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The aim of the article is to explore how mentoring can act as a strategy for developing talent of the emerging young workforce, which predominantly comprises Gen Y and Gen Z.

This briefing is authored by an independent writer who provides insightful commentary and contextualizes the articles.

To gain a competitive edge, firms must adapt to modern ways of Talent Development that foster a passion for work among new hires. Modern ways of mentoring such as Reverse Mentoring, Group Mentoring, Distance Mentoring or Anonymous Mentoring, Flash Mentoring or Speed Mentoring, Peer Mentoring can enable employers to be proactive in managing talent and foster better intergenerational relationships at the workplace.

As Gen Y and Gen Z are redefining workplace norms, it is crucial for HR partitioners to find out new ways to align the entire HR function with the needs of these tech-savvy generations and ensure they can perform to their potential. This study sheds light on various Mentoring methods, which managers can use to transform conventional approaches to Talent Development.

The briefing streamlines the reading process for busy executives and researchers by curating the most relevant information and presenting it in a concise and user-friendly format, allowing them to save time and quickly absorb key insights.

The case was written from secondary materials.

This case is designed to support learning objectives in a Human Relations class of a university management course. The case explores how the UK Metropolitan police, working with the Girls’ Network, piloted a reverse mentoring programme for six months in 2021. Three senior officers were mentored by a trio of teenage girls from disadvantaged London boroughs. The aim of the programme was to address falling trust in the police by creating more understanding and empathy in the mentees for the issues facing the communities where the mentors lived, and to give the mentors more confidence from the experience of representing their communities. Each mentor–mentee pair focused on a specific policing issue that was relevant to the mentor’s neighbourhood: knife crime, domestic abuse or social inequality. Through the process, the senior Met police officers gained a deeper understanding of the challenges in the communities they served. Now that the pilot had been completed, the Met faced a decision point. Should the programme be spread further through the Met?Through reading and discussing the case, students are expected to explore the importance of empathy in the workplace and how reverse mentoring, when having the right support and overall intent, could be used in organisations.

This case is appropriate for university management courses. This case has a difficulty level appropriate for undergraduate and postgraduate courses. This case could be incorporated into a unit on human behaviour, leadership or coaching.

The aims of this critical review are to identify the mentor characteristics that lead to superior mentoring outcomes and to provide human resources development (HRD) professionals with evidence-based suggestions for recruiting, selecting and training mentors to improve mentorship programme effectiveness.

The authors conducted a critical review of existing quantitative research on mentor characteristics that have an impact on effective mentoring.

The authors identified five key categories of mentor characteristics linked to successful mentoring outcomes: competency in context-relevant knowledge, skills and abilities; commitment and initiative; interpersonal skills; pro-social orientation and an orientation toward development, exploration and expansion.

There is limited research on the characteristics of ineffective mentor characteristics, exclusion of articles that used qualitative research methods exclusively and how technology-based communication in mentoring may require different characteristics. Most of the included studies collected data in the United States of America, which may exclude other important mentor characteristics from other non-Western perspectives.

To ensure that there is both a sufficient pool of qualified mentors and mentors who meet the desired criteria, focus on both recruitment and training mentors is important. Incorporating the desired mentor characteristics into both of these processes, rather than just selection, will help with self-selection and development of these characteristics.

Despite the ongoing interest in identifying effective mentor characteristics, the existing literature is fragmented, making this challenging for HRD professionals to determine which characteristics are crucial for mentoring relationships and programme success. Addressing this practical need, this critical review synthesises the research literature and identifies patterns and inconsistencies. Based on the review, the authors provide evidence-based recommendations to enhance the recruitment, selection and training of mentors.

In this case study, we offer an analysis of feedback from a student experience survey completed by Black undergraduate students who received proactive, targeted coaching and mentoring support during 2021–2022. All the students were studying at a large higher education institution in the United Kingdom which offers a broad range of degree courses by distance learning.

This paper reports on the intervention delivered and analyses the student experience of being offered, and receiving, proactive coaching and mentoring. It is based on the responses of 102 students who engaged with the experience survey after having self-selected to receive the intervention. What follows is an analysis of their experiences using a qualitative in vivo approach based on word frequency in students’ free-text comments.

The findings presented are that, in this intervention, students who self-select to receive coaching and mentoring support experience tangible (self-reported) behaviour changes with potentially longer term benefits for their studies. These include improved self-confidence and self-efficacy, increased proactive help-seeking behaviour, greater recognition of strengths and achievement and personal growth and self-awareness.

