What makes a good mentor?

As with any partnership, there are lots of different things you can do to make it more successful. The following is a list of ideas to support you develop a successful mentoring partnership:

• Listen! Find out what it is your mentee needs, and any problems they might be currently facing in their work where they think you could help;
• Provide an objective, external opinion on their current situation;
• Give honest opinions about how you think they could develop their working practice and ideas about how to do this;
• Help the mentee to come to their own decisions about their mentoring needs;
• Be supportive! Offer examples of where things have work and not worked for you as real examples;
• Provide suitable contacts and guidance on relevant networks and associations;
• Give constructive, honest feedback about their work, their activities as a mentee, and their ongoing development;
• Inspire! Help provide the mentee with the inspiration and passion to develop;
• Ensure that you are the right person to be giving this advice – if not, try to point them in the right direction;
• Ensure the partnership remains focused on professional development and does not just support the mentee in sounding off about their current work issues;
• Make sure the partnership remains focussed on the mentees aims and objectives