Mentoring is a professional relationship in which an experienced individual, known as a mentor, i.e. Project-Mentors™, assists a less experienced person, known as a mentee, in developing specific skills and knowledge. The mentor provides guidance, support, and counsel to the mentee as they work towards their goals and aspirations. Mentoring can take place in a variety of settings, including the workplace, educational institutions, and community organizations. Mentors and mentees often meet on a regular basis to discuss the mentee’s progress and address any challenges or concerns they may be facing. The ultimate goal of mentoring is to help the mentee grow and succeed in their personal and professional endeavours.

Mentoring is also a learning relationship, involving the sharing of skills, knowledge, and expertise between a mentor and mentee through developmental conversations, experience sharing, and role modelling. The relationship may cover a wide variety of contexts and is an inclusive two-way partnership and can last for years. So, what is a two way partnership? I like to explain it with a sailing metaphor:

If you would like to learn sailing, it is not advisable to go on a sailboat on your own and figure out on the water what to do. Either the wind, the current, the weather, other big boats or the waves will bring you down. And yes, you could read books, watch youtube or get an online certification, yet, you need to be on a boat and experience it in order to gain mastery. However, if you have an experienced sailor with you and I guide you as a mentor what to do on the sailboat, and also tell you what not to do, that will give you accelerated learning by doing on the job with hands on experience. Also, together is more fun!

Overall, a mentor can be an invaluable resource for anyone looking to learn and grow in a particular field or just having a sounding board to test ideas and concepts before publishing it to the team or presenting to the board of directors.

My personal recommendation is to have a chemistry meet-up to discuss the individual case for mentoring and how the relationship would be beneficial as there must be a valuable outcome from each session.

Smooth sailing, cheers, Peter