Article submitted by: Lizzie Fowler, Relationships and Mentoring Manager, St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School
How Homer’s Odyssey can make us Better Mentors in the Advancement Profession
“Mentoring relationships must be centred on the idea of cultivating motivation, autonomy and empowerment. This may be done through listening to the challenges or struggles of the mentee, imparting wisdom from your own experiences and working through challenges with your mentee.”
The Odyssey, one of two ancient Greek epics authored by Homer, is regarded as the origin of mentorship in literature. The Homeric epic centres on Odysseus, king of Ithaca, who spends 10 years trying to find his way home following the Trojan War. In its mythological nature, Odysseus’ journey includes encounters with the nymph, Calypso, who holds him captive on the island of Ogygia, followed by being shipwrecked on Scheria, as well as encounters with the sorceress, Circe, and the Cyclops, Polyphemus (Vermeulen, 2023). Yet despite this epic adventure, it is not just Odysseus who is mentored in times of need; rather, as his own son, Telemachus, navigates the tumultuous struggle of trying to determine his father’s fate in his own epic adventure, both Odysseus and Telemachus are mentored, guided and encouraged by Athena (Cassling et al., 2022).
Athena, the goddess of wisdom and military victory, is the guidepost and mentor figure for Odysseus and Telemachus. Like Athena, mentors in a modern, professional context are essential in guiding their mentees through the topography of career challenges, change or growth – which sometimes might feel comparable to Odysseus’ epic adventure. A pivotal part of being a mentor throughout these extremes, however, is the ability to emotionally relate to your mentee and make them feel seen.
Athena the Mentor
Acting as a mentor, Athena imparts key encouragement to her mentees. She appears in pivotal moments to provide guidance when needed most, being constantly aware of her mentee’s needs and immediate challenges. It is ultimately Athena who instils Odysseus’ ménos, or fighting spirit, through passionate yet stern speech (Dova, n.d.). Her mentoring style combines strict professionalism and compassionate concern, keeping her distance from her mentee yet still rejoicing in his successes. However, as Athena is a goddess, she is removed from the everyday challenges, mortal experiences and feelings of her mentees, meaning that the extent to which Athen can relate to and empathise with her mentee is extremely limited, hindering the effectiveness of the mentor-mentee relationship.
When a mentor is unable to emotionally connect or relate to their mentee’s needs or context, the relationship can be strained or weakened by these gaps in relationality. It is from this gap in Athena’s mentoring abilities that we can learn to better nurture and develop mentoring relationships and effectively guide mentees when needed.
The Mentoring Dyad: Establishing a Strong Mentoring Relationship
The intention of seeking a mentor is to find someone in your profession that is at a higher leadership, managerial or professional position who can help foster your growth and development. Mentoring is defined by Stoeger as a relatively stable dyadic relationship between one or more experienced individuals (mentors) and one or more less experienced individuals (mentees) characterised by mutual trust, goodwill, and the shared goal of the mentee’s advancement and growth’ (2023). This form of relationship is recognised as a key catalyst to skill development, psychosocial and socioemotional support, and career advancement (Montgomery, 2017).
Mentoring relationships must be centred on the idea of cultivating motivation, autonomy and empowerment. This may be done through listening to the challenges or struggles of the mentee, imparting wisdom from your own experiences and working through challenges with your mentee. As the mentor, your mentee will come to you to pull upon your experience and advice, which a mentor must be willing to share. There is a certain trust that you will be genuine and authentic in the relationship, well-intended in your guidance, and working towards seeing your mentee thrive and come into their own professional identity.
What Athena was Missing: Empathy and Perspective
However, there is something much deeper required for an effective mentorship; something that even Athena missed – empathy, and the ability to see things from your mentee’s perspective. Empathy is key to developing a meaningful, purposeful mentoring relationship, and it is a mentor’s ability to empathise with their mentee – over the struggles of early career establishment, dealing with complex problems, or finding oneself in a creative rut – that will make or break a mentoring relationship.
It is key to understand who your mentee is on an individual, everyday level as well as in their professional identity. It is important to be open to learning about your mentee and where they currently find themselves in their career; what their goals are; and the role they are hoping you may play in this progression or next stage of their career. There is evidence that mentoring relationships that are focused on the needs and aspirations of the mentees empower them to act towards personally defined career advancement, equipping them with the self-belief and accountability needed to pursue success (Montgomery, 2017).
When taking a mentee under one’s wing, one must actively work to understand their mentee as an individual and establish the areas where the mentee needs support. Unlike Athena, mentors should not be removed from the everyday experiences of their mentees and should instead foster positive development through mutuality and shared experiences, a genuine understanding of what the mentee is experiencing or facing, and a vested interest in helping the mentee grow. A mentor’s ability to affect change or positively influence their mentee stems from their ability to emotionally connect with and understanding their career aspirations and how you can play an active role in helping them achieve this.
References
Cassling, K., Aarons, C., & Terhue, K. (2022). Four Lessons to Take from Athena – Without Disguising Oneself as the Mortal, Mentor. Journal of Graduate Medical Education, 14(2), 158-161. https://doi.org/10.4300/JGME-D-21-00572.1.
Dova, S. (n.d.). “Kind Like a Father”: On Mentors and Kings in the Odyssey. The Centre for Hellenic Studies. https://chs.harvard.edu/stamatia-dova-kind-like-a-father-on-mentors-and-kings-in-the-odyssey/.
Montgomery, Beronda L. (2017). Mapping a Mentoring Roadmap and Developing a Supportive Network for Strategic Career Advancement. SAGE Open, 7(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244017710288.
Stoeger, H., Debatin T., Heilemann, M., Schirner, S., & Ziegler, A. (2023). Online mentoring for girls in secondary education to increase participation rates of women in STEM: A long-term follow-up study on later university major and career choices. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1523(1): 62-73. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14989.
Vermeulen, M. (2023, February 21). Homer’s Odyssey: The Epic Voyages of Odysseus in 16 Artworks. The Collector. https://www.thecollector.com/homers-odyssey-voyage-odysseus-artwork/.
By Lizzie Fowler
Relationships and Mentoring Manager
St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School
