Cross-cultural Mentoring: A brief comparison of Individualistic and Collectivistic Cultures

Where those involved in mentoring relationships are from the same or a similar culture, there are fewer misunderstandings and differing expectations due to different communication styles, corresponding perspectives, assumptions, concepts, and worldviews. In a mentoring relationship, similarity and shared experiences provide an easier interpersonal relationship between a mentor and a protégé, and it is therefore usually easier to have a mentoring relationship with someone from the same or similar culture. But to have a successful cross-cultural mentoring relationship, cultural differences behind mentoring issues, such as communication styles, need to be understood. The purpose of this paper is to briefly describe how individualistic and collectivistic cultures understand key mentoring concepts and to ponder how to use the strengths from different cultures so that cross-cultural mentoring can be even more fruitful than mono-cultural mentoring.