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Expanding leadership diversity through formal mentoring programs
Author(s) -
Olson Deborah A.,
Jackson Deborrah
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of leadership studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.219
H-Index - 14
eISSN - 1935-262X
pISSN - 1935-2611
DOI - 10.1002/jls.20095
Subject(s) - nature versus nurture , diversity (politics) , leadership development , public relations , intervention (counseling) , gender diversity , psychology , sociology , political science , management , corporate governance , psychiatry , anthropology , economics
To attract and retain people, it is essential that organizations design and successfully implement programs and processes that develop people and nurture their talents. For those who aspire to a leadership role, the opportunity to engage in mentoring relationships with senior‐level leaders is a powerful way to accelerate growth. In the majority of informal mentoring relationships, mentors and protégés share similar racial, gender, and cultural backgrounds. Senior leaders in most large organizations are still primarily white males. As a result, it can be difficult for people from diverse backgrounds who aspire to higher level leadership roles to find senior executives with whom they can develop a mentoring relationship. To address this challenge, some organizations have implemented formal mentoring programs that are specifically designed to facilitate development of people from diverse backgrounds. Unfortunately, previous research studies conducted on the impact of formal mentoring relationships have shown that these programs do not consistently achieve the desired outcomes. The change intervention described in this article suggests that formal mentoring programs can significantly influence the movement of protégés from diverse backgrounds into higher level leadership positions.