Dialogic Mentoring

Abstract

Organizational learning has become a popular initiative for responding to unstable environmental conditions. Relational development and community building that cultivate exploration, experimentation, and risk are foundational to the organizational learning enterprise. This essay offers a conception of mentoring as a dialogic practice and as a core relational practice for learning organizations. We argue that dialogic mentoring has advantages over both conventional mentoring relationships and extant practices for generative learning in organizations, and we suggest implications for research and practice.