. He links this to the teaching faculty’s willingness to work, the clinical picture of patients, research potential, and clinical studies. Mentoring has become less formal, but this has helped new trainees make better career choices, absorb experience more effectively, become more productive, and feel more comfortable with their mentors.

Are There Rules for Mentoring?

Certain points matter in the relationship between mentors and learners; both sides should observe them to maintain a healthy relationship. A study summarized from Academic Medicine explains that mentors expect learners to:

• Listen actively and remain open to feedback, 
• Respect the mentor’s time, 
• Always come prepared for meetings. Learners, in turn, should clearly tell their mentors what they want, such as:
• Career guidance,
• Opportunities and the opening of new doors,
• Openness about difficult situations they might encounter,
• Emotional support,
• Help balancing work and personal life.

Dr. Shrewsbury recommends asking the person seeking advice what kind of relationship they want with the mentor and what they expect when setting its rules.

How Can Someone Be a Good Mentor?

Professor Maureen Baker, former chair of the United Kingdom’s Royal College of General Practitioners, says that the most important rule is listening well .

Mentoring is not something achieved merely through meetings or by following a handbook; it also means choosing the right person to accompany and support on life’s journey .

Every mentor has an individual style. Dr. Shrewsbury advises mentors to avoid being overly directive. People should be helped to find their own answers rather than being handed ready-made answers. He says it is more appropriate for individuals to make their own plans and choices.

Dr. Shrewsbury describes his mentor’s influence on his career choice:

“I thought I was following my passions and would receive great appreciation from those around me. One day, my mentor asked whether I really wanted this and guided me toward the field I truly loved. Without such good mentors beside me, I might have given up medicine long ago.”

Mentoring Is Not Exclusive to Medicine

Mentoring is often thought to matter during medical education and the decisions made then. However, it is not limited to that period, nor does it mean only choosing a career.

Dr. Blair and his siblings grew up with an understanding of mentoring because their father was also a doctor. He recognizes that much remains to be learned after finishing school, and that a mentor guides a whole life. He explains that having a mentor who knows where a person comes from and understands them fully improves communication and decision-making together.

Finding the right mentor is not always easy and may take time. When choosing one, the rules should always be kept in mind: be open with the mentor, show respect, and understand what is wanted from the relationship. If you have not yet found a mentor, consider seeking help from graduates or someone at your school whose opinions you truly value.

I believe our country has thousands of highly trained academics capable of mentoring. The time has come for them to roll up their sleeves for our country’s development. Whatever their professional fields, young people should recognize the value of mentoring and mentors from the beginning of their education. They should understand that development requires a genuine master–apprentice relationship, quickly find a mentor, and embrace being an apprentice.