The process of mentoring is designed to enable the mentee to achieve goals in his or her personal and/or professional life. The mentor is a catalyst in enabling the mentee to discover his or her true potential and maximize it to achieve these goals.

A mentor should be a friend (someone you respect, trust, and believe), a philosopher (who helps you see the big picture, search for meaning in whatever you do), and a guide (who helps interpret visions, set goals, and provides support). A successful mentor provides thoughts, ideas, opinions, and advice to help the mentee connect with his or her reality, interpret it, and understand it before taking appropriate steps to be more effective in his or her endeavors. The mentor does not become involved in the mentee’s actions but plays various roles, in moderation, to support him or her. These roles include coach, guardian, counselor, networker, facilitator, trainer, and teacher.

The Mentee- the mentor’s enormous potential can only be tapped if the mentee embraces the program. By challenging the mentor, the mentee can make the mentor reach out for capabilities the mentor may not have realized in him- or herself. Just as a teacher builds his or her capabilities through the queries of students, the mentor also builds and achieves excellence through the effort exerted by his or her mentee.

The mentee drives the mentoring process. The mentee is the customer; if he or she is not interested in the process, it will never take off. So the starting point in any mentoring program should be a focus on the mentee. The mentee must discover: “What’s in it for me?” before becoming involved in the process.

Reference : Kirilka Angelova, Training and development

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