In presenting this case study, we aim to contribute to the growing corpus of practitioner case studies and research papers that show the benefits of coaching and mentoring in higher education and – more specifically – why coaching and mentoring can be a worthwhile targeted intervention for students from underrepresented backgrounds. This lends support to the growing consensus that students with positive, proactive help-seeking behaviours perform better than students not able to access support (Byrne et al., 2014). We conclude the case study with some practical implications for providers looking to provide targeted support to students.

At the dawn of a new decade, as ever more corporations are pursuing sustainable working conditions and advocating employee well-being, employees are increasingly tending to feel fatigued and drained by their work, which compromises their performance. Drawing on the job demands–resources model and social acceleration debate, the authors test a moderated mediation model. Specifically, the authors hypothesise that unreasonable tasks raise perceptions of emotional exhaustion when the pace of work is increased and investigate the moderating role of psychological detachment.

This study used a sample of 245 employees from Europe, all knowledge workers, to test the hypotheses.

Apart from unreasonable tasks being directly related with emotional exhaustion, this relationship was mediated by the perceived work pace. In addition, the authors establish psychological detachment as a relevant moderator for the mediating effect.

Managers and HR practitioners are equipped with a better understanding of the effects of an increasing speed of work, the conditions leading to it and the individual and organizational resources that may help to create healthy and meaningful job positions, which facilitate employee efficiency.

Our study expands the literature on contemporary stressors and adds to what is known about the ‘dark side’ of job demands that affect the organizational bottom-line, as well as the resource-based mechanism that can buffer the negative effects.

Based on the mentoring literature, this study aims to explore the mentoring functions developed by the travel industry and develop a multiple mentoring function scale (MMFS) for tour leaders.

Study One of this research involved in-depth interviews with 23 tour leaders for establishing the initial question bank and pilot test scale. In Study Two, the initial scale was pilot tested by 225 tour leaders for identifying the factor structure through exploratory factor analysis. In Study Three, the model was verified through confirmatory factor analyses of 251 calibration samples. In Study Four, cross-validation was verified by 227 validation samples.

In Study One, through the content analyses, an initial question bank of 51 questions was established. The question bank was reviewed by 15 experts, resulting in the development of a pilot test scale of 36 questions. In Study Two, 16 questions were retained after the initial scale was pilot tested, and four dimensions were identified, including career competency, reverse mentoring, career development and psychosocial functions. In Study Three, the model was verified through confirmatory factor analyses and confirmed to have good reliability and construct validity. Finally, a first-order, four-factor scale that consisted of 16 questions was established. In Study Four, cross-validation was verified.

MMFS establishment underwent a rigorous development process, and the scale’s reliability and validity are supported. It is suggested that future research should develop and construct a multifunctional model for tour-leading professionals based on the MMFS to evaluate the long-term impact of the MMFS.

Previous studies have mainly focused on typical mentoring functions. Multiple mentoring functions derived from the characteristics of tour leaders and guides have rarely been discussed. This research can fill the gap in the application of mentoring system to human resource management research in the tourism industry. As a result, this four-dimensional multiple mentoring functions scale provides a progressive perspective and be regarded as the first version of the scale development in the tourism industry.

基于师徒文献, 本研究探讨了旅游业的师徒功能, 并为旅游领队发展多元师徒功能量表（MMFS）。

研究一, 涉及与 23 位领队的深度访谈, 以建立初始题库和预试量表。研究二, 初始量表由225名领队进行试测, 通过探索性因素分析确定因素结构。研究三, 通过验证性因素分析251个校准样本以验证模型。研究四, 由 227 个验证样本进行复合效化。

研究一, 经过内容分析, 建立了51道题的初始题库。初始题库由 15 位专家审阅, 最终形成36 个问题的预试量表。研究二, 预试量表进行预试后, 保留了16个问题, 确定了四个构面, 包括职业能力、反向师徒、职业发展和社会心理功能。研究三, 通过验证性因素分析对模型进行验证, 证实具有良好的信度和建构效度。建立了一个由 16 个题项所组成的一阶四因素量表。研究四, 复合效化获得验证。

过往的研究主要集中在典型的师徒功能上。很少有人讨论基于领队和导游的特点而衍生出的多元师徒功能。本研究填补了师徒制在旅游行业人力资源管理研究中的应用空白。因此, 这四个构面的多元师徒功能量表提供了一个渐进的视角, 被视为量表发展的旅游业第一版。

MMFS的建立经历了严格的开发过程, 量表的信度和效度得到支持。建议未来的研究应基于 MMFS开发和建构旅游领队专业人士的多元功能模型, 以评估MMFS 的后续影响。

Basándose en la bibliografía sobre la mentoría, este estudio exploró las funciones de mentoría desarrolladas por el sector de los viajes y elaboró una escala de funciones de mentoría múltiple (MMFS) para guías y jefes de grupo turísticos.

