Mentoring lesson: Preparing to mentor
Laura Curran outlines some key things to consider in preparation for becoming a mentor
Before starting out as a mentor, it’s a good idea to reflect on your expectations and think about what you would like to get out of the experience. Ask yourself:
1. Why do you want to mentor?
2. What do you want to get out of being a mentor?
3. What do you see as your role: to lead, to listen, or both?
4. How would you measure the success of a mentoring relationship? This may be set by the organisation, or the mentee may decide on what ‘success’ looks like for them.
5. How much time do you want to spend with your mentee?
6. How regularly would you be prepared to meet?
7. What topics are you comfortable discussing? Conversely, what are you uncomfortable discussing?
8. Is confidentiality an issue for you?
9. How would you like the meetings to take place, either face to face, over the phone or online?
10. Would you be prepared to have more than one mentee?
About the author
Laura Curran is an organisational development consultant. She works with local and central government as well as non-profit organisations to improve working practices. Laura is passionate about aligning strategy to organisational development, managing talent and developing leadership. She favours informal methods of learning over the more traditional ‘chalk and talk’. Laura is the winner of a Coaching Culture Award 2022 for building a coaching culture within a non-profit social care enterprise. She believes that everyone should have the opportunity to progress, and that the power of learning from each other is immeasurable. Mentoring, she says, can support people’s ability to develop and grow – now more than ever. She advocates that organisations embrace the process from new starter to CEO.