Frequently Asked Questions
ABOUT MENTORING
1. What is mentoring?
Mentoring is a collaborative relationship designed around your challenges, your goals and your development.
It creates a space to reflect, explore different perspectives, challenge your thinking and develop your own judgement. Where relevant, I also bring my experience and knowledge into the conversation.
The aim is not to give you all the answers, but to help you become better equipped to find your way forward.
2. How is mentoring different from coaching?
Coaching primarily helps you explore your own thinking through questions, reflection and discovery.
Mentoring can include the same approach, while also allowing me to share relevant experience, knowledge and perspectives when they can support your development.
The two approaches can therefore work together. The difference is not simply what we talk about, but what I bring to the relationship when it can add value.
3. How is mentoring different from consulting or advisory?
Consulting and advisory work are primarily focused on providing expertise, recommendations or solutions to a particular business need.
Mentoring is different. The focus is on your development, not simply on solving the issue in front of you.
We may explore business, strategic or organisational challenges, and I may share relevant experience or perspective. But the purpose is to help you develop the judgement and capability to understand, decide and act for yourself.
4. Does mentoring mean that you will tell me what to do?
No.
My role is not to give you a ready-made answer every time you face a challenge.
I will ask questions, challenge assumptions, offer different perspectives and, when relevant, share experience. The decisions remain yours.
The goal is not dependence on my advice. It is greater confidence in your own judgement.
5. Can you share your own experience during mentoring?
Yes, when it is relevant and useful to your development.
My experience is one of the things I bring to the mentoring relationship. I may share a perspective, an experience, a framework or something I have learned when I believe it could help you look at a situation differently.
But I will not expect you to follow my path simply because it worked for me.
Your situation is yours. Your decision is yours.
WHO IS IT FOR?
6. Who is executive mentoring for?
Executive mentoring is for leaders and future leaders who want to develop their judgement, broaden their perspective and become more effective in the responsibilities they carry or are preparing to take on.
This may include someone preparing for a leadership role, a newly appointed leader, an experienced leader facing a significant turning point, a senior leader dealing with greater complexity, or a business owner facing the challenges of growth and leadership.
The common factor is not the title. It is the willingness to reflect, learn and develop.
7. Does executive mentoring only work for senior executives?
No.
The value of mentoring is not determined by seniority. In fact, mentoring can be particularly valuable at moments when your responsibilities are changing or becoming more demanding.
You may be taking your first leadership role, moving into a larger one or facing challenges that require you to operate differently from before.
What matters is whether mentoring can support the development you need at that point in your leadership journey.
8. Can mentoring start before someone becomes a leader?
Yes. And sometimes that is exactly when it should begin.
If an organisation is preparing someone for a future leadership role, mentoring can begin before the appointment itself.
Starting early creates an opportunity to reflect on the transition, understand what the new responsibility will require and begin developing the judgement and confidence needed for the role.
The aim is not to prepare someone by teaching them a formula for leadership. It is to help them develop their own way of leading.
9. Do you work with business owners?
Yes.
Running a business brings a different set of leadership challenges. The owner may be responsible not only for people and performance, but also for the direction, culture and future of the organisation.
Mentoring can provide a confidential space to step back from the day-to-day, examine difficult questions, challenge assumptions and consider the decisions that will shape what comes next.
The focus remains on the person leading the business and the development they need to lead it effectively.
HOW IT WORKS
10. How do you work with your clients?
I start by understanding your situation, what you want to achieve and what matters most to you.
From there, we shape the mentoring around your needs rather than following a predetermined programme.
Each session is a space to reflect, explore what is happening, challenge your thinking and identify what will help you move forward.
11. Is there a fixed mentoring programme?
No.
There is no standard programme that every mentee has to follow.
The focus, pace and duration of the engagement are shaped around your situation, goals and development needs. The mentoring can also evolve as your circumstances change.
This keeps the work relevant to what matters to you rather than fitting you into a predefined structure.
12. How often do mentoring sessions take place?
The frequency is agreed between us and depends on what will best support your development.
Some situations benefit from a regular rhythm, while others may require more flexibility around particular challenges or periods of change.
We agree the cadence at the beginning and can adjust it when circumstances or needs change.
13. How long does a mentoring engagement last?
There is no fixed duration.
The length of an engagement depends on what you want to achieve, the complexity of the situation and how your needs develop over time.
We review the value of the mentoring as we go. The aim is not to keep the relationship going indefinitely, but to make it valuable for as long as it serves its purpose.
14. Are mentoring sessions online or in person?
Primarily online.
Online sessions make it possible to work together regardless of location and provide the flexibility that executive roles often require.
