Mentoring sessions – frequency, duration, online meetings. Practical Mentiway Guide.
Mentoring sessions are the heart of the entire mentoring process.It is during meetings that real development happens: reflections occur, important questions are asked, and the mentee takes the next steps toward his or her goals. At the same time, many novice mentors and mentees don’t quite know what such a session should look like – how long it lasts, how often it takes place, whether it’s better to meet online or in-person.
This article answers all these questions, plus provides concrete data from thousands of sessions completed at Mentiway that show how mentoring couples in Europe work.
What does a mentoring session consist of?
A mentoring session is a scheduled meeting between a mentor and mentee, during which both parties work on the mentee’s development goals.
Includes:
- talking about progress and challenges,
- Analysis of previous period activities,
- planning next steps,
- Working with selected tools or exercises,
- Asking questions that deepen reflection.
Each session has its own structure, but is not a rigid scenario – it adapts to the pace of work and the current needs of the mentee. We write more about this in the mentoring definition article, where you’ll find lots of examples and practical advice.
How often should a mentoring couple meet?
There is no single right answer – the frequency adapts to the needs of the couple, the intensity of the goals and the rhythm of both people. However, Mentiway’s data provides a glimpse of what this most often looks like in practice. Typically, the average interval between meetings is 25.1 days. This means that most couples meet roughly every 3-4 weeks.
Meanwhile, the most popular session intervals, which we have analyzed based on hundreds of completed programs at Mentiway, are as follows:
- exceptionally many couples meet exactly every 7, 14 or 21 days,
- After grouping the data into ranges, it comes out that meetings dominate:
- Every 2 weeks,
- Every 3 weeks,
- Every 4 weeks.
This shows that most often mentoring is a regular process, but not excessively frequent – it gives space for action between meetings.As a recommendation, we therefore recommend meeting for a mentoring session on average every 2-4 weeks, which will give an optimal pace to the whole process. This will give a balance between the dynamics of the work and the time needed to implement the next steps.
How long does a mentoring session last?
Here, too, there is no single answer – it depends on the style of work, the experience of the mentor and the nature of the meeting in question. According to Mentiway data, we can conclude that the most common session duration is 90 minutes (that’s how long 64% of couples using Mentiway spend in a meeting). The following conclusions are also drawn from our data:
- 60-minute sessions are also very popular,
- Shorter sessions (e.g., 45 min) are often chosen for launches or recaps,
- there are sometimes 120-minute mentoring sessions when a couple wants to go in-depth on a topic or perform a specific exercise.
We therefore recommend that the duration of the meeting should be about 60-90 minutes. This is the optimal time for people who want to get the most out of the mentoring process. The duration of the session is usually set at the beginning of the meeting and introduced in the contract – you can read more about it in this text – but of course it can be changed and adjusted to the needs of the mentor and mentee. You can read more about what a mentoring session should look like in this article.
Mentoring meetings: online or in-person?.
In the era of hybrid and remote work, online meetings have become the norm – and mentoring is no exception. According to a compilation of the choices of mentors and mentees using Mentiway, the most commonly used tools for online mentoring sessions are:
- Microsoft Teams – 49%,
- Google Meet – 43%,
- Zoom – 7%.
Face-to-face meetings are still present, but it is difficult to measure them reliably – most couples choose the online formula for its convenience, flexibility and lack of location barriers.
Why do online sessions work great?
- High quality connections
- Access to workshop tools (e.g. Miro or Whiteboard)
- Lower time barrier
- Ability to connect mentors and mentees from different cities and even countries
How to prepare for a mentoring session?.
Regardless of duration, form and frequency, preparation is one of the key factors in the effectiveness of mentoring. A well-prepared session is more concrete, effective and allows both parties to reach valuable conclusions faster.
At Mentiway, mentors and mentees have access to materials that greatly facilitate this process:
- preparatory forms before the meeting to help name the goal and priorities,
- Suggested session agendas, organizing the course of the conversation,
- Mentoring knowledge base with examples of good practices,
- Coaching and mentoring techniques to use during the interview,
- tools to support reflection and planning of next steps.
Good preparation makes the sessions more strategic in nature – they don’t boil down to “talk about what happened,” but really promote development by consciously setting directions and analyzing progress.
Summary – what do mentoring sessions look like in practice?
Mentoring pairs using Mentiway work in a structured yet flexible manner. Data from thousands of meetings show that most often:
- They meet every 2-4 weeks, which helps maintain a rhythm while giving space for action,
- They conduct most of their sessions online, using tools such as Teams, Google Meet and Zoom,
- choose a 60-90 minute format that provides optimal depth of conversation,
- use a variety of techniques to support reflection and work with goals,
- prepare for meetings using the resources available at Mentiway.
This model of work works well in large organizations, as well as in academic or community mentoring. Regularity of meetings, good structure and tool support make the process both professional and human – and this combination gives the best developmental results.
FAQ: most common questions about mentoring sessions.
How long does a mentoring session last?.
Most often 60-90 minutes, but couples working on in-depth topics also choose 120-minute sessions. Shorter meetings (45-60 minutes) are popular, for example, at the beginning or at the conclusion.
What are the mentoring sessions?
The average interval between sessions at Mentiway is 25.1 days. Most often, couples meet every 2, 3 or 4 weeks.
Whether mentoring sessions are better conducted online or offline?.
Most couples choose to meet online – mainly for the convenience, flexibility and ability to connect mentors and mentees from different locations. The most popular tools are Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and Zoom.
Whether the form and length of the session are predetermined .
No. These are fully individual arrangements – tailored to the couple’s working style, specific goals and intensity of the process.
How to prepare for a mentoring session? Use the preparation form, analyze previous activities, determine the purpose of the meeting and gather the questions you want to discuss. Mentiway provides ready-made materials, techniques and agendas to facilitate this
Hi, my name is Thomas. I am the Co-Founder of Mentiway. We are happy to share our knowledge and support organisations on their way to success! 💪 If you are interested in how to efficiently and effectively implement a mentoring programme in your organisation using technology:
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