What is a mentor?

A mentor is a guide, an advisor and can be a critical friend who, through his/her own experience, supports learning of the mentee.

What is the role of the mentor?

The role can alter depending o the mentee.

A mentor should:

• Be interested in developing themselves and others
• Help others to reach their potential
• Observe and encourage self reflection
• Help clarify goals objectives of the mentee
• Have skills to share – be a role model
• Support the learning of the mentee
• Provide ideas for sources of information
• Listen to the mentee
• Act as a sounding board for ideas
• Challenge ideas
• Inspire confidence
• Be reliable

How can the mentor provide support?

The mentor’s responsibility is to keep the mentee at the centre of the relationship and try to ensure that learning occurs. Some ideas as to how this can be done:

• Listen to the mentee’s issues and problems
• Observe the mentee’s coaching session
• Help mentee feel good about what they have achieved
• Help mentee think about aspects of their coaching
• Ask "How’s it going"
• Help mentee to work through problems
• Provide advice and guidance that enables the mentee to work out his/her own judgments and make their own decisions.

What can a mentor get out of mentoring?

Mentoring can:

• Give job satisfaction and a sense of achievement
• Improve your own coaching related skills such as communication, analysis and observation
• Develop coaches of the future
• Retain coaches for the future

Skills required:

• Good communicator
• Self motivator
• Reliable
• Positive approach
• Commitment
• Able to set goals and work to timescale
• Self confidence
• Ability to assess coaching situations
• Good listener
• Empathy

Main Duties:

• Be available for a specific number of hours (approximately _ hours per session)
• Be available for the mentee to communicate
• Observe and encourage reflection
• Discuss mentee’s coaching, any problems encountered, giving positive feedback and action points
• Fill in practical observation checklist and comments sheet and give to mentee
• At the end of mentoring sessions complete mentor’s log

Benefits of becoming a mentor:

• Assistance and guidance on being a mentor
• Funding for a mentoring course if applicable
• Developing new coaches for the future
• Possible improvement of own coaching related skills such as communication, analysis and observation
• Retaining coaches for the future
• Making the sport a more enjoyable experience for everyone involved.

Suggested procedure:

• First you need to contact the coach and arrange a date, time and place to meet.
• At the fist meeting get to know each other
• Explain the mentoring process
• Ask coach what he/she wants to get out of the mentoring sessions
• Agree the process with which you are both happy
• Agree how coach can contact you
• Agree date to observe coach
• Observe coach
• Discuss comments and agree action points. Write on sheet
• At the end of each session agree date, time, place and objectives for the next meeting (allow enough time for coach to work upon action points).
• Fill in mentor’s log

At the end of the mentoring process complete the Mentor’s Evaluation sheer and return to your facilitator. If at any time the relationship between you and the coach breaks down completely contact your facilitator immediately.