The Wiley International Handbook of Mentoring

33Brain‐Based Mentoring to Help Develop Skilled and Diverse Communities

Ellen Weber

Mita International Brain Center and Graduate Leadership

Generally, mentors are viewed as people who help others find the best way to progress in a particular setting or situation, which does not typically include entire classes or skills connected to academic content. The mind‐guiding model, in contrast, guides skill acquisition in settings such as secondary or university classes where learning and teaching skills connect to course content, on the one hand, and to participants' interests and capabilities, on the other. In organizational skill acquisition through mind‐guided approaches, as described in this chapter, mentors also learn as they lead and mentees teach or lead at times as they learn. In both academic and organizational learning circles, mentors and mentees co‐create informal roles of leading and learning new skills, through brain‐compatible interactions that are increasingly sought at higher education and organizational circles.

With wider understanding of how brains function to achieve and mentor skills within dynamic interactions, and in a state of relaxed alertness, teacher education and business programs are looking at new ways to design brain‐compatible curricula. Brain‐based mentoring has been found to enhance higher motivation and achievement, improve teacher facilitation efficacy when they collaborated for original solutions, and created learning cultures with mentoring possibilities ...