Developing Authentic Mentorship Through Professional Organizations

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education (04/23) Vol. 87, No. 3 Shields, Kelly M.; Eiland, Lea S.; Zitko, Kimberly L.; et al.

Mentoring programs such as those offered within the Sections and Special Interest Groups of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) could be made more effective by better understanding how they may be able to fulfill participants' needs, according to this commentary. "The 10 affinity groups within AACP that have mentoring programs represent an organizational level approach to implementing such a program; while an intra-institutional approach may only match a junior faculty member with a senior faculty member of the same department and hope it works out well," the authors write. "But mentoring has different meanings to each person, so identifying the mentee's needs and expectations of mentoring is essential to developing an authentic and meaningful relationship." It is thus critical to know whether the mentee wants a mentor, sponsor, coach or friend. Support systems must also account for mentees' needs to instill trust and authenticity in mentor-mentee pairs. All mentoring programs should further consider prospective mentors and mentees' preferences to cultivate more authentic relationships. Both parties must also be comfortable with and aware of their roles and expectations, with matches driven by evidence-based information. "AACP can play a larger role in formalizing and providing structural guidance to existing programs to better identify the relationships that Academy members are seeking," the authors suggest. Also worth considering is providing a training or certification course in mentoring so mentors can create suitable guidance for mentees.

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