What is Mentoring?

Over the years there have been a number of definitions; here are two of my favourites:

In the past, mentoring has mainly been a one-to-one process, most often informal and unstructured. Contemporary mentoring takes many forms and though informal mentoring often occurs naturally and spontaneously, more structured approaches are now emerging.

In my view mentoring is a gift that is shared, a relationship that enables purposeful conversation. The conversation assists the mentee to reflect on their own experience, make informed decisions and act upon the ideas that are generated. The purpose of mentoring is development, it is about learning not teaching and both mentors and those mentored grow from the experience.

In mentoring, the idea is for people to develop a synergetic relationship through a conversation that enables them to set and achieve goals, make decisions and solve problems. Any person who has the skill to facilitate the mentoring process may be a mentor. We at Potential Mentoring strongly believe that mentoring should be enriching and satisfying for both the mentee and mentor.

Most of us benefit from having someone with whom we can discuss our hopes, plans and problems to share a different perspective, encouragement, to help getting motivated when the going is tough and help with setting goals and defining how to achieve them. Potential Mentoring hopes to become a front runner in putting young people first thus allowing them to grow confidently and with the right support enable them to reach and fulfil their own potential.

Kelly Oyebola