Andy Carr Management Consultant
Business and Management Mentor
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What is 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." (Eric Parsloe, The Oxford School of Coaching & Mentoring) Mentoring is a supportive form of development that many experts believe should be independent from other training activities. Mentoring usually takes place outside the conventional employee-manager relationship, and the mentee sets the agenda based on their own development needs, with the mentor providing guidance to help the mentee achieve their goals. A mentor is essentially a ‘wise or trusted
adviser or guide’. The word has its origins in Homer’s The
Odyssey. Before leaving to fight the Trojan war, Odysseus
leaves his son and estate in the care of his friend
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To give it a more modern context, a mentor is someone with more experience or wisdom, sharing and imparting his or her knowledge on to someone younger or less experienced.
The concept works incredibly well in a business environment where an entrepreneur may have a great idea for a business but needs a bit of guidance turning it into a successful and profitable venture.
Successful entrepreneurs will often attribute much of their achievement to the support and guidance they received from a mentor. Most notably, billionaire airline and entertainment industry mogul Richard Branson was mentored by the British airline entrepreneur Freddie Laker.
Mentoring does not involve employing a consultant or employee to help run your business. It’s a relationship between you, the entrepreneur, and someone with business experience that can guide you through tough decisions, point out ways of improving your business and offer general support within a trusted relationship. |
It’s a two-way communication process which gives more experienced entrepreneurs who have possibly taken a step back, or even retired from their business, the opportunity to share their wealth of skills, experience and expertise with those hungry for knowledge and guidance.
Mentoring involves:
an ongoing relationship
a focus on the overall development of the mentee
listening, offering advice and making suggestions
a reactive approach
an informal and less structured provision - meetings take place as and when the mentee needs guidance
a broader view of the person - personal issues can be discussed
the mentor guiding the mentee |
