Onboarding The Faculty: A Model For Win-Win Mentoring

Abstract

Literature finds mentoring to be a substantive, enduring practice in widespread arena, and among the attributes associated with career success and satisfaction. This paper provides a tangible mentoring model that has been operational for several years, and which applies what the literature proscribes to higher education academic settings. The Faculty Mentoring Program (FMP) this paper describes was created by the faculty at an AACSB-accredited School of Business at a mid-sized public regional college as the School anticipated transitions attendant to that accreditation. FMP objectives are consistent with those of mentoring programs interested in optimizing performance and satisfaction of new entrants in any workplace setting, and the reviewed secondary literature establishes and indicates the transferability of FMP core planks to other workplace settings. The phases used to operationalize, assess, and revise that FMP are reported along with strategies used to optimize its reception, impact, and outcomes should that be helpful to those considering if such a construct might be beneficial to pursue in their own settings.