Challenges and Obstacles of Mentoring

The mentoring enterprise can come with many challenges. These challenges can be daunting and/or discouraging. They may range from issues that are in or beyond the mentor’s control. Taking time to reflect one’s most recent mentoring process, and asking what worked well, what did not work well, what was surprising, and how to incorporate received feedback are critical for contextualizing and learning from mentoring challenges. Consulting with colleagues and reviewing parts of this Handbook might also provide ways to refine one’s mentoring philosophy and lead to innovative solutions that can turn these challenges into opportunities.