En el Estudio Uno de esta investigación se realizaron entrevistas en profundidad a 23 guías turísticos para establecer el banco de preguntas inicial y la escala de prueba piloto. Estudio Dos, la escala inicial fue sometida a una prueba piloto por 225 guías de tours para identificar la estructura factorial mediante un análisis factorial exploratorio. Estudio Tres, el modelo se verificó mediante análisis factoriales confirmatorios 251 muestras de calibración. En el Estudio Cuatro, la validación cruzada se verificó mediante 227 muestras de validación.

Estudio Uno: a través de los análisis de contenido, se estableció un banco de preguntas inicial de 51 preguntas. El banco de preguntas fue revisado por 15 expertos, lo que dio lugar a la elaboración de una escala de prueba piloto de 36 preguntas. Estudio Dos, se retuvieron 16 preguntas, tras la prueba piloto de la escala inicial, y se identificaron cuatro dimensiones, que incluían la competencia profesional, la mentoría inversa, el desarrollo profesional y las funciones psicosociales. Estudio Tres, el modelo se verificó mediante análisis factoriales confirmatorios y se confirmó que tenía una buena fiabilidad y validez de constructo. Por último, se estableció una escala de primer orden y cuatro factores que constaba de 16 preguntas. En el Estudio Cuatro, se verificó la validación cruzada.

Los estudios anteriores se han centrado principalmente en las funciones típicas de la mentoría. Rara vez se han tratado las funciones múltiples de mentoría derivadas de las características de los guías y jefes de grupo turísticos. Esta investigación puede llenar el vacío existente en la aplicación del sistema de mentoría a la investigación de la gestión de recursos humanos en la industria turística. Como resultado, esta escala de funciones de mentoría múltiple de cuatro dimensiones proporciona una perspectiva progresista y puede considerarse como la primera versión del desarrollo de la escala en la industria turística.

El establecimiento de la MMFS se sometió a un riguroso proceso de desarrollo, y la fiabilidad y validez de la escala están respaldadas. Se sugiere que en futuras investigaciones se desarrolle y construya un modelo multifuncional para guías profesionales de turismo basado en la MMFS para evaluar el impacto a largo plazo de la MMFS.

This paper aims to explore why creating a mentoring culture can help to transform businesses and solve key recruitment, training and development and retention issues. It looks at what a mentoring culture is and the benefits and provides advice for companies on how to build this kind of culture.

This paper considers the approach taken by leadership coaching company The OCM to develop effective coaching and mentoring programmes which can contribute to organisational success in an ever-changing business environment. This paper explores current business challenges and how they can be overcome.

Creating a mentoring culture can transform a business. It can address many talent and leadership-based challenges and tap into the potential of knowledge transfer across a multi-generational workplace. The paper includes two case studies of organisations whose experiences of mentoring and coaching have been overwhelmingly positive and led to much-needed cultural shifts.

This paper attempts to raise awareness of the benefits of mentoring and coaching as an effective method for attracting, developing and retaining people and meeting the challenges of a modern workplace.

The closing chapter offers additional reflection on two substantial threads which run throughout the volume. Firstly, quality education (SDG4). Contributors to the volume have articulated with varying degrees of explicitness what quality education means in their specific contexts. Complementary perspective is offered in the closing chapter, through the inclusion of personal interpretations from two students in their last but one year of high school in the United Kingdom. The students are reflecting back on a week of work experience in a university and looking forward to their university journey. Amrita Narang has kindly provided a response to these personal reflections, drawing on her experience of learning and working in various national higher education contexts. Aspects the two students highlight resonate with the ethos of entrepreneurial education. An example of entrepreneurial learning in a collaborative Sino-UK higher education venture is therefore included here, showcasing ways in which students can further grow their strengths, with bespoke entrepreneurial mentoring support.

The mentoring thread running throughout the volume is picked up in the final chapter with specific reference to contracting (a staple element of formal mentoring relationships, achieved in complex and subtle ways in informal ones), closure and co-learning. All chapter contributions focus on long-term, ongoing mentoring relationships, in which closure is temporary and is viewed as a stepping stone for subsequent learning opportunities. To facilitate continued learning in readers, the final section in the chapter invites them to pause and reflect, signposting three sources of insight and wisdom for sustainability-oriented lifelong learning and action.

