What is mentoring?

Staff mentoring helps to connect people and ideas and provides a rich source of feedback and opportunity for perspective-taking. The mentoring relationship is driven by the mentee and helps to provide support and encouragement for a mentee’s career progression, whatever the career goal might be.

Mentoring has been widely recognised as an effective activity for supporting performance and career development. It develops key skills to enhance career progression, as it promotes reflection, practice preparedness. Career progression does not necessarily mean a promotion or new job, but developing your skills, competencies and capabilities so that you can achieve your career goals. Our aim is for staff members to create purposeful connections to share experiences and develop greater insight across Colleges and portfolios, professions and perspectives. You can participate as a mentee, mentor or both.

At its most basic, mentoring is a positive, supportive relationship aimed at encouraging participants to reach their full potential. Mentoring may be conducted as:
  • Functional mentoring, with a more senior mentor advising a more junior mentee
  • Peer mentoring, with one or a group of peers to foster mutual support and accountability
  • Reverse mentoring, with both participants being in turn a mentor and mentee In all these forms, the mentoring relationship relies on mutual trust, openness to giving and receiving constructive feedback and clear guidelines on what is and what isn't on the table.  There is a deep appreciation for feedback and a willingness to be open to differing perspectives and constructive challenge.

Mentoring involves three key elements:
  1. A purposeful relationship between mentee and mentor, not necessarily from the same discipline or profession. Interdisciplinary or interprofessional mentorships can give rise to new understanding and growth.
  2. A defined goal (such as improving communication skills) or project for the mentee to work towards to provide structure for effective development. This should be captured in the mentee’s Individual Development Plan.
  3. A willingness to be challenged and a willingness to challenge respectfully with positive intent.

What mentoring isn't

A mentoring relationship is unique AND very different from coaching. Mentoring is not coaching. Mentoring is an established relationship with an expert in the skills/knowledge/capability you are seeking development in, who will share with you that knowledge directly or through advice and tips. A coach is someone who will support you to develop solutions to problems/challenges you face, using the knowledge, resources and skills you possess. They won’t give you the solution. 

For the mentee

Mentees can benefit from mentoring in the following ways:

  • Increase your confidence and capability in the area you want to develop
  • Develop and increase self-awareness
  • Gain a greater insight into RMIT’s structure, and processes, both formal and informal
  • Identify new ways to tackle old problems
  • Develop new networks and contacts within RMIT University
  • Explore new possibilities for your career
  • Set clear goals and direction to progress your career goals

To make the most of mentoring, mentees need to commit to:

  • Developing the relationship, including initiating meetings and coming prepared
  • Identifying and proactively working towards their goal(s)
  • Be willing and open to accept constructive and honest feedback

Workday user guides

Frequently asked questions

The portal will suggest suitable mentors for you based on the preferences you have selected in your registration form. However, you can also browse through or search for other available mentors to find the best partnership to suit your need. Take the time to read through your potential mentor’s profile before initiating a partnership request. You will only be able to request one partnership at a time so it is recommended that you consider which mentor may best suit your needs. Once you initiate a request, mentors will have seven days to consider and respond to your request. If you have not received a response within this timeframe, the partnership will expire and you will be able to initiate a request with another mentor.

I think I have registered for the program but haven't heard anything, what should I do? 

All mentee registrations are held in a pending pool so that everyone is approved onto the platform at the same time. This usually occurs a week before the 3 month program formally begins, allowing enough time for mentees to reach out to prospective mentors. In 2025 approvals will occur in the first week of April and in the first week of October. We do this to ensure every mentee has the same opportunity to access as many available mentors as possible.  

How long does the program last?

The formal program is 3 months long. During this time, the number of meetings you and your mentor choose to have is flexible and based upon a mutual agreement set at the first meeting. As a guide, the minimum contact should be one hour per month. The partnership may be ended earlier if the objectives and goals set have been met. Alternatively, if both parties agree, the mentoring partnership can continue on beyond the 3 months.

How long does the program last? Can I extend the partnership beyond the 3-month program?

Please discuss this first with your mentor to seek their agreement and to decide on how long the partnership should be extended for. Simply contact us at learninganddevelopment@rmit.edu.au.

What can I expect from my mentor?

Always refer to your mentor (or perspective mentor’s) profile, which will tell you the areas they can offer support in. It is recommended that you use your first meeting to discuss both of your expectations in detail.

I don’t know what I need from my mentor!

This is okay as some mentees do not have a refined goal or objective to work towards before reaching out to prospective mentors. However, as soon as a mentor accepts your request, the template for a partnership agreement will be sent to you. Within this, you will find tips on how to approach the partnership and what will be expected of you as a mentee. There are also additional resources under ‘Mentee Resource Guide’ section to help you structure your meetings. Also consider if mentoring is the most appropriate development activity for your needs. When in doubt, always speak to your manager in the first instance.

Can I have more than one mentor?

Yes, but not at the same time. You are more than welcome to participate in the next wave and connect with another mentor after the conclusion of this partnership.

What topics can I choose to be mentored in?

- Preparing for a horizontal move in my career
- Preparing for a vertical move in my career
- Preparing for a leadership role
- Building on my leadership capabilities
- Increasing influencing skills
- Building confidence and resilience
- Building self and time-management strategies
- Embracing agile ways of working

What support will I receive?

Regardless of whether you have previously participated in mentoring programs or are considering entering into a partnership for the very first time, you will be provided with support and guidance.  As RMIT Staff Mentoring is launched, there will also be general forums where both mentors and mentees can register for and attend to network, understand expectations and the opportunity to gain clarity on any questions for the program. There will also be templates and guidance documents available to you and your mentor.

How many mentors will I be able to request a partnership with?

Every mentor’s profile will also display the number of partnerships they are open to and the number of spaces they have available. You will only be able to send invitations to mentors who have partnership spaces available. Choose carefully before contacting potential mentors as you will only be able to contact a maximum of three potential mentors at any one point. If a potential mentor declines your request for partnership; you will then be able to then contact other available mentors.
Once your preferred mentor accepts your request, we recommend that you withdrawal any other open requests.

I already have an informal but successful mentoring partnership within RMIT, do my mentor and I now have to now register and be part this program?

RMIT Staff Mentoring is a platform that will help to connect staff to other staff that they would not otherwise collaborate with. It provides an avenue to start the conversation. If you are already part of an ongoing mentoring partnership, you and your mentor do not have to register to continue the partnership. However, you are welcome to join the program to understand if there are other mentors that may suit your development needs.

What if my mentor is at a different campus?

If your mentor is at a different campus and meeting face to face is not an option, you may want to connect with your mentee through ‘remote mentoring’ via video conferencing on Skype or Google Hangouts.

Can I only be a mentee?

Not at all! If you would like to be both a mentee and mentor, all you will have to do is simply register for both programs.

What if I don't find a suitable mentor?

It is likely that there will be more mentees than mentors in the first wave of the program. If you have not found a mentor and know of someone who you would like as a potential mentor, you can always contact them and invite them to register on the platform. Alternatively, if you don’t feel comfortable doing this, you can always contact us at learninganddevelopment@rmit.edu.au and we will send an invitation.
If no suitable mentors are found, we encourage you to not get discouraged and to check back periodically for new mentors who may have registered.

What if I am concerned about my partnership?

We encourage you to discuss any concerns with your mentor in the first instance. Identify your area of concern regarding the partnership. If you feel that you are unable to resolve an issue you can seek advice and guidance by contacting learninganddevelopment@rmit.edu.au. We will work with you to provide support to resolve the situation in a positive manner for both yourself and the mentor.