The word “mentor” originated from the book The Odyssey. The character Odysseus had a close friend named Mentor who cared for his son for ten years while he traveled. Mentor, who was the goddess Athena in disguise, embodied male and female qualities such as being nurturing, supportive, protective, as well as aggressive, assertive, and risk taking. Mentor acted in the role of parent, teacher, friend, guide, and protector for Odysseus’s son.

Since the mentee has chosen to find a mentor, this person is most likely looking for a role model, a leader to look up to who has what he/she wants. Mentors can convey their aspirations and goals and share with the mentee the knowledge, skills, and aptitudes(competencies) necessary to get where he/she is. In turn, the mentor can assist the mentee in assessing his/her strengths and weaknesses and determine which competencies need to be developed.

“Mentoring Development – sharing your vision” training is a skills–based course and explores the essential skills mentors need and provides guidance on setting up or developing existing mentoring schemes.

Once the course is completed the participants will be able to:

• identify their mentoring skills and development needs and be ready to put their new skills and techniques into practice;
• approach mentoring in a way that helps ensure optimum success in all mentoring relationships; adopt a “hands off” and empowering style when developing others;
• make informed and practical decisions about establishing and developing mentoring in a way that is right for your organisation;
• deliver a sound business case for mentoring in organisation;
• appreciate businesses profit by developing the mentoring skills for their managers.