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What is Mentoring?

Mentoring is a two-way learning relationship, which is concerned with developing and unlocking the potential of the mentee, but also provides learning and development for the mentor.  It supports the mentee in determining which goals to pursue and why. It seeks to build wisdom – the ability to apply skills, knowledge and experience in new situations and to new problems. It provides a sounding board, where the mentee can explore alternative approaches.

Mentors can be role models to their mentees, peers or even individuals in more junior positions, where “reverse mentoring” relationships can be designed to inform more senior executives in a mentee capacity.

Mentoring is an off line relationship, so a line manager would not mentor his direct reports.

Is Mentoring the same as Coaching?

Coaching is concerned primarily with performance and the development of more tangible skills. It usually starts with the learning goal already identified, if not by the individual, then by their line manager.

Which groups of employees might benefit from being part of a formal mentoring programme?

• New recruits
• Graduate entrants
• All levels of management
• Individuals with high potential
• Disadvantaged groups
• People facing change
• Everyone can benefit from a mentor

Benefits of Mentoring:

• Supports employee retention and improved recruitment
• Improved morale, motivation and relationships
• Helps build a learning culture
• Improved implementation of change
• Improved communication, particularly across organisational divisions, eroding the “silo” effect
• Releases potential and improves productivity
• Sharing of tacit knowledge
• Cost effective, mutual development
• Creates a talent pool for succession planning

Our Expertise and Reputation in developing Mentoring Programmes

Coach Mentoring Ltd has built up considerable expertise over the last nine years in the design, development and operational support of organisational mentoring programmes.  We seek to emulate the most successful characteristics of informal mentoring but to maximise their effectiveness within an organisation by developing these in a more formal context. 

Our programmes have been designed to benefit the following groups of employees:

• New recruits
• Graduate entrants
• All levels of management
• Programmes for women to support with breaking through the “glass ceiling”
• Individuals with high potential for talent management or succession planning processes
• Disadvantaged groups
• People facing change/ structural re-organisation

We specialize particularly in programmes to support talent management and succession planning and mentoring women into more senior roles. Click here to read an article from the Summer 2008 EMCC Journal - Using Mentoring to break the Glass Ceiling.

Steps in Developing a Programme

Click here to read about How to set up a Mentoring Programme, an article written by Lis Merrick, which appeared in “Coaching at Work” magazine, July 2008 Vol 3 Issue 4.

Mentor Supervision

Paul Stokes and Lis Merrick are developing further their model of Mentor Supervision during 2009, click here to read about their model Mentor Supervision – A Passionate Joint Inquiry. This article was originally published in the EMCC Journal.