What is mentoring?

Mentoring is an arrangement of semi-structured support whereby one person shares their knowledge, skills and experience to assist others to move forward in their own lives and careers.
Mentoring is not counselling or therapy – though the mentor may help the mentee to access more specialized avenues of help if it becomes apparent that this would be the best way forward.
Mentoring can be a short-term arrangement until the original reason for the partnership is fulfilled (or ceases),- it’s a chain for ‘passing on’ good practice so that the benefits can be widely spread.
Mentoring is more than ‘giving advice’, or passing on what your experience was in a specific area or situation. It’s about motivating and empowering the other person to recognize their own issues and objectives, and helping them to find avenues of resolving or reaching them – not by doing it for them, or expecting them to ‘do it the way I did it’, but by understanding and respecting different ways of working.