Non Sibi Sed Toti — not for oneself, but for all

Mentoring & Professional Supervision

Experienced members give their time to those coming after them. It is the most direct expression of the Institute's motto, it counts as CPD for both people, and it is open at every grade.

Find a mentor on the IAM Portal Join the Mentor Panel

What it is

Developmental, never assessive

Mentoring under the Institute's Framework is a voluntary relationship in which a more experienced professional supports another's growth through structured conversation, shared experience, and encouragement to reflect. The mentor does not examine, grade, endorse, or certify the mentee — that separation is deliberate, and it is protected by conflict-of-interest rules.

Mentoring

The long view

A developmental relationship covering a person's professional growth broadly. Default term twelve months, renewable once by agreement. Structured by a written agreement made before it starts.

Coaching

The specific task

A shorter, narrower conversation focused on particular goals or performance. Giving or receiving it qualifies as CPD on exactly the same basis as mentoring.

Supervision

The defined body of work

Oversight, challenge, and support in relation to a defined piece of professional work or preparation — with agreed objectives and records. Used, among other things, to support candidates on the Experience-Assessed route to admission.

Seven principles govern every relationship. It is voluntary — no member is obliged to mentor or to be mentored. It is developmental, not assessive. It is confidential within defined limits. It is ethical: both parties remain bound by the Code of Ethics and the Prevention of Harassment Policy throughout. It is inclusive, and difference of background is treated as a strength. It is boundaried, professional in character. And it is recognised — it counts as CPD.

Who can take part

Mentoring runs in both directions at every grade

Fellows and Senior Fellows are expected to make themselves available, as an expression of Principle 9 (Service) of the Code of Ethics. But mentoring is valuable at every Career Stage, and Fellows and Senior Fellows are encouraged to seek it as well as give it.

Mentor	Typical mentees
SFInstAM	Fellows; Members preparing for Fellow; senior practitioners facing organisational-scope challenges
FInstAM	Members; Associates; practitioners across the mentor's function
MInstAM	Associates; Affiliates; Student Members
AInstAM	Affiliates and Student Members, as peer mentoring
Active Retired	Mentees appropriate to the grade held before retirement, on the same basis as above
HonFInstAM	By invitation of the Institute

This is guidance, not a rule. The decisive question in any match is whether the mentor's experience meets the mentee's development needs. Every mentor, at every grade, must be in Good Standing. Subscribers are not members of the profession and may not take part in any role.

The IAM Mentor Panel

Being listed as available to mentor

The Panel is the Institute's list of members available to mentor. It is maintained on the IAM Portal and Panel members are flagged in the IAM Directory, so a mentee can find you by experience, Career Stage, and sector.

To join you must hold Member grade or above, or Associate grade with peer-mentoring scope, or hold Active Retired status; be in Good Standing; complete the IAM mentor induction module or equivalent training the Institute accepts; and agree in writing to mentor under the Framework.
Three relationships at once is the working maximum without the Institute's agreement, so that each one gets the attention it needs.
You leave the Panel automatically on ceasing to be in Good Standing, at your own request, or by decision of the Institute if conduct falls below the Framework or the Code. Removal never affects your membership grade, and you are restored once the qualifying condition is met again.

How a relationship runs

Matched by need, agreed in writing

Step	What happens
1	The mentee searches the Panel on the IAM Portal, which shows each mentor's areas of experience, Career Stage, sector background, and availability. Matching is led by the mentee's development needs.
2	Both parties consent. Either may decline a proposed match without giving reasons, and no explanation is owed.
3	A written Mentoring Agreement is concluded before the relationship starts, recording its purpose and objectives, what each party expects, meeting frequency and format, confidentiality and its limits, boundaries, duration, and how it will be reviewed and ended. A model form is on the Portal.
4	The relationship runs for a default term of twelve months, renewable once by agreement.

A tool worth knowing about. The IAM Progression Profiler has a mentor-review mode: the mentee shares a snapshot of their own self-assessment, and the mentor records their view of the mentee's practice domain by domain, for discussion. The file stays with the mentee — nothing is stored or transmitted by the tool.

Recognition

It counts, for both of you

Mentoring is CPD for the mentor and the mentee alike, under Regulation 4.1 of the CPD Regulation. So is coaching, given or received. Record it like any other activity within 30 days.
Mentoring-related learning is CPD in its own right — mentor training, supervision skills, safeguarding and boundaries training, and structured reflection on your own mentoring practice.
Active Retired status is available to Retired Senior Fellows, Fellows, and Members who mentor and meet the annual hours threshold. It signals continued professional currency and current ethical standing to mentees and to the public, and confers engagement opportunities including Panel listing.
Volunteering more widely counts too — committees, advisory panels, and working groups of the Institute all qualify.

If something goes wrong. Either party may end a relationship at any time. Concerns about conduct within a mentoring or supervision relationship are raised under the Institute's conduct route, and the Prevention of Harassment Policy applies throughout. Confidentiality is real but not unlimited — the Framework defines where it ends.

Offer your experience

The Framework in full, the Mentor Panel, the induction module, and the model agreement are all on the IAM Portal.

Open the Mentor Panel How to record it as CPD Membership grades