Summary

Getting the best from a mentoring scheme, then, involves building in the best aspects of both formal and informal approaches. A formal structure is essential because it provides meaning and direction for relationships and support where necessary. But individual relationships will flourish best when allowed to operate as informally as possible. Successful formal relationships very frequently go on to become successful informal ones. There is also an increasing body of field evidence that the quality and extent of informal mentoring improves dramatically once a critical mass is achieved of people who have been effective mentors and mentees under formal arrangements. An organisation that manages to create a mentoring/coaching culture can increasingly relax the level of formal intervention it imposes. What structures it does provide - in terms of educational materials and training, for example - become regarded as support mechanisms rather than as controls. Meetings between mentors to develop their skills can become informal, self-driven support networks. And the range of people from whom the mentees learn can gradually be extended as they learn to build and manage their own learning nets.