Book Review
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A Practical Guide to Mentoring: by David Kay & Roger Hinds.
Overview
A Practical Guide to Mentoring provides a straightforward, accessible walkthrough of the mentoring process from beginning to end. The authors describe how mentoring can be beneficial both to the mentor and the mentee, emphasising its value across a wide range of organisations and levels. They present the book as a “how-to” manual: how to become a mentor, what qualities you need, how to prepare, how to establish and maintain the relationship, how to avoid pitfalls, and how to bring the relationship to a close.
The most recent (5th) edition outlines this approach succinctly, making it suitable for someone new to mentoring or looking to refresh their mentoring practice.
What works well
1. Practical and accessible.
The strength of the book lies in its pragmatic, no-nonsense style. It breaks down the mentoring process into manageable chunks: helping people to make progress, defining who can mentor, preparing for the role, establishing the mentoring relationship, the mentoring process itself, benefits and pitfalls, ending and scenarios. It’s geared toward busy professionals who want a usable guide rather than a heavy academic tome.
2. Wide applicability.
The authors note that mentoring is “suitable for all organisations” and at different levels—whether someone is newly joining a team, is under training, or is senior and undergoing change. The book is designed not just for formal mentoring programmes, but also for the everyday mentoring relationships that naturally arise.
3. Scenario-based learning.
The inclusion of real-life scenarios (for example, mentoring senior management, those with little ambition, new team members) is a plus because it gives the reader a flavour of how things might play out. mrcvs.co.uk The bulleted summaries at the end of chapters also aid quick reference.
4. Clear structure.
The book’s layout supports its aim as a reference guide: bite-sized sections, clear headings, and practical checklists make it easy to dip into when you need something specific (e.g., “How do I start the first meeting?”, “How do I end the mentoring relationship?”).
Limitations / Things to consider
1. Relatively shallow theoretical underpinning.
While the book emphasises practice and is quite strong in step-by-step guidance, it does not deeply explore the research base, theoretical debates or critical perspectives on mentoring. As one reviewer notes, this is “more than a guide or self-help book … but … not only the basic principles” yet the tone remains practical rather than academic.
2. Corporate / organisational context bias.
Many of the examples and guidance are framed within business, public service or institutional contexts. While the authors claim broad applicability, readers in non-organisational, community, or educational mentoring may find some parts less directly relevant. The book may assume certain organisational infrastructures (e.g., formal mentoring scheme, support role) that may not apply outside large organisations.
3. Relatively short / concise.
At around 120–130 pages (in many editions) the book is deliberately concise. That’s a positive in terms of readability, but it also means depth may be limited. Some readers may find themselves wanting more depth, more case studies, deeper reflection or more nuance on complex mentoring relationships (e.g., cross-cultural, remote, peer mentoring, reverse mentoring).
Overall evaluation
I would recommend this book highly for those who are:
- New to mentoring and looking for a clear and practical guide.
- Experienced mentors who want a handy “refresher” and quick reference.
- Organisations looking to establish or support mentoring programmes and wanting a readable, accessible handbook for mentors.
If you are instead looking for deeper theoretical work, critical perspectives on mentoring, or mentoring in non-traditional contexts (e.g., gig economy, virtual mentoring, international contexts) you may want to pair this book with something more specialised.
In short: it delivers what it promises in an accessible, practical way. The trade-off is depth, nuance and extensive research discussion, but that is acceptable given the target audience and format.