ABSTRACT
There are eight key qualities that a mentor should be able to provide (this list was developed by Dr Brian O’Neill and published in The Mentoring Manager by Gareth Lewis, Institute of Management/Pitman Publishing, London, 1996):
Management perspective
Someone who has experience of, and competence in, management. Alternatively, through experience working with managers in organizations, someone who has had widespread exposure to and understands management practice and pressures.
Organizational know-how
Someone who knows how to get things done within the organizational system in which the learner works.
Credibility
Someone who enjoys personal and professional credibility, either in their own right or with members of the organization in which the learner works.
Accessibility
Someone who is able to make themselves available to others when they need it.
Communication
Someone who has a strong range of interpersonal skills and can tune in to others’ ideas, views and feelings.
Empowering orientation
Someone who creates a climate and the conditions in which it is safe for individuals to try out different ways of doing things, to contribute more fully, and to have a greater share in what is going on in their organization.
Development orientation
Someone who has experience of, and active interest in, the development of others.
Inventiveness
Someone who is open to new ideas and to different ways of doing things; someone who perceives different and useful connections and patterns and is a good, creative problem solver in their own right.
