Establishing Effective Mentoring Networks: Rationale and Strategies

Mentoring networks constitute an effective mentoring model in academic medicine and significantly add to the traditional dyadic mentor-mentee relationship. There is an unmet educational need for medical faculty to recognize the importance and characteristics of effective mentoring networks and to develop tools and strategies to appraise and construct strong, individualized mentoring networks. An interactive educational session on developmental mentoring networks for physicians and scientists in an academic environment was designed. This session can be presented as part of a series on mentoring topics or as a stand-alone module. Using preassigned readings and a mentoring network mapping exercise, participants were able to describe their current mentoring relationships and identify strengths and opportunities for enhancing their effectiveness. A structured educational session is a useful approach towards advancing the ability of academic mentors to help create optimally effective mentoring networks. The learning environment is enhanced by the interactive nature of the session when used in an interdisciplinary cohort of faculty participants.