mentoring

HR

a form of employee development whereby a trusted and respected person—the mentor—uses their experience to offer guidance, encouragement, career advice, and support to another person—the mentee. The aim of mentoring is to facilitate the mentee’s learning and development and to enable them to discover more about their potential. Mentoring can occur informally or it can be arranged by means of an organizational scheme.

     Mentor/mentee relationships can take any form that suits the individuals involved, but in practice there are a few rules that apply to most such arrangements—the most important of which is that anything discussed remains confidential. The relationship also needs to be based on trust and candid communication. A mentor does not have to belong to the same organization as the mentee, but can come from any sphere of the mentee’s life—professional association, a community center, your alumni organization, for example—just as long as he or she is not the mentee’s direct supervisor or working in the same department. Mentoring does not have to be paid for; in fact it is usually seen as an honor by the mentor. Many accomplished individuals consider it good professional citizenship to participate in the process of helping those coming up after them. It can also frequently be beneficial to volunteer to be a mentor, as many organizations consider mentoring a valuable hallmark of leadership material.