For mentors
A practical guide to help mentors offer support that is generous, clear and sustainable.
About this guide
Mentorship can be one of the most powerful forms of professional support, especially when it is clear, honest and well-framed.
At CoworkHer, mentoring is designed to give mentees access to perspective and experience, while making sure mentors have clear boundaries around their role, time and responsibilities.
The role
A CoworkHer mentor helps another woman think more clearly about a professional question, challenge, transition or decision.
As a CoworkHer mentor, your role is to help another woman think more clearly about a professional question, challenge, transition or decision.
You may do this by sharing your own experience, asking thoughtful questions, offering perspective, helping her prepare for a conversation, challenging an assumption gently, or helping her see options she may not have considered yet.
You do not need to have a perfect career path, a senior title, or an answer to everything. Often, the most useful mentoring comes from honest experience: what you tried, what worked, what did not, what you wish you had known earlier, and how you would approach a similar situation today.
A good mentoring conversation should help the mentee leave with more clarity, more confidence, or a better sense of what her next step could be.
What you can support
CoworkHer mentoring can cover a wide range of work-related topics, depending on the mentor’s own experience and comfort level. Mentors are not expected to cover every topic. It is perfectly okay to be specific about where you can genuinely help.
Promotions, next steps, visibility, long-term direction.
Managing teams, building confidence, stepping into seniority.
Preparing for difficult conversations, stakeholder management, self-advocacy.
Preparing for a raise conversation, understanding positioning.
Changing roles, industries, companies or professional identity.
Starting, growing or navigating independent work.
Navigating politics, conflict, confidence, boundaries or uncertainty.
Building credibility, visibility and professional presence.
The best mentoring happens when the conversation is anchored in real experience, rather than pressure to give perfect advice.
Scope
Mentoring and coaching can overlap, but they are not the same. At CoworkHer, the mentor’s role is mainly to offer experience-based guidance, perspective and support. A mentor may ask coaching-style questions, but she is not expected to run a structured coaching process or take responsibility for the mentee’s long-term development plan.
| Type | What it is | CoworkHer mentor role |
|---|---|---|
| Mentoring | Sharing experience, perspective and practical guidance based on lived professional experience. | Core role Yes — this is the core of the role. |
| Coaching | Helping someone unlock their own answers through a structured process, often with specific training or certification. | Out of scope Mentors may use coaching-style questions, but are not expected to act as professional coaches. |
| Consulting | Giving expert recommendations to solve a specific business or professional problem. | Sometimes Only where relevant and within the mentor’s expertise. |
| Sponsorship | Actively advocating for someone, opening doors or using personal influence to create opportunities. | Sometimes Optional, never expected. |
| Therapy | Supporting someone’s mental health, trauma, emotional crisis or psychological wellbeing. | Out of scope Outside the scope of CoworkHer mentoring. |
| Legal, financial or HR advice | Formal advice on rights, contracts, disputes, investments, workplace claims or legal obligations. | Out of scope Outside the scope of CoworkHer mentoring. |
Sharing experience, perspective and practical guidance based on lived professional experience.
CoworkHer mentor role
Yes — this is the core of the role.
Helping someone unlock their own answers through a structured process, often with specific training or certification.
CoworkHer mentor role
Mentors may use coaching-style questions, but are not expected to act as professional coaches.
Giving expert recommendations to solve a specific business or professional problem.
CoworkHer mentor role
Only where relevant and within the mentor’s expertise.
Actively advocating for someone, opening doors or using personal influence to create opportunities.
CoworkHer mentor role
Optional, never expected.
Supporting someone’s mental health, trauma, emotional crisis or psychological wellbeing.
CoworkHer mentor role
Outside the scope of CoworkHer mentoring.
Formal advice on rights, contracts, disputes, investments, workplace claims or legal obligations.
CoworkHer mentor role
Outside the scope of CoworkHer mentoring.
“Mentoring helps someone see more clearly. It does not take over responsibility for what they choose to do next.”
Session length
CoworkHer offers different session lengths because not every mentoring need requires the same amount of time, energy or depth. Mentors can choose which formats they want to offer, depending on their availability, preferences and capacity.
15 min
Best for
One focused question or quick perspective.
Works well when
The mentee needs a sounding board, quick advice, a confidence boost, or help clarifying one next step.
30 min
Best for
Most standard mentoring conversations.
Works well when
The mentee wants to discuss a challenge, prepare for a conversation, explore options or get structured perspective.
60 min
Best for
Deeper or more complex conversations.
Works well when
The topic is layered, strategic, personal or connected to a bigger career decision.
