What is Mentoring?

If you ask 10 different people to define mentoring, you will get 10 different answers. Although there are dozens of more complex definitions, at its most basic level, mentoring is the passing on of skills, knowledge, and wisdom from one person to another.

Mentoring relationships can be informal and unstructured, more complex and procedure-based, or somewhere in between. But no matter what form they take, the structure of the relationship is not as important as the learning that occurs. We all thrive when we learn in the presence and with the help of others who have gone before us.

Mentors do more than simply pass on knowledge and information. They impart lessons on the art and science of living. Through the very act of mentoring, they help others acquire vital knowledge and skills more quickly, and often more effectively, than if it was acquired through the "school of hard knocks."