1. The
background
to
mentoring
The
contents
covered
are:
What
is
mentoring?
How
does
mentoring
fit
into
enterprise
support?
What
is
mentoring
not?
What
is
enterprise
mentoring?
What
is
the
role
of
the
enterprise
mentor?
What
are
the
different
types
of
mentoring
rela9onship?
Mentors
‘pull’
-­‐
they
don’t
push
Mentoring
in
summary

2. The
background
to
mentoring
The
aim
of
this
sec6on
is
to
provide
an
insight
into
mentoring.
It
is
intended
to
answer
such
ques6ons
as:
•
What
is
mentoring?
•
How
does
mentoring
fit
into
enterprise
support?
•
What
is
mentoring
not?
What
is
enterprise
mentoring?
•
•
What
is
the
role
of
the
enterprise
mentor?
•
What
are
the
different
types
of
mentoring
rela9onship?
•
Mentors
pull
-­‐
they
don’t
push
What
is
mentoring?
word
‘mentor’
comes
from
the
Greek
myth
in
which
the
legendary
king
Odysseus
went
off
The
to
fight
in
the
Trojan
Wars,
entrus9ng
the
care
of
his
son
to
a
friend
called
Mentor.
The
word
actually
means
‘enduring’
and
is
usually
used
to
describe
a
sustained
rela9onship
between
an
experienced
person
and
someone
who
is
in
the
ini9al
stages
of
their
development.
The
word
has
become
synonymous
with
the
idea
of
a
trusted
adviser
-­‐
a
friend,
teacher,
or
wise
person.
The
Oxford
English
Dic9onary
defines
a
mentor
as
an
‘experienced
and
trusted
adviser’.

3. How
does
mentoring
fit
into
enterprise
support?
What
is
enterprise
support?
The
term
‘enterprise
support’
covers
a
wide
range
of
ac9vi9es
that
provide
support
for
a
business,
whether
it
is
already
up
and
running
or
just
star9ng
out.
Enterprise
support
gives
the
business
owner
the
help
they
need
to
start,
live
and
grow
-­‐
in
other
words,
to
survive
and
thrive.
Outsiders
can
bring
an
objec9ve
eye
to
decision-­‐making
and
some9mes
see
things
the
business
owner
has
missed.
Decisions
are
always
in
the
hands
of
the
business
owner,
of
course.
A
mentor
can
be
invaluable
in
guiding
the
business
owner
to
iden9fy
the
support
they
need,
consider
their
op9ons
and
get
new
informa9on.
The
mentor’s
role
is
to
be
a
trusted
confidant,
helping
the
mentee
to
make
wise
choices.
Sources
of
enterprise
support
Support
comes
in
many
guises
and
from
many
different
sources,
from
a
quick
chat
with
a
friend
who
has
experience
of
running
a
business,
to
the
formal
support
provided
by
a
professional
adviser.
Sources
include:
•
online
informa9on
portals
such
as
businesslink.org.uk
•
local
enterprise
agencies
•
web-­‐based
forums
and
networking
groups
•
local
authori9es
•
small
business
membership
organisa9ons
trade
associa9ons
•
•
accountancy
prac9ces
•
professional
ins9tutes
banks
•
•
colleges
and
universi9es
business
consultancies
•
•
mentoring
organisa9ons.
Types
of
enterprise
support
Mentoring
is
just
one
type
of
enterprise
support,
each
of
which
is
used
in
different
circumstances
and
for
different
reasons;
a
business
may
use
a
number
of
different
types
of
support
at
the
same
9me.
The
mentor
needs
to
be
aware
of
the
other
types
of
support
available
so
that
they
can
point
the
mentee
in
the
right
direc9on
if
necessary.
The
main
types
of
enterprise
support
are
shown
in
this
diagram.
What
they
all
have
in
common
is
that
the
client
-­‐
or
mentee
-­‐
is
at
the
centre.

