Questions to ask at a first meeting

The first meeting with your mentee is an opportunity to start building your relationship and identifying subjects that warrant further discussion.  It may be useful to allow more time for this meeting than subsequent discussions.

Below is a list of suggested questions, which have been offered by our existing mentors. We recommend that you select a few that you think will be useful.

• What got you interested in the charity?
• What is the biggest frustration in your job?
• What experience do you most wish you had?
• Where do you want to be in one year’s time?
• What was annual income last year? Could it have been more?
• How does your Chair add value to your work?
• How many staff do you lead?
• What outcome do you want from this meeting?
• What’s going to be different as a result of this mentoring relationship?
• What part of your work is stressful / challenging? What makes it like that?
• Where are you most exposed on a personal level?
• How did you get into the voluntary sector?
• How long have you been in post?
• What are your long-term goals (how do you want to be remembered)?
• How effective is your Board?
• How effective is your senior management team?