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Potential Pitfalls of Mentoring

The benefits of mentoring will not be achieved, and may even be negated, if you do not follow the rules. There is a real danger of this, particularly if you:

• Do not give enough time to the mentoring task.
• Adopt a casual approach to your meetings or other forms of contact with your mentee and change them unilaterally without good reason and do not make further arrangements immediately.
• Appear to be disorganised and ill-prepared for your meetings with the mentee.
• Do not take the trouble to understand the needs and expectations of the mentee.
• Try to be nice to everyone and to satisfy their needs - in fact, to be 'all things to all people'.
• Do not listen to what the mentee is saying to you.
• Do not keep a professional distance and become too familiar with the mentee and personally involved with them.
• Adopt a patronising attitude and do not treat the mentee as an adult.
• Do not carry out what you have undertaken and, in effect, do not fulfil your part of the bargain.
• Overstep the boundaries - for example, by straying into tutoring or direct training.

Avoiding the Pitfalls

The responsibility for maintaining the mentoring relationship rests with you as the mentor. If you do not make every effort to do so, some of the pitfalls might occur. It is important, therefore, to give some consideration to avoiding them. Here are a few suggestions:

• Do not promise what you are unable to deliver.
• Always do what you have promised within the time agreed.
• Don't let the relationship break down through lack of or infrequent contact.
• Bear in mind that you can't solve all the mentee's problems at one meeting.
• When meeting the mentee, don't talk too much and don't be dictatorial.
• Always give the mentee the opportunity to speak and listen to what they are saying.
• Stick to your mentoring role and don't stray into management.
• Finally, and above all, maintain confidentiality and don't talk to others without the mentee's consent.