In his book Concepts of Coaching, Peter Hill explains the importance of creating an environment in which the mentoring process can be effective. You should note down ways in which you could create the right environment for mentoring. Think about such elements as comfort, confidentiality, noise levels, access to resources, travel and accessibility, neutrality of the space, and so on.
Think of what you, in your role as a mentor, need to do to create the right environment for mentoring. Maybe use the following questions when looking for the best place to hold sessions:
- Does the work environment lend itself to one to one discussion?
- What distractions are there? Is there somewhere with less distractions?
- Is there a neutral space nearby?
- Where might the apprentice feel comfortable?
You will also need to take legal and ethical considerations into account when thinking about the sort of environment you need to create. These will clearly be different depending on where you choose to meet with your mentee.
The legal and ethical requirements of mentoring are covered in Section 3.