Getting to know each other as people is important to build trust.

In your introduction you could share things like, preferred names; current jobs and career history; expectations from mentoring; and anything else relevant that you feel comfortable sharing. Please see our advice on organising your first mentoring meeting here!

Self-reflection.

We all aspire to be trustworthy, empathetic, curious, authentic and open to connection, but we may not always reach 100% capacity. Self-reflection and attention will help both mentor and mentee to align their expectations and create great relationship.

Building trust.

Authentic and meaningful conversations are only possible with trust. With a formal mentoring programme we aim to build trust faster than we are used to in reality. Everyone holds a different trust profile, some are quicker to trust than others. Its helpful to know where mentee and mentor fit on the continuum.

Issues to watch out for that may break trust in a mentoring relationship include:

• Cancelling meetings for more important priorities
• Lack of follow-through
• “Yes” “But” responses
• Impatient or unfocussed listening
• Lack of preparedness
• Confidentiality slip-ups

Confidentiality

Ensure that you agree and discuss confidentiality at the start. Conversations between mentor and mentee should be kept as confidential as possible. Mentors must not share the details unless you feel there is a serious risk that the mentee may harm themselves or others. You may wish to record your conversations, for example in zoom or similar. This should be with the clear recorded consent of all parties and kept in accordance with UK General Data Protection Regulations.

Mentors and mentees should also remember to take a look at the appropriate IDS Alumni Network Mentoring & Advice Code of Conduct

Alumni to Alumni Code of Conduct

Alumni to Student Code of Conduct

If you need any help, or wish to report any criminal conduct, possible harassment or bullying, health and safety and wellbeing issues or incidents, please contact, in confidence, the alumni relations office alumni@ids.ac.uk.

2. Set mentoring goals and expectations

3. Develop a mentoring agreement and action plan

4. Conduct the mentoring sessions

5. Evaluate your relationship

All IDS Alumni Network Mentoring & Advice Programme Mentors are automatically members of the Mentors Group where you can find links to all of our useful resources, articles and details of upcoming skills workshops.

All who are interested in accessing the IDS Alumni Network Mentoring & Advice Programme can find find links to all our useful information on the Mentoring & Advice page.