Promoting Christian Mentorship Using St. Augustine’s Teachings

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Table of Contents

Abstract
Introduction
Theoretical contribution
Conclusion
References

Abstract

This research aims to establish how a mentor can apply St. Augustine’s teachings and principles in solving some of the perceived problems existing in a business setup for the betterment of business operations. I will pick on a few principles and try to relate them appropriately, as solutions, to existing problems in a business. Also, it will look at how to employ business mentorship in improving certain aspects of the company to enhance the professional growth of the parties involved in the institution.

Introduction

Mentorship is one of the main areas that has attracted several scholars who wish to understand teachers’ impact on learners. According to Bennetts (2003), there is a proliferation of literature on mentoring in present times, but these sources are limited in several ways. The organizers of these programs fail to consider giving a comprehensive definition of what mentoring is for the apparent reason that people now understand what mentoring is all about. Mentoring involves a professional who is the mentor, and existing literature overlooks the role of this individual. According to Bennetts (2003), a mentor is defined as ”a person who achieves a one-to-one developmental relationship with a learner, and one whom the learner identifies as having enabled personal growth to occur.” Mentoring is, therefore, the process by which this relationship is achieved. Mentoring is suitable for identifying, developing, and nurturing talents and skills in individuals (mentees) to enhance career and professional success. The positive relationship that arises in learning is a plus to both the mentor and the mentee.

For a long time, mentoring was informal, in that an expert in a given field would take the responsibility either as his initiative or a requirement by an organization, enterprise, or industry to provide unsolicited guidance and advice to a newbie. Engle (2019, 1) opines that getting a mentor to guide the subject (mentee) would help avoid errors that could otherwise have far-reaching impacts in a given setup. The youth in the present generation are quite over-ambitious, too confident, and full of expectations, yet they do not want to invest their time in learning new concepts and ideas. Most prefer and, therefore, resort to quick fixes and shortcuts to circumvent complex scenarios. This is detrimental to an organization and its posterity, and this is why many contemporary organizations have decided to incorporate this useful too in their existing curriculum.

In religion, mentoring is slowly but steadily being identified as a crucial requirement in a new believer’s holy life if the latter is to continue living according to God’s will (Rock, 2006). New believers need mentoring more than anyone else in the church fraternity (Rock, 2006). These people are very delicate in the sense that they are not used to living this so-called righteous life and any slight mishap, and they do the backsliding, back to zero. The eventuality of backsliding is regrettable and embarrassing, and that is why the church should incorporate mentoring in their system if they are after increasing the size of their family, in so doing, they significantly reduce the chances of the new believers transgressing. This research explores St Augustine’s teachings on the role of both the learner and the teacher and their relationship too. Having established this association between the role of a learner and a teacher, this research goes a notch higher to relate how spiritual guide could leverage this in mentoring believers, borrowing from any teaching in business or corporate settings.

Thesis statement

How business mentorship can help to improve business. The article will also find out how the teachings of St. Augustine could be used to solve business problems.

Theoretical contribution

Business mentorship, of course, among several other factors, is crucial in the eventual success of an organization in terms of career improvement of the stuff. According to Quach et al. (2020), certain traditional institutional practices like racism and cultural biases are somewhat counter-productive on the side of many employees in an institution’s environment. They say this, “practices have resulted in, among other things, lower rates of retention, fewer promotions, and lower salaries among scientists of color than their white counterparts.” In simpler terms, some employees are sidelined from enjoying certain benefits with such institutions because of a range of qualities such as race, color, tribe, etc. they possess that sets them apart from the advantaged group. Quach et al. (2020) argue that institutions are practicing the ancient ‘mentor-focused mentorship’ inadvertently degrading the mentee’s career development. However, in reality, mentors tend to benefit more from their relationship with learners.

In this kind of arrangement, a lot of issues aren’t addressed. Issues arising from the barriers that natural setting, racism, socio-economic aspects would bring about aren’t considered; neither are they managed. Everything is left for the mentor to decide, and as mentioned herein, it causes more harm than good. Research done by Quach et al. (2020) proposes that if there is a positive discourse between the mentor and the mentee, the focus should be on the mentee, hence “mentee-focused mentorship.” The mentees should be allowed to state their expectations in the mentorship programs. They should specifically define their goals and have the mentors guide and advise them in light of their goals. Mentee-focused mentorship benefits both the mentor and mentee, and more important is the fact that there is a sense of satisfaction and belonging felt by the mentee, and this will go a long way in boosting their contribution, which comes with rewards in the long run.

Figure 1: Mentorship in a Business Environment.

Research done by Steinbauer et al. (2020) states that mentorship programs usually organized by business institutions lack moral development on the part of the mentee. From the data they collected from business students working with mentors from the business fraternity, they established that moral detachment on the mentee’s part decreased during the mentorship process, and this they attributed this to the ethical and leadership skills possessed by the mentor. This research recommends that before assigning mentors to their juniors, they should be subjected to training ostensibly to equip them with leadership and ethical skills and creative and critical thinking skills. This will ensure that the mentor is full of awareness and possesses much of the fundamental leadership and moral skills when handling their subjects during the mentorship period.

According to Van Coller-Peter and Cronjé (2020), mentorship provides the mentee with an opportunity to explore new business networks, links, and contacts. The mentor will find it worthwhile to present the mentee with the business networks and contacts through their interaction. The mentee can then take the initiative to acquaint their selves with these networks for familiarity and support. This instills a sense of belonging and satisfaction in the mentee, which gives room for personal growth and career enhancement.

