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| A view along a railway platform through the open slam door window of a train |
The resulting description that seemed to align most closely with my thinking was this...
"A professional mentor is an experienced and trusted individual who provides guidance, support, and encouragement to a less experienced person (the mentee) to help them develop their skills, knowledge, career, and personal growth within a professional context. This relationship is typically characterized by trust, open communication, mutual respect, and a focus on the mentee's goals and development."
I take exception to the description of the mentee as "a less experienced person" as I see the mentoring relationship encompassing all levels of professional experience. Indeed, I am already mentoring a couple of experienced peers.
That said, it's a pretty accurate summary of what I do.
There then followed a list of 'key aspects' which expand on the above.
* Experienced and Trusted
* Guidance, Support, and Encouragement
* Focus on the Mentee's Development
* Skills, Knowledge, Career, and Personal Growth
* Trust, Open Communication, and Mutual Respect
I'm going to do a short series of follow-up posts, taking each of those elements in turn, examining, expanding on and sense-checking them here and on LinkedIn.
Look out for these over the next few weeks.
And of course, I'll be grateful for any comments, experiences, challenges, feedback or enquiries.
