I n recent years, formal mentoring programs have become increas-ingly recognized as an organizational best practice. Mentoring pro-grams help organizations develop leaders, retain diverse and skilled employees, and enhance succession planning. Executed properly, such programs can be used to give organizations a competitive edge in the escalating “war for talent.” However, as scientists-practitioners who have been conducting research and working with organizations on employee development issues for many years, we have been pain-fully aware that there has been little in the way of evidenced-based guidance to organizations with regard to developing formal mentor-ing programs. This book is designed to fi ll.
