Search Desktop Diversity: advice > Q&A index > Men Mentoring Women and More Men Mentoring Women and More Dear Experts I want to start a mentoring program for our employees. I'm a little concerned about the ratio of volunteers. There's a lot of men who are willing to mentor and a lot of women who are willing to be mentored. I don't like it. I know that if men and women start meeting alone and talking about personal things, pretty soon there is temptation. I'm not saying that they will all fall victim to their hormones, but I worry. I don't want to promote affairs and break up families for those that have weak wills. I also don't want people to start assuming "the boys are sowing their oats," and ruining the reputations of those who would do nothing wrong. It could be bad for the women and the men and the company. Do we need to have more women mentoring women or how can we prevent inappropriate situations? Perplexed in Poughkeepsie Dear Perplexed Why don't you take some precautionary steps right away? I think you should buy a second building and put the men in one and the women in another. Then, if they have to correspond with each other, they do it by phone or email. No, wait. That won't work, people meet via email or phone and start romances. My niece's husband left her for a woman he met on the internet. I know. Based on your theory that men and women talking can lead to romance, declare all cross gender correspondence against policy. Oh, wait, that won't work because it would stop productivity in addition to being highly illegal. And it's a dumb idea. Okay. Deep breath. Yes, Perplexed, some romances do start at work. Some people meet their future spouses at work. Some people may even meet their future spouses at work while married to their current one. However, you have no right to say or do anything about any of that unless it's against your policies, is affecting your productivity or is creating a hostile work environment for others. Your job is to concentrate on helping your employees perform to their full potential. Mentoring is a terrific way to do that and it sounds like it's needed in your organization to bring about more gender equity. I recommend that you set up mentoring pairs. Have sessions for both the mentors and proteges at the beginning so they learn their roles and how to be successful in those roles. Then, it's a good idea to have a kickoff session where the pairs all get together and start their relationships out right with the skill set they need. We even furnish them with Dialogue Guides so each discussion is on a specific subject that is connected to success and stays on task. If you want more advice about mentoring, you can go to our website ,click on products and check out the book Myrna Marofsky and Ann Johnston wrote on Getting Started With Mentoring. If you want to see a Dialogue Guide, call us at 1.800.651.4093 back to top Submit a Question Can't find the answer? Submit a question and our experts will see what they can come up with. Related Content ARTICLES: > Critical Success Factors for a Diversity Council > Four Business Issues > What is EEO anyway? > What Does EEO Mean for Me? CASE STUDIES: > Maxine is Moody > Colleague = Trouble for New Hires? > First Name Basis > Avoiding the Issue? Q&As: > Newly Revealed Transgender Employee > The Attorney is Expecting > Locker Talk > The Ever-Unavailable Father DOWNLOADABLES: > Your Employee is Expecting > When Departments Collide! > Six Ways to Light the Fire Again > Five Things to Know About Time Copyright © 2008 Novations Group, Inc. All rights reserved.