Dennison meets monthly with six mentees. In the group's first meeting, mentees outlined their career goals. Next, Dennison found speakers who could address topics that the mentees had expressed an interest in. The company also organized sessions on basic skills, such as budgeting and conflict management. Mentors pick their proteges.
Proteges pick their mentors.
Women don't ask permission, and they don't wait for mentors to find them. They've started grassroots mentoring programs on their own. At Apple, for example, the company's women took the initiative in 1994, when Apple scaled back its mentoring program, its formal staff development, and its diversity activities. With no funding, no support, and no materials, Ansari and other volunteers would build a formal mentoring program in a matter of weeks, starting in March 1996. Two people dropped out, but the remaining 18 all had mentors by the fourth week of class.