Making Mentorship a Team Effort

The traditional mentor/mentee model needs an update; while one-on-one mentoring remains critical, mentees also need mentoring teams that evolve over time. To that end, mentees need three different types of teams which come into play at various career stages: the launch team, cruise team, and boost team. This article examines each.

Over the past decade, we have mentored hundreds of doctors in training, and learned lessons that apply to many settings. Key among these is that the traditional mentor/mentee model needs an update. While one-on-one mentoring remains critical, mentees also need mentoring teams that evolve over time. These types of teams were important in our own career journeys, and we’ve reworked the mentoring programs at our own institution to leverage them.