Speed mentoring: An innovative method to facilitate mentoring relationships

Background: Junior faculty members have difficulty in identifying mentors. Speed dating permits people to efficiently try out interpersonal relationships. Aim: Evaluate a "speed mentoring'' event to help junior faculty answer questions and initiate mentoring relationships. Methods: This single-group pre-post study involved junior (mentee) and senior (mentor) faculty members at an academic medical center. During the event, each mentee spent 10 min talking with each mentor in rotation. Results: Seven mentees and six mentors participated. All participants felt that time was well spent (mentees, mean [SD]=6.3 [0.8] on a seven-point Likert scale [7=strongly agree]; mentors, 5.7 [1.4]). Topics discussed included mentoring relationships, getting started in research, and time management. Conclusions: Participants perceived benefits from this low-cost, brief intervention to facilitate mentoring relationships.