By Webster s definition, a mentor is a trusted counselor or guide. Others have defined mentor as a caring friend, a trusted colleague, an advocate, someone who believes in you, a knowledgeable person, a more experienced colleague and someone you admire. A mentee is a person who is being sponsored, encouraged, supported, or guided by the mentor. A mentor who has successfully completed the 12 hour course in mentoring, successfully completed the approval process developed by mentors in the program, and successfully completed a mentoring experience. Mentoring is a learning process as well as a teaching process.
Mentor is synonymous with leadership.
But the goals of the exceptional leader is to get people to think highly of themselves. The mentor discusses realities and boundaries of the mentor program. The mentor and mentee talk about what they intend to do together and make a commitment to that in the form of a Letter of Understanding. The mentor guides the mentee considering outside forces which may help or hinder the plan and assists in setting up a realistic time line in which to accomplish the plan of action. If not, the mentee chooses another option from the exploring, investigating, and looking at the opportunities the mentor and mentee have identifed.