Mentoring in the Workplace: Empathy by the Back Door

While there are many private sector mentoring programmes in place, these are too often seen as ‘nice-to-have’, but not essential.

 

Successful mentoring relationships often transcend this as mentors gain an understanding of the world view of another generation and equally, mentees can help senior colleagues to see new perspectives and shifts in societal behaviour, for instance, the growing importance of social networks. These partnerships, inevitably, bring a new level of empathy into the workplace as greater understanding between groups of people develops. This empathy can increase mutual respect for co-workers and remind us of the nuances of an individual’s needs, as opposed to just focusing on generic rules and regulations.

Rose Schreiber
Consultant