Employee Experience and High-Performance Culture
What is Mentoring?
What is mentoring and what are some of the roles and responsibilities of mentoring for both the mentor and the mentee? Discover the answers to these questions using Aldred’s (1998) three step model, including: exploration, new understanding and action planning.
This article looks what defines coaching and mentoring in an organisational context, overviews the benefits (for both mentor and mentee) and outlines a model for effective coaching and mentoring in the workplace.
Topics covered include:
- The three roles of the mentor: Experienced guide, coach and critical friend
- The benefits of coaching and mentoring for the mentor
- The benefits of coaching and mentoring for the mentee
- The responsibilities of the mentee to drive the relationship
- An overview of Aldred’s (1998) three step model for effective coaching and mentoring
- The different strategies that can be used for each stage of the framework
What is mentoring?
It is a relationship where the mentor passes on some of what they’ve learned to someone else who will benefit from their experience.
The mentor has three roles:
- Experienced Guide. The mentor can help the learner to reflect on their experience and draw out the key learnings. The mentor is operating at the level the mentee aspires to and can help share what it’s really like and the challenges they have had to overcome.
- Coach. This should be done as a coach not a teacher. Coaching requires a belief that the learner holds the key to their own problems, and a willingness to help them explore the issue including supporting thinking and experimenting with new ways of working. It is not about taking responsibility away from the mentee and managing their learning for them.
- Critical Friend. The final role is to be a critical friend. This is one of the most important, though most difficult, mentoring roles to successfully undertake. It requires the mentor to listen, encourage, draw out, reflect back and challenge assumptions and if necessary, provide critical feedback on ideas or plans under discussion.
Mentoring has benefits for both mentor and mentee
For the mentor, there is obviously the opportunity to explore their learning and benefit from someone else’s focus, expertise and experience, since they have been through this career transition and have had time to reflect and apply the learning.
For the mentor, the benefits may be more subtle. It is always nice to feel that we are doing something valuable and supporting someone else. A mentoring relationship may also be a useful opportunity to work on a leadership style, particularly coaching, or other communication skills. It also helps us to reflect on what we have learnt. We would however ask the mentor to respect the nature of the programme and not poach the mentee!
Roles and Responsibilities
It is the role of the mentee to drive the relationship and arrange meetings and phone calls. They must take into account the workload of the mentor and not overburden them. It is up to the mentee to make the approach to the mentor and agree what the relationship will mean in practice.
How does mentoring work
Aldred identified a simple three step process:
- Exploration – to explore issues which are identified by the mentored individual
- New understanding – to develop new ways of thinking about the issues
- Action planning – to agree actions to address the issues
The tables below focus on the main strategies and methods required for the relationship to be a success.
EXPLORATION
| Strategies | Methods |
| Pay attention to the relationship and develop it | Listen and ask open questions |
| Clarify the aims and objectives of mentoring | Negotiate an agenda |
| Support and counsel |
NEW UNDERSTANDING
| Strategies | Methods |
| Support and counsel | Listen and challenge |
| Give constructive feedback | Ask open and closed questions |
| Coach and demonstrate skills | Recognise strengths and weaknesses |
| Establish priorities | |
| Identify developmental needs | |
| Give information and advice | |
| Share experience and tell stories |
ACTION
| Strategies | Methods |
| Examine options for action and their consequences | Encourage new and creative way of thinking |
| Attend to the mentoring process and the relationship | Help to make decisions and solve problems |
| Negotiate an action plan | Agree action plans |
| Monitor progress and evaluate outcomes |
Aldred, G., Garvey, B. and Smith, R. (1998). Mentoring Pocketbook. Alresford: Management Pocketbooks.
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