Quite often this person is a mentor, a more experienced person who develops a protégé’s abilities through tutoring, coaching, guidance, and emotional support. Mentoring is traditionally thought of as an informal relationship based on compatibility or spark between two personalities. A key aspect of informal mentoring is that the mentor and the protégé identify with each other. Identification includes the thought that the protégé views the mentor as a model of someone he or she wants to be in the future.

All mentoring does not take place in the context of a spontaneous relationship between two people. Employers often formally assign a mentor to a new employee to help him or her adjust well to the organization and to succeed. Mentoring is so widely accepted as a valuable approach to development that most large organizations have a formal mentoring program. Another approach to mentoring is shadowing, or directly observing the work activities of the mentor by following the person around for a stated period of time, such as one day per month.

Online, or virtual, mentoring is popular because sending e-mail messages and social media posts helps overcome barriers created by geography, limited time, and voice mail. Because many mentors are leaders, effective mentors are likely to engage in many of the behaviors of effective leaders. Mentors enhance the career of protégés in many ways, such as by recommending them for promotion and helping them establish valuable contacts. High-level leaders sometimes use mentors as a way of obtaining useful feedback.

Coaching can be a component of mentoring. Mentors demonstrating a high level of involvement tend to coach apprentices on how they handle certain leadership assignments. Having a backup mentor is important because mentoring relationships are often fragile, and problems can occur.