Course Highlights
This in-person mentoring training course will:
- Clarify how mentoring differs from supervision so mentors and protégés set the right expectations.
- Build a structured approach for launching a mentoring relationship, including planning and meeting design.
- Strengthen communication skills in the areas that make mentoring work: questioning, listening, and follow-through.
- Provide practical strategies for handling common mentoring challenges so relationships stay productive.
Course Overview
This program runs as two half-day sessions taught on the same day. We deliver the first half-day to the mentor group and the second half-day to the protégé group. Some participants attend both sessions.
The program uses the same shared handout in both halves so everyone learns the same process, uses the same planning tools, and understands what should happen on both ends of the relationship. The focus shifts based on the audience. In the mentor half-day, the emphasis stays on mentor responsibilities, boundaries, meeting structure, and communication skills that support development without drifting into supervision. In the protégé half-day, the emphasis stays on protégé preparation, question quality, follow-through between meetings, and how to use the relationship to drive real development.
The following outline highlights some of the course’s main learning points. As part of your training program, we will modify content as needed to meet your business objectives. Upon request, we will provide you with a copy of the participant materials prior to the session(s).
Workshop Modules (Half-Day Session for Mentors)
Why We’re Doing This: The Benefits of Mentoring
This session opens by grounding mentoring in outcomes rather than sentiment. Participants will identify how mentoring supports protégé growth, how it strengthens mentor capability, and what the organization gains when development conversations improve.
Roles and Responsibilities: Understanding Who Does What
This next discussion clarifies mentor responsibilities and boundaries so the relationship stays healthy and professional. Learners will define what mentors should do, what mentors should avoid, and what prevents mentoring from drifting into supervision, dependency, or “fixing.”
What Makes a Program Work: Creating Favorable Conditions
From there, the focus shifts to the conditions that support mentoring success. The group will review mentoring best practices, identify what the program must provide, and diagnose what undermines mentoring when structure and support are missing.
Great Guidelines: Setting the Stage for Success
This module focuses on how the relationship should start. Attendees will outline what the first meeting must accomplish, including expectations, confidentiality, scope, goals, communication preferences, meeting cadence, and early follow-through.
Template Time: Planning the Work
The first half closes with planning discipline. Participants will complete the planning worksheet from the shared handout and prepare for a productive first meeting by deciding what to ask, what to agree on, and what follow-through should look like.
Workshop Modules (Half-Day Session for Protégés)
Why We’re Doing This: The Benefits of Mentoring
This session opens by grounding mentoring in development outcomes and personal ownership. Learners will identify what protégés gain from mentoring, what makes the relationship worth the time, and what responsibility the protégé carries for keeping progress moving.
Roles and Responsibilities: Understanding Who Does What
This discussion clarifies what protégés are responsible for so mentoring does not become passive. Participants will define what a prepared protégé does before, during, and after meetings and what habits undermine progress.
A Well-Oiled Machine: Communication Skills for Making the Relationship Work
Next, the program strengthens communication behaviors that help protégés get more from mentoring conversations. The class will build stronger questions, avoid common questioning errors, and practice listening habits that improve clarity, trust, and follow-through.
Preparing Protégés: Managing Expectations
This module builds readiness and follow-through between meetings. Attendees will outline what to prepare, how to track commitments, and how to keep development moving without waiting for the mentor to drive the relationship.
Roadblocks and Troubleshooting: Keeping Momentum
The day closes with common mentoring problems and how protégés can respond productively. Learners will diagnose what is causing a stall, choose an appropriate next step, and draft a simple action plan to keep the relationship useful and professional.
Target Audience
This program is designed for groups that want to:
- Launch or strengthen an internal mentoring program.
- Improve the quality and consistency of development conversations.
- Prepare mentors and protégés with clearer roles, structure, and meeting practices.
- Strengthen questioning and listening so mentoring produces real growth and follow-through.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are mentors and protégés taught separately?
The two groups need the same process, but they do not need the same emphasis. Mentors need practice with boundaries, meeting structure, and development-focused conversation. Protégés need practice with preparation, better questions, ownership, and follow-through between meetings.
Why does everyone use the same handout?
A shared handout gives both sides the same map. Mentors and protégés leave with the same language, expectations, planning tools, and understanding of what a strong mentoring relationship should look like.
How is mentoring different from supervision?
Mentoring supports development through guidance, reflection, perspective, and experience. Supervision involves work direction, performance management, task assignment, and formal accountability. The course helps participants keep those lines clear.
What keeps mentoring from turning into casual conversation?
Structure. Participants learn how to set goals, plan meetings, agree on cadence, clarify expectations, prepare questions, record commitments, and follow up. The relationship can stay warm and still have direction.
What should a mentor avoid doing?
Mentors should avoid taking over, becoming the protégé’s manager, solving every problem, making promises outside their authority, or letting the relationship depend only on chemistry. The course helps mentors support growth without creating dependency.
What should a protégé bring to the relationship?
A protégé should bring preparation, curiosity, honest reflection, specific questions, follow-through, and ownership of development. The protégé should not wait for the mentor to drive every meeting.
Does this course help with first meetings?
Yes. Both groups work on what the first meeting needs to cover: purpose, scope, confidentiality, goals, communication preferences, meeting rhythm, and early commitments.
What happens when a mentoring relationship stalls?
The program addresses common roadblocks, including vague goals, missed follow-through, unclear expectations, awkward silence, mismatched communication styles, and meetings that lose purpose. Participants practice diagnosing the stall and choosing a practical reset.
Is this course only for formal mentoring programs?
No. It works for formal mentoring programs, pilot programs, and informal development relationships that need more structure. The content is especially useful when an organization wants more consistency across mentoring pairs.
What should participants be able to do after the course?
Mentors should be better prepared to guide development conversations with structure and boundaries. Protégés should be better prepared to use mentoring time well, ask stronger questions, and keep progress moving between meetings.