My colleague, Larry Daloz, has a mythic take on the role of the mentor,
which is quite a reframing from the usual "skills coach" model. I think it
is quite valuable. Here are some of my notes from his book.
Daloz, Laurent A., EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND MENTORING, San Francisco, CA:
Jossey Bass, 1986.
"If mentors did not exist, we would have to invent them. Indeed, we do so
from childhood on. " p.16
"Mentors give us the magic that allows us to enter the darkness: a
talisman to protect us from evil spells, a gem of wise advice, a map, and
sometimes simply courage. But always the mentor appears near the outset of
the journey as a helper. . . a midwife to our dreams." "Mentors are
guides." p.17
The original Mentor appears in the The Odyssey as an old and trusted
friend of Odysseus. Appointed to look after the estate and, esp. his son
Telemakhos.
"The first bus. of a guide is to listen to the dreams of the pilgrim. . .
How do they tell their own stories?" p.21
"In those moments when the world falls apart, when we lose a sense of
meaning, stories can reconnect things for us, place our fears in context,
help us to see new forms of meaning." p.24
"Monomyth" (Joseph Campbell) found in hundreds of cultures. Rite of
passage model: sep.-initiation-return. "The hero ventures forth from the
world of common day into a region of supernat. wonder: fab. forces are
there encountered and a decisive victory is won.: the hero comes back from
this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his
fellowman." Campbell, 1949, p.30
" . . the task facing both sexes is to reframe and understand in a
radically new way the meaning of the world they once knew. This does not
means that the old world has been abandoned; rather, it has been
incorporated into a broader awareness of its place. It is seen in a new
way. The journey does not take away our old experiences, as we often fear
before we embark." p.26
"You can't go home again. . . The irony is that you also can't get there
from here. That is, for this sort of mythic transform. to occur, we have
to get lost. By def., there are no paths thru the wilderness and no ways
home save thru it. . . That is where mentors come in. They have been there
before . ." p.26-7
"Teachers of adults do well to recognize the anxiety experienced by many
beginning students. It is often masked as bravado or scorn." p.31
". . . emotional engagement must be a part of the learning process. The
recog. that passion is central to learning and the capacity to provide
emotional support when it is needed . . . " are required of the mentor.
p.33
Mentors depart at end of journey (or before the end) because the journey
belongs to the traveler, who has internalized the power that hung overhead
and seemed so threatening at the outset. p.33
-- Barry Sugarman, School of Management, Lesley College, Cambridge, MA SUGARMANB@aol.com