Its important for you to talk about: -

• What each expects from the programme
• What you think you can each offer the other
• What is not expected from the programme
• Issues that either are not comfortable discussing
• What the emphasis of the discussion will be. For example, will be substantive areas of professional development, soft skills or a combination of both

This will help you build mutual expectations of how each of you will contribute to the mentoring relationship, in turn helping to maximise learning and avoid mentee’s becoming dependent on mentors.

When the end of the 6-months approaches it is a good idea to talk about to what extent you wish to remain in contact with each other. Some mentoring relationships continue beyond the 6-month window, and some transition into something less formal and more social.

How to set your mentoring goals

A mentee should describe goals with respect to skills, knowledge, and professional development. A mentor might help their mentee to identify these goals, by exploring challenges the mentee is facing, as well as the skills and knowledge that they posses and need to be strengthened Together mentor and mentee will decide on the areas for development and put this into the Mentoring Agreement (an informal written document) and action plan. IDS Alumni Network Mentoring Agreement Template.

If you are part of IDS Matched Mentoring Scheme, we will discuss ways to do this in the workshop offered before you start any new mentoring relationship.

Other alumni network mentors and mentees should check out the useful resources for tools and techniques to help you set goals as part of the mentoring process, and mentors can attend skills workshops twice a year where we can discuss this in more detail. IDS Alumni Network Mentors Group where all events and resources are available.

1. Get to know each other

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.