5. What
is
mentoring
not?
is
important
to
keep
a
clear
focus,
otherwise
a
lot
of
9me
can
be
wasted
on
ac9vi9es
that
aren’t
It
strictly
part
of
the
mentoring
brief.
It’s
not
just
a
maRer
of
9me
-­‐
it’s
the
mentor’s
responsibility
to
perform
a
very
specific
role
for
the
mentee
and
to
be
aware
of
what
is
and
is
not
part
of
that
role.
The
style
of
the
process
-­‐
for
example,
how
formal
or
informal
it
is
-­‐
is
very
much
up
to
the
mentor
and
mentee.
However,
there
are
some
things
that
are
definitely
not
part
of
the
mentor’s
role.
•
Ac6ng
as
a
parent.
The
mentee
holds
the
reins,
not
the
mentor.
The
mentor
might
sense
that
the
mentee
would
like
them
to
take
control
and
‘babysit’
them,
in
which
case
they
should
make
it
clear
that
the
responsibility
lies
with
the
mentee.
•
Ac6ng
as
a
counsellor.
The
mentor
is
not
the
person
to
‘fix’
things
when
the
mentee
needs
help
with
a
prac9cal,
personal
or
health
problem.
In
such
cases,
the
mentor
should
make
sure
they’re
armed
with
some
basic
details
of
people/organisa9ons
who
can
help.
Then
they
can
pass
these
to
the
mentee
and
return
to
the
business
of
mentoring.
•
An
excuse
for
the
mentee
to
moan.
The
mentor’s
job
is
not
to
listen
to
the
mentee’s
problems,
so
if
they
arrive
with
a
list
of
woes
and
expect
to
spend
the
session
on
these,
the
mentor
should
gently
put
them
right
and
steer
them
in
a
more
posi9ve
direc9on.
•
Being
the
mentee’s
friend.
That
doesn’t
mean
the
mentor
should
be
completely
detached
-­‐
of
course,
they
can
be
friendly!
But
this
role
means
the
mentor
can
be
completely
honest
-­‐
perhaps
some9mes
even
blunt
-­‐
in
a
way
that
would
be
difficult
for
a
friend.
It’s
important
that
the
mentor
doesn’t
let
the
boundaries
become
blurred.
•
Dispensing
discipline.
Just
as
the
mentor
is
not
there
to
look
aXer
the
mentee,
they
are
not
there
to
tell
them
off
if
they
make
a
mistake
or
aren’t
working
hard
enough.
If
the
mentor
no9ces
the
mentee
isn’t
pulling
their
weight,
they
should
simply
tell
them
so.
The
mentee’s
success
or
failure
is
not
the
mentor’s
responsibility
-­‐
it’s
their
own.
•
Being
a
god.
No
maRer
how
much
experience
and
knowledge
the
mentor
has,
they
are
not
expected
to
have
all
the
answers.
Their
role
is
not
to
tell
the
mentee
what
to
do,
but
to
guide,
support
and
encourage
them
to
progress
along
their
own
path.

6. What
is
enterprise
mentoring?
effec9ve
enterprise
mentoring
rela9onship
gives
the
mentee
an
opportunity
to
receive
short-­‐,
An
medium-­‐
or
long-­‐term
personal
and
professional
support.
The
rela9onship
enables
the
mentee
to
explore
his
or
her
personal
and
professional
situa9on
in
order
to
develop
goals
that
will
have
a
posi9ve
impact
on
their
business
enterprise.
The
mentor
should
have
the
personal
experience
and
skills
to
give
the
enterprise
owner
the
right
level
of
support,
but
it
is
equally
important
for
the
mentoring
to
be
done
in
the
most
appropriate
way.
Mentoring
is
based
on
establishing
a
rela9onship
based
on
equality,
openness
and
trust.
Above
all,
it
should
be
very
suppor9ve.
In
a
good
enterprise
mentoring
rela9onship,
the
mentor
encourages
the
enterprise
owner
to
reflect
on
his
or
her
own
personal
and
professional
experiences,
and
shares
his
or
her
own
personal
and
professional
experiences
as
well.
In
this
way,
the
mentor
supports
the
enterprise
owner
to
devise
new
or
more
effec9ve
ways
to
approach
business
problems
and
challenges.
What
is
the
role
of
the
enterprise
mentor?
enterprise
mentor’s
role
is
mul6-­‐faceted
and
requires
good
levels
of
skill
and
self-­‐awareness.
The
•
Enterprise
mentors
work
with
a
wide
variety
of
people
in
all
sorts
of
markets,
who
have
a
wide
variety
of
strengths
and
development
needs.
The
mentor
therefore
needs
to
be
able
to
adapt
his
or
her
style
and
behaviour
to
suit
each
mentee
and
each
business
situa9on.
The
mentor’s
role
is
to
guide
the
mentee
to
look
at
a
wide
variety
of
op6ons
and
consider
alterna6ve
courses
of
ac6on
in
order
to
solve
problems
for
themselves,
rather
than
to
give
them
answers
or
provide
solu6ons.
•
For
most
mentoring
rela9onships,
the
main
objec9ve
is
for
the
mentee
to
gain
new
personal
skills,
experiences
and
knowledge
that
will
lead
to
new
insights,
a
greater
vision
and
new
atudes
and
behaviour.
These,
in
turn,
lead
to
beRer
personal
and
business
performance.
The
role
of
the
mentor
is
to
release
and
develop
the
mentee’s
own
resourcefulness.
•
It
is
not
the
place
of
a
mentor
to
tell
the
mentee
what
they
should
do.
Only
the
mentee
can
decide
what
goals
or
ac9ons
they
will
implement
-­‐
aXer
all,
the
mentee
is
the
one
who
will
live
with
the
results.
This
does
not
mean
the
mentor
should
not
offer
useful
informa9on,
but
that
it
is
up
to
the
mentee
to
decide
whether
to
use
it.
So
mentoring
does
not
mean
giving
advice.
Giving
advice
implies
the
mentor
‘knows
best’,
and
it
also
leads
to
dependency
-­‐
the
opposite
of
what
the
mentor
is
trying
to
achieve.

