Mentoring Programs: Characteristics Within HRD and Higher Education Contexts

Problem Mentorship directly and indirectly impacts an organization. Therefore, human resource development and higher education professionals often become responsible for mentoring program design, implementation, and assessment. Solution Mentoring literature for HRD and higher education contexts describes the complexity and benefits for individuals and organizations. Workplace themes associated with HRD are present in higher education mentoring ecosystems. This practitioner contribution reviews relevant mentoring research and evidence-based practices, prior to a descriptive and thematic analysis of current mentoring program design frameworks, two rooted in HRD and two associated with higher education. An aspirational goal for higher education professionals engaging in applied HRD efforts and HRD academic programs and their participants to span the institutional silos and learn more about each other. Stakeholders Mentorship practitioners and scholars, regardless of workplace affinity, will be able to easily identify actionable ways to incorporate evidence-based practices and recommendations into their mentoring ecosystem, program, and organization.