Mentoring Guidelines - a 10 step code of practice for a mentoring relationship

Mentoring is a partnership between two people. It is a process of ongoing support and development which tackles issues and blockages identified by the mentee. The mentor offers guidance, counselling and support in the form of pragmatic and objective assistance. If the following guidelines are agreed, they should help to develop a strong learning relationship.

1. Mentoring is a confidential activity, in which both parties have a duty of care towards each other.

2. The mentor’s role is to respond to the mentee’s developmental needs and agenda; it is not to impose their own agenda.

3. Mentor and mentee must respect each other’s time and other responsibilities, ensuring they do not impose beyond what is reasonable.

4. Mentor and mentee must also respect the position of third parties, such as line managers, or team colleagues.

5. The mentee must accept increasing responsibility for managing the relationship; the mentor must willingly empower them to do so.

6. Both mentor and mentee must be volunteers; equally, either party may dissolve the relationship if they feel it is not working for them. However, they have a responsibility for discussing the matter together, as part of mutual learning.

7. The mentee is not obligated to follow the mentor’s advice; but the mentee does have a responsibility to consider the advice given in as open a manner as possible.

8. The mentor will not intrude into areas the mentee wishes to keep “off limits” until invited to do so. However, they may help the mentee recognise how other issues relate to those off-limits areas.

9. Mentor and mentee must be open and truthful to each other about the relationship itself, reviewing from time to time how it might be made more effective.

10. Mentor and mentee share responsibility for the smooth winding down of the relationship, when it has achieved its purpose – they must avoid creating dependency.

Reprinted with kind permission from the PCS E-News, a newsletter distributed quarterly by PCS Ltd, a firm of business psychologists based in South Wales. The PCS website is www.psych-pcs.co.uk