What protégés and mentors report helped or hindered the outcomes of mentoring relationships: an adapted critical incident technique study
Date
2017-01-04
Authors
Buydens, Sarah Louise
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Abstract
How to best conduct a mentoring relationship has been confounded by the lack of a consistent definition of “mentoring” and the scarcity of studies addressing how to achieve a positive outcome. This study contributes new, operationalized definitions of “mentoring,” “mentor,” and “protégé,” and a modified version of the Critical Incident Technique and the Enhanced Critical Incident Technique, called the Adapted Critical Incident Technique (ACIT), which is more consistent with a qualitative methodology. The researcher interviewed 18 self-described mentors and protégés to obtain 207 quotes about what critical behaviours helped or hindered mentoring relationship outcomes. Independent judges confirmed the placement of quotes into 13 categories of behaviours that helped mentors and protégés to reach the mentoring goals and 10 categories of behaviours that hindered the mentoring outcome. The findings contribute to an increased understanding of the foundation upon which mentors and protégés in all fields may potentially build better programs and training under the guise of mentorship.
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Keywords
How to mentor, Mentoring definition, Mentoring relationships, Enhanced Critical Incident Technique, Adapted Critical Incident Technique, Mentoring, Mentor, Protégé