As a mentor, you build a relationship and a position of trust with your mentee. During the discussions, your mentee may reveal a range of things to you such as their ambitions, their concerns, their history, their expectations and more.
There may be a day when in the midst of those discussions, you become aware that the mentee (or someone they work with) is breaking organisational policies or rules.
As a mentor you have a responsibility to your employer to ensure the organisation is compliant with governance and legislation. You also have a confidentiality agreement with your mentee. SO you are now in a position of conflict.
What do you do?
- discuss with the mentee what is actually happening – this will help determine if there is indeed an issue and ensure the level of the mentee’s awareness
- raise the incident as an issue with the mentee
- note that the area the mentee is from has responsibility to follow organisational protocols
- explain to the mentee that you are now in a position as a member of the organisation
- ask the mentee how best to handle the matter now – this is a great teachable moment and you can help them to think through the strategies and potential outcomes to arrive at a mutually agreeable decision
What ideas do you have for handling this dilemma?