What is mentoring?

"Mentoring is a process in which a more skilled or more experienced person, serving as a role model, teaches, sponsors, encourages, counsels and befriends a less skilled or less experienced person for the purpose of promoting the latter’s professional and/or personal development.   Mentoring functions are carried out within the context of ongoing, supportive relationship between the mentor and mentee.”   A mentoring researcher:  from the Alrud’s Pocket Book of Mentoring.

Mentoring is different from direct Supervising and from Coaching, in that it places the mentee with a more experienced mentor, trained to specialise in delivering feedback in a positive way to move a student forward in their learning and confidence, enabling them to become the best that they can be.   It may be used formally, within a business framework;  informally when it is characterised by the trusted and respected mentor offering help and advice to the learner who wants to discover something new  (either about themselves or to achieve a learning or positive outcome).   This is demonstrated in a Mentoring researcher’s comments in Messrs. Alred, Garvey & Smith’s The Mentoring Pocketbook:  “Mentoring is a process in which a more skilled or more experienced person, serving as a role model, teaches, sponsors, encourages, counsels and befriends a less skilled or less experienced person for the purpose of promoting the latter’s Professional and/or personal development.   Mentoring functions are carried out within the context of an ongoing supportive relationship between the mentor and mentee…”

Mentoring is rapidly becoming recognised as a highly effective human resource development process.   Examples can be found in many diverse organisations from public to private sector, from service to manufacturing industries.   There are mentoring programmes in:

Manufacturing industries
Financial services
Tourism and Leisure
Educational institutions
Petro-chemical industries
Service industries
Public sector / government
Charities