After pondering the concept a bit more, I went ahead and created [[Wikipedia:Admin buddies]]. It's a rather low-key concept, doesn't need to be elevated to policy or even a guideline. If it seems reasonable, we can recommend it to new and existing admins, advertise it around (not sure where).

I'm sure there's room for tinkering, feel free. One obvious idea is to generalize to "editor buddies" in general, but it seems like something that mostly makes more sense for heavily-involved editors - since this isn't mentoring, newbies and occasional editors aren't likely to get much benefit.

Stan