A Mentor's Companion is a book written for the active or prospective mentor. Its goal is to be a focused, practical guide into the texture of the mentoring interaction between mentor and protg. Combining a unique recipe of live dialogues between a mentor and her protg, with guidelines that glean the key learning from the dialogues, the book teaches the "moves" the mentor should consider in maximizing the learning possibilities for the protg. Each dialogue and summary is followed by a third course - menus of questions and statements from which the mentor can sample when preparing a mentoring conversation. . As a part of their mission, mentors give advice, but this book is not a "how to give advice" book. The concentration, instead, is on using oneself as a catalyst with the mentee (who is also referred to as "protege" or "partner"). The mission of this book is to distinguish and dramatize the skills of the mentor-those probes, those challenges, those inquiries and provocative questions that will inspire thought, stimulate reflection, tap discovery, and generate a new intelligence in the protg.
The early chapters describe the mentoring process, the purpose of mentoring, what it is and what it isn't, and the kinds of skills necessary to develop as a mentor. The purpose of later chapters is to carry the mentor through the mentoring action itself, dramatizing it with examples, guidelines, and specific menus of questions and inputs for interacting with the mentee. Each chapter features a different major activity one can expect to engage in with a protg: making contact and getting acquainted, working on problems, giving performance and behavioral feedback, making developmental assignments, and conducting after-action reviews.
This is probably not a "beach" book. It's also not a book the mentor will likely read from beginning to end-in fact, skipping around is recommended, using what is most relevant at the appropriate moment. It is, however, a valuable reference and guide for any aspect of the mentoring charge. A Mentor's Companion's vision is to accompany the mentor as he or she takes on the important challenge of helping others unlock their true potential.
