Businesses use mentors to interpret the corporate culture and promote it within their companies. Being mentored by the right person is an important and viable bridge to success.
Helen Copeland, president of Copeland Communications Group and an Ursuline College graduate, is an enthusiastic advocate of mentoring, so much so that she has made it her life’s work. She works with organizations to establish mentoring relationships and then nurtures and evaluates them. She was a resource for the launch of Ursuline College’s Career Mentoring Network.
Being mentored at the start of your career is a determining factor in career success,” Copeland said. “It keeps young employees focused and on track.”
In Copeland’s various career assignments she has been mentored by an array of locally based professionals including employees at the Cleveland Clinic, when she served as mentoring coordinator for the Cleveland Clinic/John Hay High School Partnership.
“I would never have the confidence, contacts or knowledge to launch my own business had it not been for the terrific mentoring I’ve received,” Copeland said.
Maureen Klein is coordinator of career development programs and of the Students as Leaders Mentoring Program at Ursuline College. In her work she matches junior and senior level students with community leaders in their field of study.
Since 1994, the program has paired 15 students each year with career mentors successfully. Many of the relationships have continued on formally and informally beyond the time frame of Ursuline’s program, because both mentor and mentee enjoy and benefit from the relationship.
“College is an ideal time to begin a mentoring relationship,” Klein explained. “This is a time when a student’s professional future is a blank slate. Mentoring can ensure that the student’s career is launched and poised for success.
The benefits are obvious for the people being guided, but why would busy, seasoned professional invest valuable time counseling college students and younger co-workers?
“Mentors get a lot of satisfaction from sharing their knowledge with others,” Copeland said. “All of us want to see others not make the same mistakes we made, and are happy to share tips and guide others toward success.”
Mentoring can be oriented toward the needs of children, teens, women, minorities, college students and employees. In all of its forms mentoring typically involves forming a match between the person in need of guidance and someone who is experienced and willing to share their knowledge. This training and development tool has its origins in ancient Greek and African cultures.
Article first appeared in the February 2006 Catholic Universe Bulletin, written by Judith C. Allen, a marketing consultant and writer.
