Effective Communication Skills and Mentor Training

Organisations increasingly rely on mentoring to transfer knowledge, prepare successors, support new graduates and develop national talent. Yet mentors are usually chosen for their technical expertise or seniority, not their ability to build a developmental relationship. Common problems include mentors who talk more than they listen, unclear expectations on both sides, meetings without structure, feedback that is either too soft or too harsh, and no way to know whether the mentoring made a difference.

This programme combines communication skills with the mentoring process. It moves through five stages: the communication foundations of trust and listening, the role and boundaries of the mentor, structuring the mentoring relationship from contracting to closure, the conversation skills of questioning, feedback and challenge, and supporting growth and measuring results.

Built on recognised practice. The programme references the EMCC Global Competence Framework for mentors and coaches and its International Standards for Mentoring and Coaching Programmes, established developmental mentoring approaches, the GROW model for structuring conversations, and Kolb's experiential learning cycle. Participants practise applying them rather than studying them in theory.

Decisions this programme improves. When to advise, when to ask and when to challenge; how to agree goals and boundaries at the start of a relationship; how to handle confidentiality and issues that belong with the line manager or HR; how to give feedback that is heard; when a mentoring relationship should be ended or redirected; and how to show the value of mentoring to the organisation.

How it is delivered. Twenty hours across five sessions, built around a series of practice mentoring conversations. Participants work in triads as mentor, mentee and observer, using realistic scenarios such as onboarding a graduate, preparing a successor and supporting a colleague through a difficult transition, and receive structured feedback on each round.

In-house option. For organisations, the programme can be tailored to your own mentoring scheme, competency framework and talent programmes, and delivered to a cohort of new mentors together with a briefing for programme coordinators.

Who Should Attend

Managers and team leaders taking on a mentoring role

Senior specialists and experts responsible for transferring knowledge to successors or graduates

HR and L&D professionals: talent, learning and mentoring programme coordinators

Supervisors supporting new employees and national development programmes

Experienced professionals with good communication skills who want to develop advanced techniques

Objectives

Distinguish mentoring from coaching, line management and training, and define the mentor's role and boundaries

Build rapport and trust quickly using active listening and awareness of non-verbal communication

Adapt communication style to different personalities, generations and cultural backgrounds

Contract a mentoring relationship covering goals, confidentiality, frequency and review points

Structure mentoring conversations using the GROW model

Use open and powerful questions to help mentees find their own solutions

Give and receive balanced, specific feedback and handle defensive reactions

Support mentees in reflecting on experience and turning it into development actions

Review progress, close a mentoring relationship well and evaluate its outcomes

Course Outline

Communication Foundations for Developmental Relationships

Advanced listening: levels of listening and listening for meaning
Non-verbal communication, tone and presence
Building trust and psychological safety
Communication styles and adapting to others
Cross-cultural and cross-generational communication
Communicating in person and online

The Role of the Mentor

Mentoring, coaching, counselling and managing: key differences
Developmental and sponsorship mentoring
Mentor competences using the EMCC framework as a reference
Boundaries, confidentiality and ethical issues
Working with the mentee's line manager and HR
Reverse and peer mentoring

Structuring the Mentoring Relationship

Stages of a mentoring relationship: from first meeting to closure
Contracting: goals, expectations and ground rules
Planning and recording mentoring sessions
Structuring conversations with the GROW model
Keeping momentum and handling missed meetings
Ending or redirecting a relationship

Conversation Skills: Questioning, Feedback and Challenge

Open, probing and reflective questions
Advising without taking over
Giving and receiving feedback using structured models
Challenging assumptions and limiting beliefs respectfully
Handling emotion, resistance and difficult conversations
Practice rounds with observer feedback

Supporting Growth and Measuring Results

Experiential learning and reflective practice using Kolb's cycle
Career conversations and development planning
Knowledge transfer from experienced staff to successors
Evaluating mentoring outcomes for the mentee and the organisation
The mentor's own development and supervision
Action plan: your first three mentoring sessions

Competencies

Advanced active listening and rapport building

Cross-cultural and adaptive communication

Mentor role definition and boundaries

Mentoring relationship contracting

Structured mentoring conversations with the GROW model

Powerful questioning techniques

Constructive feedback and challenge

Reflective practice and development planning

Mentoring outcome evaluation

Prague

Explore professional training in Prague across Elite Academy’s full range of disciplines. The city’s position as a well-connected Central European capital offering an accessible professional setting makes it an attractive international setting for scheduled courses and programs arranged to your preferred topic and dates. Elite Academy can deliver its full range of professional training programs in Prague, Czechia. Because the city is a well-connected Central European capital offering an accessible professional setting, it provides a strong international environment for participants from organizations as well as individual professionals. The courses shown on this page represent the programs currently scheduled in Prague; they do not limit what can be delivered there. If your preferred course or date is not listed, you can request any program from our portfolio to be arranged in Prague, subject to scheduling and delivery requirements.