A 15-minute session is best for a focused question or quick perspective. This format works well when a mentee needs to sense-check an approach, ask for quick advice, get a confidence boost, or clarify one next step. Because the time is short, it helps to keep the conversation focused. One topic is enough.
Useful for
A 30-minute session is a good standard format for most mentoring conversations. It gives enough time to understand the mentee’s context, explore a challenge, ask questions, share relevant experience and identify possible next steps. For many mentors, 30 minutes may be the most sustainable option: long enough to go beyond surface-level advice, but short enough to fit into a busy schedule.
A 60-minute session is best for deeper conversations. This format can be useful when the topic is more complex, personal, strategic or layered. A longer session allows more space for context, reflection and nuance. Because 60-minute sessions require more energy, mentors should only offer them if they feel they can do so comfortably and sustainably.
How you connect
CoworkHer allows different ways of connecting because not every conversation needs the same format.
Best for
Deeper conversations, first meetings, sensitive topics, confidence work, career transitions.
Less suitable for
Very quick questions or low-energy days.
Best for
Focused conversations, quick perspective, mentees or mentors who prefer not to be on camera.
Less suitable for
Topics where body language or stronger connection would help.
Best for
Short, practical questions, written feedback, wording support, quick guidance.
Less suitable for
Complex, emotional or nuanced conversations.
Video is often the best format for deeper or more personal conversations. It allows for nuance, facial expressions and a stronger sense of connection.
Audio can feel lighter than video while still allowing real-time exchange. It works well for focused conversations and shorter mentoring moments.
Chat can be useful for very focused questions, written feedback or practical guidance. It is not always ideal for complex or sensitive topics, because tone and nuance can be harder to read.
Boundaries
Mentorship works best when it is generous, but bounded. Mentors are welcome to share experience, offer suggestions, recommend resources, help a mentee prepare, or ask questions that support reflection.
Mentors are not expected to
If a mentee wants to continue the conversation, the mentor can suggest that she books another session. This keeps the relationship clear, fair and manageable for both sides.
“Mentoring should feel meaningful, not draining.”
Outside the role
Sometimes a mentee may raise something that feels too personal, too complex, too urgent or outside the mentor’s area of experience. This can include serious mental health concerns, harassment, discrimination, legal conflict, financial questions, burnout crisis, or an unsafe workplace situation.
A mentor can still respond with empathy. She can listen, acknowledge the situation, and help the mentee think about what kind of support she may need next. But she should not feel responsible for solving it.
I’m really glad you shared this with me. I can listen and help you think through possible next steps, but this sounds like something where you may also need support from a qualified professional.
This feels important, and I want to be careful not to give you advice outside my expertise.
I don’t think I’m the best person to advise on the legal or HR side of this, but I can help you think about how to prepare for the right conversation.
How to phrase advice
Advice is useful when it gives someone more clarity and agency. It becomes less useful when it becomes too prescriptive. Instead of telling a mentee what she should do, mentors can frame advice as perspective.
“In my experience, one option could be…”
“What I would consider here is…”
“The trade-off I see is…”
“A question I would ask myself is…”
“This is what helped me in a similar situation…”
This allows the mentor to share experience while keeping the mentee in charge of her own decisions.
Trust
Mentoring conversations should be treated with respect and discretion.
What a mentee shares with a mentor should not be discussed outside the session in a way that identifies her, her company or her situation, unless she has clearly given permission.
The same applies to mentors. Their time, experience and personal stories should also be respected.
CoworkHer is built on trust. We want women to feel safe enough to be honest, but not exposed.
Safety
CoworkHer is a women-only space because many women still lack access to professional conversations where they can speak openly about ambition, doubt, money, leadership, visibility, workplace dynamics, bias, confidence and growth without having to over-explain themselves.
Mentors help protect that space.
This means listening without judgment, respecting different backgrounds and career paths, avoiding dismissive comments, and remembering that not every woman has had the same access, confidence, network or opportunities.
Support does not mean agreeing with everything. It means creating a conversation where honesty and challenge can happen with respect.
Network
Mentors are not expected to introduce mentees to their professional network.
They may choose to make an introduction if it feels relevant, appropriate and comfortable. But this should never be assumed or expected.
A mentoring session should not create pressure to offer referrals, job leads, investor introductions, client contacts or personal access to a mentor’s network.
In the session
01 — Start
Ask: “What would make this conversation useful for you today?”
02 — During
Focus on one or two key topics rather than trying to solve everything at once.
03 — Close
Thank you
CoworkHer exists to make professional support more accessible, more human and less dependent on luck, proximity or having the right network.
As a mentor, you are part of that mission.
You are not here to be perfect. You are here to share what you have learned, hold space for honest conversations, and help another woman move forward with a little more clarity than she had before.
That is already powerful.