The Mentoring relationship

In order to get the most out of a mentoring relationship, a good Mentor should possess specific characteristics. The most important elements are trust and confidentiality.

The most obvious benefit of an external Mentor true independence and no conflict of interest. This allows an open and honest discussion of how to handle complex organisational and people issues in an environment of complete trust.

An internal Mentor has the benefit of inside knowledge of the workings of the organisation and can be a highly effective Sponsor. However thay cannot offer independence and impartiality and often struggle to devote suffcient time to the mentee.

A crucial distinction between mentoring and other forms of development is that mentoring transfers knowledge based on experience, from a seasoned and experienced leader.

Mentoring is the only approach where Mentees can learn directly from the mistakes and successes of others. This improves the capability of the Mentee to handle these new situations and reduces the likelihood of mistakes and so reduces corporate risk.

Often individuals create an informal network of people with varied experience to advise them and act as a sounding board. However this depends on both the goodwill and time availability of those people and they often have to advise based on “occasional snapshots” of the Executive and the scenario. A professional Mentor has the advantage of continuity, so they see the whole picture with all its nuances, “the 3D film”. This insight, plus their commitment to devote the time and focus to the individual executive, vastly improves the likelihood of a successful outcome.

An external mentoring program can also help to “level-off the playing field” within organisations by providing an independent view of the Mentee’s opportunities and options and insight into the next step-up and the role of a Board Director and MD/CEO.

This will expand the Mentee’s horizons as well as giving them practical skills on how to handle new stakeholders and situations such as shareholder relationships and Annual General Meetings.

Key elements of the Mentoring Relationship

It is critical to set expectations and objectives at the start of the mentoring relationship and re-calibrate these as the Mentee and the organisation develop.

The relationship must be open and honest and information shared between the Mentor and Mentee. This leads to a relationship which is highly responsive with early communication and maximises the learning from experience.

Our Mentors represent a wide variety of industry backgrounds , styles and personalities, but all share the essential characteristics of a great Mentor:-

  • responsive
  • a good listener, observer and communicator
  • open and honest
  • non-judgmental
  • approachable and available
  • problem-solving

Above all they have a passion and commitment to mentoring, have the time and experience to help Mentees achieve their goals and are focused on successful outcomes.