This article aims to present a unique dimension to mentor studies in that unlike most research that focuses on the novice-teachers-mentee, this study explores the influence of mentoring on the mentors themselves. Two main questions were examined: “Which components of mentoring influence the mentors' professional development?” and “What is the differential impact of each of these components as they are internalized by the mentors?”

A total of 765 mentors completed a questionnaire composed of 47 multiple-choice questions and an open-ended question describing the contribution of mentoring. The survey thus generated both quantitative and qualitative data.

The results show three main components of mentoring that influence mentors' professional development in the following order: personal–emotional, didactic knowledge and systemic–organizational. The findings also illustrate how the mentors used a comparison process to develop their professional perception: first, by comparing their role as a teacher and their role as a mentor, and second, by comparing their own professional identity as a teacher with that of the novice-teacher.

The implications of the study point to the importance of mentoring for mentors' professional development. Practical implications of this study encourage mentor training courses that combine a body of knowledge of theory and practice, as well as supervision and mentoring for mentors. It may be important for mentors to develop a professional identity as mentors that is distinct from their professional identity as teachers.

The implications of the study point to the importance of mentoring for mentors' professional development. Practical implications of this study encourage mentor training courses that combine a body of knowledge of theory and practice, as well as supervision and mentoring for mentors. It may be important for mentors to develop a professional identity as mentors that is distinct from their professional identity as teachers.

The manuscript attempts to explore the dynamic relationships within the mentoring process by investigating how mentoring impacts the development of mentors. It presents insights into the benefits of mentoring novice-teachers for the mentors themselves via analysis of a large-scale, nationwide study.

This study considered the use of video conferencing virtual backgrounds with employees located in a large multinational corporate organisation in Ireland and the USA to discern if background images evoking gendered stereotypes of leadership can cue stereotype threat in female technology workers undertaking a leadership activity, thus negatively effecting performance. This study aims to contribute to the body of research on stereotype threat by establishing whether virtual backgrounds used in video conferencing software are inherently identity safe or whether their use could have a negative performance impact on marginalised groups.

Using a mixed methods research design with 22 participants in two countries working in the one large organisation, using two quantitative methods (an experiment and a survey) and one qualitative method (semi-structured interviews), the study examined the relationship between performance on the leadership activity and exposure to gendered backgrounds on a video conference call.

It found that female leaders undertaking a leadership test experienced more anxiety and achieved lower scores on average when exposed to a male-gendered virtual background compared to male colleagues or female leaders exposed to a female gendered background. It was also found that these leaders were aware of the stereotype of leadership being White and male, and showed symptoms of prolonged exposure to stereotype threat in the workplace. While the authors still are working through a post-pandemic environment, it may be judicious for organisations to restrict the use of virtual backgrounds to identity-safe ones, specifically chosen by the company.

The study makes several practical recommendations, indicating actions which can be taken at the individual, team and corporate levels. Re-running this experiment in a more controlled environment with a larger sample set could yield more definitive, statistically significant results and contribute more to the literature.

Some individual impacts were found via the interviews. Male leaders in the organisation need to do more to mentor and endorse their female colleagues. By doing this, they can counter the negative effects of solo status and the subsequent performance degradations of their female counterparts, while also setting an example for other leaders. Participation in the mentoring programme and initiatives such as Dare and value, inclusion, belonging, and equity should be encouraged and supported. Reverse mentoring should also be encouraged among the population of male leaders to aid in allyship and bias-awareness.

Teams should note that a democratic vote is not always the best way to decide on the names of teams, projects or meeting rooms. These may skew towards niche interests that can serve to alienate members of the team who do not associate themselves with that interest. Rather, the teams should strive to be fully inclusive and educated on the need for identity-safety. Team events may also serve to alienate members if teams are not mindful of the need to be inclusive. Activities, such as “go-kart” racing and physical or competitive team events have been highlighted as unsuitable for some team members, and should be avoided in favour of inclusivity.

A significant body of research has documented the effect to which stereotype threat can be triggered by both the physical environment and by the use of various technology media. However, there is a dearth of research exploring the relationship between stereotype threat, defined as “the concrete, real-time threat of being judged and treated poorly in settings where a negative stereotype about one’s group applies” (Steele et al., 2002, p. 385), and video conferencing software features, such as virtual backgrounds.