What makes a good mentor?
Some people have a friend or colleague who they might refer to as their ‘mentor’ (‘he taught me everything I know…’). Some might adopt an acquaintance within their professional network as an unofficial mentor. Some relationships may follow the form of a mentoring relationship but without either of the individuals involved naming it as such.
You may already know your potential mentor – or be known to your potential mentee.
As part of their working practice, some businesses are able to support the development of mentoring partnerships within the workplace by pairing a junior manager with one at a more senior level.
Peer networking and online forums also offer potential for the sharing and transfer of knowledge within industry and across sectors, and provide a basis for the development of an informal ‘virtual’ mentoring relationship.
However, it should be recognised that mentoring is a highly skilled activity, and simply being an ‘expert’ or holding a senior position does not necessarily guarantee that a person will make a good mentor. Where the process of matching mentors with mentees is organised, it is increasingly regarded as good practice that the mentor, and sometimes the mentee, will undergo some form of training for the role. Arts & Business, for example, have produced detailed handbooks for both mentors and mentees on their programme.
The style of mentoring is particularly important. The traditional form of mentoring is based on the ‘sponsorship’ model, which tends to be more about the mentor’s power and influence over his/her ‘protégé’ than about mutual learning and growth. An increased use of a peer mentoring approach helps in moving away from this traditional model towards a more two-way developmental form of mentoring.
The ideal mentoring relationship is one in which the mentor is as willing to invest in his/her personal development as the mentee and recognises the benefits that they derive from the process. A good mentoring relationship is one in which both parties acknowledge that they have something to learn from the other.
Mentoring agreements
It is important at the outset of a mentoring relationship to form a contract between the mentor and mentee. This contract will include reference to frequency and location of meetings, whether the mentee can telephone or email the mentor and how long the relationship will last in the first instance. The two individuals may also wish to establish clear goals for the relationship to ensure that it does not become time for a pleasant but unproductive chat. Examples of such agreements are included in The Museums Association’s Mentoring Toolkit and the Handbooks for Mentors and Mentees published by Arts & Business.
Qualities that a good mentor should possess include:
- Self-awareness
- Awareness of others
- Good communication skills
- Good relationship management
- Interest in developing others
- Commitment to own learning and self-development
There has to be a chemistry between you, a mutual respect for each other…What most impressed me about my mentor was his generosity of spirit…Now that part of my current role is to mentor others, I can fully appreciate with hindsight how the whole experience has informed my own practice as a mentor.
Clore Fellow 2005/6
