Ten Mentoring Practice Tips

What makes a good mentor?  Having recently been involved with the SFEDI and Government Equalities Office Meet a Mentor for Enterprising Women around the UK, I have come to some conclusions and here are ten tips:

1. A true mentoring relationship is a mutually beneficial learning experience.

2. Mentors know where the boundaries of the role are and they stick to them.

3. Mentors draw on their skills and knowledge to help someone but it is never imposed.

4. Mentoring is a relationship based on equality, trust and openness.

5. Mentoring is supportive.

6. A mentor must have good levels of skills and self awareness.

7. A mentor guides the mentee to look at a variety of options to solve problems for themselves.

8. The role of the mentor is to release and develop the mentee's own resourcefulness.

9. Mentoring can be done face to face and also on the phone or by email, but the advantage of face to face is the enormous amount of information from verbal and non verbal communication that can be gathered.

10. Mentoring success is achieved by working together.

What are your tips for a successful mentoring relationship?