1. Mentoring Skills
Korin Grant
Marta Ulanicka
Alysoun Hancock
http://tinyurl.com/uolpeer
www.le.ac.uk/slc

2. Welcome!
• 9.30 – 9.45 Welcome and ice-breaker
• 9.45 - 11.00 Mentoring/Signposting
• 11.00 - 11.15 Break
• 11.15 - 12.30 Signposting/Mentoring
• 12.30 - 13.00 Individual Departmental Session
• 13.00 - 13.45 Lunch
• 13.45 - 14.45 Cultural Diversity/ Employability
• 14.45 - 15.00 Break
• 15.00 - 16.00 Employability/ Cultural Diversity
• 16.00 – 16.15 Final plenary / Evaluations
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3. Mentoring skills
• What is a mentor?
• Case studies and boundaries
• What skills does a mentor need?
• Active listening
http://tinyurl.com/uolpeer

4. Mentoring skills
• What is a mentor?
• Case studies and boundaries
• What skills does a mentor need?
• Active listening
http://tinyurl.com/uolpeer

5. What is a mentor?
In your groups spend five minutes discussing and
agreeing on a definition of a mentor.
You can start by trying to complete this sentence:
The process of mentoring involves...
5
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6. Definition of a Mentor - Feedback
be there to listen
someone to guide the less experienced
to aid them mentally, physically and wellbeing
establishing a bond, being trustworthy
friendly face in an unfamiliar environment, a port of call
being a stepping stone to other services
mentee in period of transition - guiding them through
offering support
being more like a friend rather than an authority figure
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7. Definitions of Mentoring
Mentoring is a process for the informal transmission of
knowledge, social capital and the psychosocial support
perceived by the recipient as relevant to work, career, or
professional development.
Mentoring entails informal communication, usually face-
to-face and during a sustained period of time, between a
person who is perceived to have greater relevant
knowledge, wisdom, or experience (the mentor) and a
person who is perceived to have less (the mentee).
Source: Wikipedia
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8. Definitions of Mentoring
Mentoring is to support and encourage people to
manage their own learning in order that they may
maximise their potential, develop their skills, improve
their performance and become the person they want to
be.
Source: Eric Parsloe, The Oxford School of Coaching & Mentoring
http://www.mentorset.org.uk/pages/mentoring.htm
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9. Mentoring skills
• What is a mentor?
• Case studies and boundaries
• What skills does a mentor need?
• Active listening
http://tinyurl.com/uolpeer

10. As a group, take a look at the scenario on
your table…
10
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11. A mentee splits up with their boyfriend/girlfriend…
Most groups agreed on C and possibly D if required
Inviting them round to yours for a glass of wine - you would need to be good friends (at least!)
It's important to establish personal boundaries - how available do you want to be?
Might be important to establish the facts - is this a very serious situation?!
Should we give mentees our phone numbers?
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12. A mentee feels down…
Answer B was seen to be too harsh.
Combination between A and C - it's important to find out why they are down (at least a bit!) to help
judge your response.
Open ended questions will help to give the mentee the chance to give information that might help
you to refer them appropriately - and/or might give them the right amount of support for the time
being.
Are we a listening service? Yes and no but agree we need to have boundaries.
Support suggestions might include:
Counselling (can require a wait and might not be appropriate - but we agree the stigma that can
surround counselling is rubbish and unhelpful)
Join a society
Chaplaincy for a chat or just quiet space
Be mindful of your own time commitments
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13. A mentee wants help with an assignment…
C-
It is not our responsiblity to give academic advice.
We might think we know the answer when we don't!
If mentee is desperate are you really likely to refuse them help?
Will depend on how well you actually know them.
First thing to do... establish the facts - what is the bigger picture?
Why haven't they done the work?
Have they sought out other forms of support - friends on the course, examples
Is this the first time?
What specifically don't they understand - the question? the resources? the topic?
Support suggestions:
Learning Development team
Course representatives
Personal Tutors
Academic/Module Leader
Education unit in the SU
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14. What we expect from you
• Stay in contact
• Regularly check your email and other agreed forms of contact
• Turn up on time
• Don’t give up on a mentee (but don’t harass them!)
• Maintain personal and professional boundaries
• Use appropriate clean language
• Respect group members – don’t force them to do anything
they don’t want to do
• Be aware of the limitation of your role
– If there are any questions you cannot answer refer your student
to someone who can help.
http://tinyurl.com/uolpeer

15. What we don’t expect from you
• To become best friends (but you might!)
• To solve your mentees’ personal/social problems
• To put yourself in a situation where you feel uncomfortable
• To look at, comment on or proofread your mentees’ work
http://tinyurl.com/uolpeer

16. Mentoring skills
• What is a mentor?
• Case studies and boundaries
• What skills does a mentor need?
• Active listening
http://tinyurl.com/uolpeer

17. What skills does a mentor need?
In your groups spend ten
minutes compiling a list
of skills that an effective
mentor will need.
10
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18. Communication Time
Skills Management
Self
Awareness
Meeting Skills
Empathy
Commitment/
Responsibility
Active
Listening Skills
Knowledge
Flexibility
Shared
Experience
http://tinyurl.com/uolpeer

19. Mentoring skills
• What is a mentor?
• Case studies and boundaries
• What skills does a mentor need?
• Active listening
http://tinyurl.com/uolpeer

20. There are three types of listening: Apparent Listening:
This is the kind of
listening we do most
Peripheral Listening: of the time. We look
This is done on a as if we are listening
subconscious level. For but in fact we are not
example, you may be in a really concentrating.
busy restaurant talking to
the people you are sitting
with, while also picking up
snippets of conversation Active Listening:
from another table. This is the type of
listening we should be
doing. This involves
really concentrating on
not only what is being
said but how and why
it is being said.
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21. Active Listening Activity
• Speaker: Tell the listener something frustrating that happened
in the last week or so. For example, being stuck in traffic,
difficulties with neighbours, or perhaps something to do with
your exams!
• Listener: You are not allowed to say anything more than two
or three syllables long to keep her/him continuing i.e. “uh-
huh”, “really?”, “tell me more”…
2
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22. Why is active listening important?
• It will help create good relationships with
the people you are listening to.
• It means you don’t miss any important
information.
Active listening is not easy!
We are all guilty for switching off in conversations at
some point. It is important that you concentrate on
what someone is saying. Don’t try and formulate an
answer while another person is speaking.
http://tinyurl.com/uolpeer

23. Mentoring skills
• What is a mentor?
• Case studies and boundaries
• What skills does a mentor need?
• Active listening
Thank you for participating!
Tell us what you have found helpful or useful…
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24. Information and online training resources available at:
http://tinyurl.com/uolpeer
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