The relationship between senior employees and their juniors is deteriorating in contemporary businesses based on culture, race, tribe, age, rank, among other factors. For this reason, there exists a gap between the two parties because one party, the juniors, feels inferior and less worthy before their seniors while the latter is proud of where he is (above the former). In such a situation, effective communication diminishes and is reduced to giving orders, insults, quarrels, and sometimes resorting to other means of communication that minimizes direct contact; or using a third party. In the words of St. Augustine: ‘We are given a much more appreciative hearing when we enjoy performing our task. Then the texture of our speech is suffused with the very delight that we take in speaking, and our words flow more easily and more pleasingly” (Immerwahr, 2009). This indicates that senior employees should be excited about his role of being a leader and letting juniors be aware of this so that they enjoy cooperating without any fear. In this way, when the juniors respond positively toward their seniors, it motivates the latter to do their best in that line hence personal and interpersonal growth.

Most business executives do not take the initiative to build a positive and dynamic environment for their junior employees to operate. They are more concerned about the nitty-gritty of how to increase profit and lower costs and losses. In his book titled Instructing Beginners in Faith, St. Augustine said, “The difficult part of our task is not giving rules about [covering the content. No, our most significant concern is much more about how to make it possible for those who offer instruction to do so with joy. For the more they succeed in this, the more appealing they will be. But for cheerfulness to be present at the opportune time depends on the teacher’s compassion” (Immerwahr, 2009). Business executives should resolve to be mindful of how the juniors receive their directives and how they are performing to that effect. Suppose the junior employees receive the rules issued to them in good faith. In that case, they can be motivated to perform even better, hence boosting their performance, which can positively impact their career development.

While working in any organization, one thing or another may bring about demotivation to an individual. Things like low wages, overworking, and poor relationships among workers may cause them to lose interest and turn away their focus from delivering effectively. As a leader, you should consider ways of reverting their concentration to their duties. You may consider increasing wages, relieving them of some responsibilities, giving them vacations and leaves, issuing them with gifts, among other ways, can work towards reinstating their focus in their roles. This initiative is supported by St. Augustine’s principle, which states that ‘It often happens that someone who was listening in the beginning with pleasure later becomes tired and now he opens his mouth no longer to express approval but to yawn. We should reawaken his attention by making a remark spiced with seemly good humor and appropriate to the subject under discussion. Or we can relate something that arouses great awe and astonishment.’ (Immerwahr, 2009).

In St. Augustine’s book, Instructing Beginners in Faith, he states that ‘Although we may pay no attention to the beautiful sights of the city where we live, our enjoyment is revived by sharing in the enjoyment that others derive from seeing them for the first time. And this we experience the more intensely, the closer our friendship is, for the more the bond of love allows us to be present in others, the more what has grown old becomes new again in our own eyes as well.’ Immerwahr (2009). In as much as it is demanding to be a senior employee or leader in a business, the person should take delight in making a junior employee see how simple the task assigned to them is. As years pass by, the leaders should find alternative ways of providing leadership and should be tired about doing so if it is in the interest of improving the welfare of the workers.

Conclusion

This article started by conceding that indeed a lot of materials on mentoring programs exist out there and that they do not give much concern in defining in detail the exact meaning of mentoring because it takes for granted that people understand the meaning of mentoring. Mentoring fosters a positive relationship between a mentor and a mentee to the point of mutually benefit from each other. It also sheds some light on areas in business settings that could be improved by following effective business mentorship programs. Business mentorship ensures equity and equality among co-workers in a business environment. It also helps mentees discover themselves, their strengths, and weakness. However, the article pointed out that mentors should be also be trained beforehand before assigning them mentees if there is to be a fruitful engagement between these two parties. Business mentorship also ensures that mentees

The article also highlighted some business problems that can be avoided if St Augustine teachings are applied. For each of the issues, a quotation citing specific and applicable St. Augustine’s principles would have positive results if applied accordingly in business results. Lastly, I wish to confidently state that mentoring is an effective tool incorporated into an institution if personal, professional, and career development is realized. If an institution decides to mentor some of their stuff, they should consider applying effective mentorship programs, not traditional programs that have the stated limitations.

References

Bennetts, C. (2003). Mentoring youth: trend and tradition.British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 31(1), 63. Web.

Campbell Jr., R. P. (2013). Ever Learning, Ever Loving: Augustine on Teaching as Ministry. Eleutheria, 2(2), 48–32.

Engle, P. (2019). Mentoring benefits students and teacher. ISE: Industrial & Systems Engineering at Work, 51(3), 20.

Immerwahr, J. (2009). Teaching in the inspiration of St. Augustine: Seven Augustinian Principles. In The National Teaching & Learning Forum (Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 5-8).

Quach, E. D., Pimentel, C. B., & Hartmann, C. W. (2020). Addressing Inequity Through “Mentee-Focused” Mentorship. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 1-3.

Rymarz, R., & Gerard McLarney. (2011). Teaching about Augustine: Providing a Scaffolding for Learning.Journal of Adult Theological Education, 8(1), 53–64. Web.

Steinbauer, R., Renn, R. W., Chen, S. H., Biggane, J., & Deitz, G. (2020). The Impact of Workplace Mentors on the Moral Disengagement of Business Student Protégés. Journal of Management Education, 44(2), 165-195.

van Coller-Peter, S., & Cronjé, J. P. (2020). The Contribution of Coaching and Mentoring to the Development of Participants in Entrepreneurial Development Programmes. International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, 18(2), 51-67.

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