These results provide insights into the needs of female professionals, who are either middle or senior managers in the government institutions or organizations they work for. From these findings, respondents would like to participate in a mentoring program that would give the least uncertainty for the mentees as possible, since their primary concern was that they would be put in an embarassing position and would be considered 'weak' by their mentor(s).
In addition, the program's content should cover topics that would promote female professionals' need to improve their interpersonal and communication skills, as well as become more knowledgeable about possible career paths given their current employment status and work experience. More specifically, as highlighted in the findings generated from the Mentoring Awareness section, the need for 'self-development, career progression, and netowrking opportunities' are recurring 'need themes' that the respondents would like to be addressed in a mentoring program. In essence, respondents would like to have a mentoring program that allows them to think of their potentials beyond the organization that they work for, and the current position or job that they hold. The mentoring program should be future-oriented, but will help the respondents achieve their goals through the skills set, experience, and personality they have at the present.
Characteristics of a mentor
The characteristics of the mentor who will be spearheading the program is as important as the mentoring program itself. As for the respondents'...
However, most would prefer an older mentor (74%), preferably someone from outside of the organization (67%). Almost all respondents considered it important for a mentor to have the 'ability to give counseling, coaching and feedback' (90%) and have the 'commitmentto the mentoring process' (90%). A mentor's 'sensitivity to (mentee's) feelings' was considered the least important interpersonal skill (56%). (Similar to previous findings, all percentages were generated by combining the percentages of the top two ratings (ratings of "4" and "5") given by the respondents to each interpersonal skill enumerated.
These findings seemed to negate the discussion from the previous discussion, wherein the respondents expressed a need to implement a mentoring program that would allow the least level of uncertainty possible. In this section, they considered a mentor's sensitivity to their feelings as least important. This indicates that while there is a need for respondents to not feel any uncertainty in participating in the program, they would want the mentor to eliminate this level of uncertainty in an objective manner, hence, 'sensitivity' to the mentees' feelings was not given much importance. In effect, objectivity must be integral in the program and inherent to the mentor as well. If anything, female professionals would want to be treated for what they are -- professionals who want to progress further and explore…
