All IDS Alumni Network Mentoring & Advice Programme Mentors will be invited to our twice yearly skills workshops, which are built around the needs of our Mentors, and provide tools, techniques and a confidential space to talk about your mentoring relationships. These are usually held in February and May. 

Mode and frequency of contact

In our Matched Mentoring scheme we encourage mentors and mentees to meet once a month for 60 minutes, although this can vary according to your agreement. We recommend a routine. The mentee is expected to initiate the first discussion and then you can discuss according to your time commitments. Most of our mentoring relationships take place remotely, and you should consider whether and how you may use email, whatsapp, zoom, etc.

Make sure you talk through the details in your first session (See stages 1-3 in this guide for help with your first session). For those in our Matched Mentoring scheme your workshop before any new mentoring relationship will also provide you with lots of guidance. Please see our advice on organising your first mentoring meeting by downloading this pfd!

You may also find this document useful for creating sessions and goals for the mentee - Reframe Tools Review 2024 - Three Approaches to moving the mentee forwards in their thinking.

Keep a mentoring session record

You may wish to keep a record of each session, this will help you stay focussed on the goals, actions taken, and progress achieved. Clarify and confirm any actions you will undertake before the next session.

1. Get to know each other

2. Set mentoring goals and expectations

3. Develop a mentoring agreement and action plan

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.