Successful mentoring: a model for the city of Prince George

Mentoring has existed in academic literature for over thirty years and has been a common form of developmental learning for centuries. The driving force of a formal mentoring program is built on the needs of an organization because mentoring can only truly be defined based on the purpose, expectations and context in which the relationship dwells. Anchored in an organization's culture, a formal mentoring program is synonymous with a talent management strategy. This research paper examines the literature regarding the past, present, and future of mentoring along with the various models, elements, phases, and stages involved in a mentoring program. The purpose, discussed in the research questions on page four, is linked to defining a successful mentoring program, contrasting the literature to the city of Prince George, and formulating a cost benefit analysis of a mentorship initiative. Since the city of Prince George is subject to a high degree of retirement risk, this topic as it relates to succession planning will be specifically scrutinized. --P. ii.