University of Leeds Community Mentoring Scheme
Guidance for participants
The University is offering local not-for-profit community organisations the opportunity to be mentored
and gain from the experience and expertise from a member of University staff and help equip them
to run their operations in a more effective and sustainable way.
A local organisation will be matched to a professional or academic member of staff whom will
commit to building a relationship and guide them on a specific area of work, such as writing a
funding bid, developing a marketing campaign or sustainable business modelling. We are offering
the opportunity to be involved in either a one-on-one or group mentoring relationship in the case of
cooperative run organisations without a single leader.
The scheme is being delivered by the Sustainability Service which has a strategic commitment to
ensure the University is a positive partner in society and our knowledge and expertise is utilised to
support local organisations.
Definitions of mentoring
"Mentors are influential people who significantly help you reach your major life goals".
"Mentoring is a protected relationship in which learning and experimentation can occur, potential
skills can be developed, and in which results can be measured in terms of competencies gained
rather than curricular territory covered".
"...it is a relationship rather than an activity".
What are the benefits of mentoring?
Effective mentoring benefits everyone involved. At the core is the relationship between the mentor
and the mentee, with the development of the mentee as the key focus.
Benefits for the Mentee:
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Gain encouragement and support to realise business and personal potential.
Provides a safe environment to test out ideas and suggestions.
Gain from the mentor’s expertise to grow the capacity, skills and capabilities of your organisation.
Equip you to run your organisation in a more sustainable way.
Provide confidential, impartial advice and offer a friendly ear with which to share frustrations as
well as successes.
 Offers access to other sources of information, advice or support.
 Offers an outside perspective.
 Help to release and develop resourcefulness.
Benefits for individual staff mentor:
 Staff, gain insights from the mentees background and history that can be used in their personal
and professional development.
 Increased staff satisfaction and productivity.
 Improved staff knowledge, experience and skill base leading to innovative thinking and stronger
leadership and management skills.
 Re-energises staff career.
 Break down of silo mentality.
Benefits for University of Leeds:
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Provide evidence of research impact and public benefit to feed into the REF.
Demonstrates a commitment to training and development
Improved retention and reduced staff turnover.
Low cost professional training.
Developing the leadership and management skills vital for future leaders of research, teaching
and other departmental and faculty activities.
 Contribute to Positive Partner in Society strategic theme
Role Commitments
A successful mentoring relationship is based on trust, honesty and confidentiality. Mentor and
Mentee should each agree to engage in open and honest communication, to keep their
commitments to each other, to provide each other with constructive feedback, to listen, to show up
to scheduled meetings, and to work towards the growth and development of each party.
Role of mentee:
The mentee will, with agreement with the mentee individual or group:
 Ensure that they have the capacity and time to commit. In addition to a 2hr meeting each month,
time is needed to carry out follow up work before and after sessions.
 Cooperate with any reasonable request from the mentor.
 Work with the mentor to produce an action or development plan on the key issues to be
addressed.
 Be open to feedback and to be honest and frank with your mentor on the information that you
provide.
 Report to Sustainability Service at agreed intervals (project scope, interim report, final report)
 Notify the Sustainability Service and Mentor if you wish to terminate your involvement or you are
having any issues with your involvement.
Role of mentor:
The mentor will, with agreement with the mentee individual or group:
 Agree project aim(s), objective and timescale (NB: a minimum of six months commitment to the
mentee is required).
 Meet with mentee (preferably in person or by phone/social media/email by arrangement) at
agreed intervals throughout the project – the number and duration of meetings will depend on the
project within agreed limits.
 Set expectations at an early stage based on mentee need and mentor availability. A monthly 2
hr meeting is likely to be typical.
 Agree their suitability for the scheme with their line manager and report progress via annual
SRDS
 Report to Sustainability Service at agreed intervals (project scope, interim report, final report)
 Maintain records on progress (with mentee)
Role of Sustainability Service:
 Identify and approach local organisations to be benefit from the mentoring programme.
 Identify and match suitable University staff to local mentee organisations.
 Support mentors with training, advice and guidance on an individual project basis during pilot
project
 Collate project reports in to report evaluation
 Report findings to Sustainability Steering Group and FDSMT
Required Time Commitment
We recommend that you budget for at least one monthly meeting of up to two hours during the first
three months of your mentoring partnership. These regular meetings, ideally in person, will aid the
establishment of a trusted and productive mentoring relationship so that objectives can be met.
Beyond the first three months, meeting frequency will be determined between mentoring partners.
The minimum commitment for a mentoring partnership is six months. Typically, a mentoring
partnership lasts for 12-24 months, but it can also be longer depending on the agreed objectives
and the mentee’s professional situation. You and your mentee will agree objectives and time frames
at the outset of the mentoring partnership.
Beginning the Mentoring Process
Planning for the first meeting:
It is helpful to have an agenda for each meeting. What areas need to be covered? Agree what each
person wants to get out of mentoring. Be clear about what you can and cannot do, including time
commitments.
Getting to know each other:
It is important to establish trust and a way of working well together. Share past experiences and
expectations. What do you have in common? View the first meeting as a social event aimed at
building a longer term relationship. Both people need to come away with a positive attitude about
the mentoring process.
Establish some ground rules:
For the mentoring partnership to be successful it is essential to agree the boundaries of the
relationship. Strict confidentiality must be agreed. How much time is being committed? Where and
when are you going to meet? How will meetings be recorded, if at all -via the participant’s learning
log or Personal Development Plan? We recommend that the ground rules are put in writing and
have provided a blank mentoring contract for this purpose.
The Mentoring Contract
Mentee:
Mentor:
Date:
Our initial learning objectives are:
We have agreed the following ‘ground rules’ for our mentoring:
We have agreed that the following circumstances would annul our confidentiality agreement:
The mentee is responsible for:
The mentor is responsible for:
Others who can support our mentoring are:
We will review this mentoring contract on:
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At this review we will feed back on progress and discuss future learning objectives
We have agreed that either of us can dissolve the mentoring relationship at any time with no blame
attached, following a mutually agreed discussion
Signed by:
(Mentee)
(Mentor)