154 Who Are Our Friends?
will be more likely to become mentors and friends. Organizations need to consider
how to promote and support these important, developmental learning relationships
to promote organizational learning and a culture of mentoring.
Second, technology is making it easier to connect with individuals around the
world. Physical proximity is no longer a requirement for mentoring relationships to
grow and flourish. Individuals can now connect with others (for example through
LinkedIn, Facebook), as well as talk and see one another through a variety of new
technologies, for example Skype, Google Hangouts, and JoinMe. Thus, mentoring
relationships can form across organizational and geographical boundaries that were
impossible even a decade ago (Chandler, Kram, & Yip, 2011). Researchers have yet
to catch up to the ways that these technologies may influence the form and content
of mentoring relationships. In the near future, it may become much easier to move
between mentorship and friendship, based on individual needs and career stages.
Technology enables people, who would not have otherwise met, to connect face-
to- face in mentorship and friendships. Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In Circles (http://
leanincircles.org) is a good example of this point. The website enables individuals to
start mentor- like relationships in their region or organization and empowers women
to achieve more. Even a cursory review of the website testimonials suggests that
participants are engaged in both mentorship and friendship. MentorNet is another
successful example of how technology has connected underrepresented protégés in
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics with mentors from around the
world (http:// mentornet.org). As more mentoring relationships are supported, it
is likely that some of these relationships will be characterized by the close, interper-
sonal support and longtime relationships that evolve into mentorships as friend-
ships. It is time for researchers to study what makes for successful elements of these
technology- assisted mentorships and friendships. In addition, perhaps scholars
should focus less on excluding friends as sources of mentoring support and more
on theories, such as the developmental network, that include friends as mentors.
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