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Education and Learning

The Importance of Mentoring to

Improve Diversity and Inclusion

Mentoring relationships are powerful. The process of mentoring, and the relationship built over time,
supports a long-lasting commitment to diversity and inclusive behaviours.

According to David Clutterbuck (Co-founder of the European Mentoring & Coaching Council) diversity
mentoring is an instrument of personal change aimed at helping mentees identify how they and their
circumstances could be different; and how they will bring changes to fruition.

Diversity mentoring is a developmental process that aims to achieve both individual and organisational
change through a shared understanding that differences exist and are perceived as integral to learning,
growth, and development.

Like all mentoring relationships diversity mentoring requires an open dialogue so it is essential that
both parties are comfortable about revealing their thoughts and concerns. It is vital that the relationship
is such that participants feel they can challenge each other’s assumptions, behaviours and actions and
suspend judgement about each other, though this can sometimes be difficult.

One of the key factors in getting any mentoring relationship off to a good start is being able to have a
respectful curiosity of each other’s worlds and their perspectives. This allows the exploration of different
ways of thinking and behaving and in turn provides a fertile ground for mutual learning and growth.

What makes the diversity mentoring relationship work?
A study by the US Minority Corporate Counsel Association (Anon 2003) found that
diverse mentoring relationships that worked had a number of common characteristics

• established confidence by beginning with work-related issues
• identified common interests and values;
• made efforts to learn about each other;
• showed empathy;
• were clear about needs and expectations;
• avoided stereotypes and untested assumptions;
• risked discomfort to make the relationship work

Positioning difference and disadvantage
An MCCA study found that ‘discussion of race and gender
diversity was often avoided when one of the parties was
white, even in mentoring relationships, which were strong’.
This avoidance can in fact make the other party feel
uncomfortable as they then both feel that they have to
pretend there isn’t a difference.

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