Mentoring

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What is mentoring?

A reflective and (usually) confidential relationship in which one person (the mentor) helps another (the mentee) to manage his or her own learning for personal and professional growth.

Mentoring is another example of talking used as a tool for learning. In many organisations a system of mentoring exists to provide work-related support for staff. The mentor, who may be a senior colleague or a peer from another part of the organisation, can help the mentee to develop personal resources and guide them through the complexities of organisational systems and networks of people. Importantly, the mentoring relationship is not managerial and so it is not directly related to promotion, staff review or the judgement of performance.