What is mentoring?

MENTORING IS A RELATIONSHIP BUILT AROUND YOU

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Mentoring is a collaborative professional relationship shaped around your situation, your challenges and your development. ​It is a space to think, reflect and explore. We look at situations from different perspectives, question assumptions, consider possibilities and work towards decisions and actions that make sense for you.

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You bring your knowledge, experience and perspective. I bring mine. Together, we use both to expand your thinking and your possibilities.

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A TWO WAY RELATIONSHIP

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Mentoring is not a lecture. It is a conversation.

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You know your organisation, your role and your situation better than anyone else. I bring more than 30 years of leadership experience, together with the perspective that comes from having faced complex decisions, change, growth and the challenges of leading people. The value comes from bringing these perspectives together.

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Sometimes I will ask. Sometimes I will challenge. Sometimes I will share an experience or offer a different perspective. When it can add value, I may also offer advice.

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We work together. You remain responsible for your decisions and your development.

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MORE THAN QUESTIONS

Mentoring is not about having all the answers.

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Good mentoring is not about telling you what to do. It is about creating the right conditions for you to think more clearly, explore possibilities and make decisions with greater confidence. ​I may ask questions. I may challenge your assumptions. I may share something I have learned from experience.

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The important question is not whether I have the answer. It is whether our conversation helps you find the way forward.

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MENTORING AND COACHING

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Mentoring and coaching have much in common. Both create space for reflection, learning and development. Both rely on listening, questioning and thoughtful conversation.

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One important difference is what the practitioner brings to the relationship.

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Coaching primarily helps you explore your own thinking and discover your own answers. Mentoring can do this too, while also bringing the mentor's relevant experience, knowledge and perspective into the conversation. 

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COACHING

Explore what.

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Develop awareness, thinking and capabilities through skilled questioning and reflection.

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MENTORING

Explore how.

Explore possibilities and approaches with someone who can also draw on relevant experience, knowledge and perspective. 

These are not rigid boundaries. A good mentoring relationship can include coaching, just as coaching may involve observations, feedback or other interventions. The important thing is understanding which approach best serves the situation.

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A RELATIONSHIP BUILT ON TRUST

Great mentoring requires more than experience. It requires presence, openness, respect and trust. ​You need a space where you can speak openly, explore difficult questions, challenge your own thinking and consider possibilities without fear of judgement.

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Confidentiality is therefore not an extra feature of the relationship. It is part of its foundation.

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HIGHLY PERSONALISED

Every leader brings a different situation, different experience and different challenges. The relationship, the focus and the way we work are therefore shaped around you.

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There is no standard mentoring programme to follow.

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What we explore, how we explore it and where the conversation takes us depends on what you need. The mentoring relationship adapts to you.

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MENTORING EXPANDS POSSIBILITIES

One of the most valuable things mentoring can do is expand the possibilities you can see.

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A situation that initially appears to have only one possible response may look very different when viewed from another perspective. Together, we can explore:

• What else could be possible?

• What are you not seeing yet?

• What would happen if you approached it differently?

• What do you need to make it happen?

The aim is not for me to make your decisions for you. It is to help you develop the awareness, perspective and capabilities to make better decisions yourself.

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FROM REFLECTION TO ACTION

Mentoring is not simply about having interesting conversations. Reflection becomes valuable when it changes what you see, how you think and what you do.

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The purpose of our work is therefore not only to understand a situation differently, but to help you turn that understanding into action.

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You may leave a session with a clearer perspective, a difficult decision made, a new approach to a challenge, or simply a better understanding of what needs to happen next.

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THE GOAL IS INDEPENDENCE

The goal of mentoring is not dependence. It is independence.

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My role is to help you develop the clarity, confidence and judgement to lead independently.

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I believe in people before they necessarily believe in themselves. 

When the time is right, I let go.