**7. Discussion**

Overall, this study aligned with previous research related to mentoring in higher education, demonstrating mentors clearly impact protégés and their development [3, 4]. The study confirmed past research that found mentoring relationships are beneficial in the process of acclimation to the academy [4]. The results also extended research in relational leadership to include mentoring relationships [14, 26, 34–36]. Characteristics of relational leaders include an emphasis on communication, social interactions, networking, and developing self-confidence in others, and the narrative comments demonstrated a strong preference for mentors who possess these characteristics.

However, there were some concerning results regarding leadership in higher education, especially as they related to roles of staff members in general and women in all roles. The study's results do not fully support past research that has found a connection between mentoring and leadership development [3, 7]. While faculty felt mentors encouraged them to develop their leadership potential, staff members expressed they did not feel encouraged to be leaders. Staff members provide important leadership roles on any college campus, and previous leadership studies have found mentoring is a key method to develop those qualities. If staff do not feel as if the mentoring relationships are supporting their leadership development, that could lead to a leadership vacuum on campuses unless staff members proactively find other leadership development opportunities. A lack of leadership development may lead staff members to leave the academy.

The current study as well as past research has found that women faculty need women mentors [17, 19, 20, 25]. While the gender findings related to leadership are alarming, they are not surprising given the current state of leadership in higher education institutions. The fact is the ivory tower is still primarily led by men operating within an old boy network [39, 40]. There is a clear underrepresentation of women in leadership positions within higher education [20, 39, 40]. With fewer available female mentors from which to choose, women are less likely to be encouraged to develop their leadership potential [18]. Further, the current findings indicated that women are hindered from advancement as more women reported being passed over for promotion. This phenomenon is often referred to as a glass ceiling or glass partition that keeps women from higher positions of leadership [18]. Recent data has shown less than one-third of top-ranking leadership positions are held by women in academia [40]. Finally, women in the study reported feeling the double standard of being a woman in a leadership role as they are criticized for being too emotional on one hand while, on the other hand, they are criticized for being assertive. These findings align with previous research that demonstrated the challenges women leaders experience in relation to their leadership style [24, 39]. Women who are leaders in higher education are often criticized for being blunt, terse, or direct, whereas their male colleagues are

praised for similar directness [24, 39]. Faced with criticism regardless of their behavior and with fewer role models from which to develop leadership potential, women in academe find it difficult to break the glass ceiling, glass partition, and achieve the professional success they may deserve.

While the results align with past research that has found better outcomes in informal rather than formal mentoring [6, 9], with the continued lack of a diverse group of mentors from which to choose, formal mentoring programs may provide more protégés the benefits they need and desire from mentors, encouraging them to stay in their academic positions.
