Organisational Development

What is mentoring?

In this section you will find out more about different types of mentoring schemes, what schemes should contain and how mentoring differs from other kinds of professional development

The most common mentoring relationships are between a more experienced person (the mentor) and a less experienced person (the mentee). However, mentoring can also be a developmental relationship between peers.

Mentoring at Sussex focusses on professional development, while acknowledging that aspects of a mentee’s personal life may also need to be addressed, e.g. work/life balance.

What mentors do

  • support mentees to discover development needs and set their own objectives for professional growth
  • allow mentees to raise issues, while occasionally clarifying and challenging
  • encourage mentees to reflect on their beliefs, feelings, thoughts and behaviours, and to view issues from multiple perspectives
  • help mentees to adopt a self-reliant approach to problem solving
  • enable mentees to become effective decision-makers

Successful mentoring can improve mentee self-motivation, problem solving ability and their approach to developing new knowledge and skills.

Next steps

Contact us

Organisational Development
Human Resources
Sussex House
E od@sussex.ac.uk
T 01273 606755 ext 4806

Training and Events

Organisational Development offer the following mentoring-related workshops and events on a rolling basis every term. Click on a workshop date below to register for an upcoming event.

Becoming a Mentee

Book via Eventbrite to select one of the following sessions to find out how the staff mentoring programme works at Sussex and the benefits of being a mentee:

Tuesday 10 October 2023 10:00 until 11:45

Tuesday 30 January 2024 10:00 until 11:45

Tuesday 30 March 2024 10:00 until 11:45

Effective Skills for Mentors

This workshop will explore the core skills involved in mentoring and practice an effective mentoring approach utilising an established model. Select one of the following sessions book.

Wednesday 11 October 2023 10:00 until 12:00

Wednesday 22 November 2023 10:00 until 12:00

Wednesday 17 January 2024 10:00 until 12:00

Community of Practice

Meet other mentors from across the University, share insights and experiences, and build capability through peer-to-peer development.

Thursday 19 October 2023 13:00 until 14:00

Thursday 8 February 2024 13:00 until 14:00