Where circumstances and location make it appropriate, an in person arrangement can also be considered.
15. What happens during a mentoring session?
There is no standard agenda.
You may bring a current leadership challenge, an important decision, a difficult conversation, a change you are navigating or simply something you want to think through.
We explore it together through questions, reflection, different perspectives and, where relevant, my experience.
The aim is to leave with greater clarity about what matters, what your options are and what you want to do next.
TRUST AND ORGANISATIONS
16. Is mentoring confidential?
Yes.
Confidentiality is a fundamental part of the mentoring relationship. What you share during our mentoring conversations remains between us and is not shared with others without your agreement, subject to any professional or legal obligations that may apply.
17. If my organisation sponsors the mentoring, will they know what I say?
No. The content of our mentoring conversations remains confidential.
Your organisation may be interested in your development, progress and the value created through the engagement. That does not give it access to what you discuss with me.
What may be shared with the organisation is agreed at the outset and focuses on the purpose, progress and outcomes of the engagement rather than the content of our conversations.
This distinction is important: The organisation sponsors the mentoring, but the mentoring relationship is centred on you and your development.
18. Who pays for executive mentoring?
Executive mentoring engagements are normally commissioned and funded by the organisation.
The organisation may invest in mentoring because it sees value in developing a current or future leader and in strengthening the organisation as a result.
The mentoring relationship itself, however, remains centred on the mentee and their development.
19. Who is involved when an organisation sponsors mentoring?
There may be four roles in an organisational mentoring engagement:
The Mentee is the person whose development is at the centre of the mentoring relationship.
The Mentor provides the professional mentoring relationship, experience, perspective, challenge and support.
The Stakeholder represents the organisation's interest in the engagement and its broader purpose.
The Sponsor is responsible for commissioning and funding the engagement.
These roles may sometimes be held by different people, or some may be held by the same person. What matters is that the roles and expectations are clear from the beginning.
20. What does the organisation get from sponsoring mentoring?
The organisation invests in the development of a leader or future leader. The value may therefore be seen in stronger leadership capability, better judgement, greater confidence in taking responsibility and a greater ability to navigate complexity and change.
But mentoring is not designed to produce a predetermined outcome for the organisation.
The lasting value comes from developing a leader who can think, decide and act more effectively and independently.
STARTING
21. What is the Initial Session?
The Initial Session is our first substantive conversation.
It gives me the opportunity to understand your situation and what you would like to achieve, while giving you the opportunity to experience how I work.
We can explore the challenges, questions or decisions that have brought you here and consider the right next step.
22. Is the Initial Session a mentoring session?
Not exactly.
The Initial Session is primarily about understanding your situation, exploring what you need and considering whether mentoring is the right approach.
It can naturally contain elements of mentoring, particularly if you bring a specific challenge or decision. Its purpose is to establish whether there is a good basis for working together.
23. What happens after the Initial Session?
If we both feel that mentoring would be valuable, we discuss how we could work together.
We agree on the focus, practical arrangements and expectations, and shape the engagement around your needs.
There is no obligation to continue. The conversation should leave both of us clearer about whether and how we should work together.
24. How do I know whether mentoring is right for me?
You do not need to have the answer before the Initial Session.
If you are facing a leadership challenge, a significant decision, a transition or a situation you want to understand more clearly, mentoring may be worth exploring.
We can use the Initial Session to consider whether it is the right kind of support for what you are facing.
25. How do I know whether you are the right mentor for me?
You should feel that I understand your situation, that my experience and perspective are relevant to what you are facing, and that you can work openly with me.
Just as importantly, you should feel comfortable being challenged. A good mentoring relationship is not simply about feeling supported. It is also about being willing to examine your assumptions and see things differently.
The Initial Session gives us both the opportunity to assess the fit.
26. What if we are not the right fit?
That is perfectly acceptable.
Mentoring works best when there is trust, openness and a genuine basis for working together. If I believe that someone else, another form of support or simply a different approach would be more appropriate, I will say so.
The purpose of the Initial Session is not to create an engagement at any cost. It is to find the right next step.
27. Can I bring a specific problem or decision to a mentoring session?
Absolutely.
A difficult decision, a leadership challenge, a change you are navigating or a situation you cannot quite see clearly can all be a useful starting point.
Sometimes the issue you bring to the conversation is exactly what helps us discover what you really need to work on.
28. What if I don't know exactly what I need?
That is fine.
You do not need to arrive with a perfectly defined goal, a development plan or even a clear understanding of what kind of support you need.
We can start with what is happening now, what is on your mind and what you would like to understand better.
Clarity often comes through the conversation itself.