7. What
are
the
different
types
of
mentoring
rela6onship?
Face-­‐to-­‐face,
one-­‐to-­‐one
mentoring
The
vast
majority
of
mentoring
is
done
face
to
face
and
usually
on
a
one-­‐to-­‐one
basis.
This
allows
the
mentor
to
focus
100%
on
the
opportuni9es
of
the
individual
mentee.
The
advantage
of
face-­‐to-­‐
face
individual
mentoring
is
that
the
mentor
can
gather
an
enormous
amount
of
informa9on
from
both
verbal
and
non-­‐verbal
communica9on.
Face-­‐to-­‐face
group
mentoring
(peer
mentoring)
type
of
mentoring
is
becoming
more
popular
in
business
mentoring.
In
this
format,
a
small
This
group
of
between
six
and
eight
business
owners
come
together
to
discuss
their
opportuni9es.
The
group
acts
as
a
sounding
board,
taking
on
the
role
of
peer
mentor,
to
help
its
individual
members
examine
their
issues
from
different
perspec9ves.
The
advantage
of
this
type
of
mentoring
is
that
the
group
of
peers
can
provide
a
number
of
different
experiences
and
viewpoints
to
help
and
support
its
members.
In
such
situa9ons,
the
actual
mentor
acts
as
a
facilitator
to
the
group.
Telephone
mentoring
Telephone
mentoring
is
usually
part
of
a
blended
mentoring
approach,
used
in
tandem
with
face-­‐to-­‐face
mentoring.
It
is
provided
on
a
one-­‐to-­‐one
basis,
so
has
the
advantage
of
being
focused
on
the
mentee’s
specific
issues.
This
method
is
also
extremely
flexible.
e-­‐mentoring
Like
telephone
mentoring,
e-­‐mentoring
is
oXen
part
of
a
blended
mentoring
approach
but
it
can
also
be
used
on
its
own.
It
is
provided
on
a
one-­‐to-­‐one
basis
and
has
the
advantage
of
being
able
to
focus
on
specific
issues.
The
mentee
can
also
provide
a
lot
more
wriRen
informa9on
than
with
other
types
of
mentoring,
which
may
allow
the
mentor
more
9me
to
consider
the
informa9on
before
deciding
on
poten9al
op9ons
for
a
course
of
ac9on.

8. Mentors
‘pull’
-­‐
they
don’t
push
The
following
diagram
shows
the
‘pulling’
nature
of
the
mentoring
role.

9. Mentoring
in
summary
Mentoring
is:
•
a
one-­‐to-­‐one
rela9onship
over
a
period
of
9me
between
a
less
experienced
person
(mentee)
and
an
established
business
person
(mentor),
which
provides
consistent
support,
guidance
and
prac9cal
help
•
a
process
by
which
an
experienced
business
person
shares
their
personal
skills,
knowledge
and
experience
with
another
person
a
means
of
enabling
a
less
experienced
person
to
gain
the
necessary
skills,
knowledge
•
and
confidence
to
be
able
to
perform
at
a
higher
level
an
opportunity
for
a
less
experienced
person
to
gain
access
to
impar9al,
non-­‐judgemental
•
guidance
and
support
a
process
of
working
together
to
achieve
predetermined
goals
and
objec9ves
•
•
a
two-­‐way
process
through
which
both
par9es
derive
sa9sfac9on
from
the
progress,
and
success
is
aRained
through
working
together.
The
mentoring
rela6onship
is
voluntary
for
both
par6es
and,
although
it
is
usually
designed
for
a
set
period
of
sessions,
it
may
be
ended
at
any
6me
by
either
the
mentee
or
the
mentor.