Mentoring: what is it, how do you find a mentor and what can you learn from them?

Would you like to meet an experienced professional in your field who is willing to help you grow? Are you looking for a guide to inspire you? It is no surprise that mentoring is growing in popularity with people interested in personal and professional development. What exactly does it entail and how does it differ from coaching? Read our article!

I’m sure you are familiar with the feeling when you don’t quite know what to do in a professional situation. When emotions subside, you may think: ‘If only I had known this earlier…’. The past cannot be changed, but think how much you could learn from a mentor now. It is worth remembering that it is a two-way relationship, and the mentor also learns from the mentee.

What is mentoring and what is its purpose?

According to the Polish branch of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC), the definition is: mentoring is voluntary assistance given by one person to another, independent of professional hierarchy, so that they can make significant progress in their knowledge, professional work or way of thinking.

Mentoring is a process in which the more experienced person (the mentor) provides support and shares their experience with the mentee. This allows the mentee to achieve educational, professional and personal goals. The key, therefore, is for a partnership to develop between the mentor and the mentee, which may encompass many different contexts, for example: