Abstract

The “Adaptive Mentorship” (AM) model has been developed, researched, and refined by the researchers over the past two decades. Its purpose is to assist mentors, who are in formal mentoring/supervisory/coaching roles within any educational, training, or professional-development environment, to enhance the entire mentorship process. Mentors apply the AM model as they seek to facilitate the professional development of the proteges with whom they work. Previous research findings on the AM model have shown that it: (a) helps mentor/protege pairs clearly conceptualize the entire process; (b) guides mentors in adjusting their leadership responses to match the task-specific developmental levels of their mentees; and (c) assists mentorship pairs to identify and de-fuse potential relationship problems before they escalate. The two educators who developed the AM model have recently received a public-outreach grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) to disseminate AM more widely across the professions, occupations, and educational/training/apprenticeship programs, because of its potential benefits for improving mentoring practice. Therefore, the authors extend an invitation to all management educators or practitioners with an interest in mentorship programs to consider joining others in applying and researching the AM model within their respective settings.