What is a mentoring agreement?

A short written record of what a mentor and mentee have agreed about how they will work together: how often they meet, who schedules, what is confidential, what is in scope, and how the relationship ends. It is not a contract and carries no legal weight. Its value is that it forces a conversation most pairs otherwise avoid.

Why do mentoring pairs need a written agreement?

Because the two most common failure modes are both preventable by talking up front. Pairs stop meeting because nobody agreed who schedules, and pairs stay in a relationship that has run its course because neither wants to be the one to end it. Writing both down at the start removes the awkwardness later.

What should be confidential in a mentoring relationship?

Default to everything discussed staying between the pair, with two stated exceptions: safeguarding or policy issues that must be escalated, and aggregate program data such as whether meetings happened. Say both exceptions out loud at the start rather than discovering the disagreement mid-program.

How long should a mentoring relationship last?

Set a fixed end date, typically six to twelve months, and treat continuing past it as an explicit renewal rather than a default. A defined end gives both sides a graceful exit and makes the relationship easier to say yes to in the first place.

Mentor and Mentee Agreement Template (Free, 2026)

How to use this

Fill this in together at the first meeting, in the meeting, out loud. Do not send it ahead to be signed separately. The value is entirely in the conversation, not in the artifact.

It takes about 15 minutes. Budget for it in the first mentor meeting agenda.

Mentoring agreement

Mentor: [NAME]

Mentee: [NAME]

Program: [PROGRAM NAME], [CYCLE START] to [CYCLE END]

Agreement date: [DATE]

1. What we are working on

The mentee's goal for this cycle, in their own words:

[MENTEE'S GOAL, COPIED FROM THEIR APPLICATION AND REFINED TOGETHER]

What success looks like by [CYCLE END]:

[ONE OR TWO CONCRETE, OBSERVABLE OUTCOMES]

If neither party can name an observable outcome, stop and work through the mentorship goal setting worksheet before signing this section.

2. How often we meet

Cadence: [WEEKLY / EVERY TWO WEEKS / MONTHLY]
Session length: [30 / 45 / 60] minutes
Format: [VIDEO / IN PERSON / PHONE / MIXED]
Who schedules: [NAME]

The last line is the one pairs skip and the one that kills relationships. Name a single person. Default to the mentee, because the mentee owns the goal, but say it explicitly either way.

What happens if someone cannot make a session: the person cancelling proposes two alternative times within [NUMBER] working days. A cancelled session is rescheduled, not skipped.

3. Between sessions

Expected contact between sessions: [NONE / ASYNC MESSAGES WELCOME / AGREED CHECK-INS ONLY]
Preferred channel: [EMAIL / SLACK / TEAMS / PLATFORM MESSAGING]
Expected response time: [SAME DAY / WITHIN TWO WORKING DAYS / WITHIN A WEEK]

Mentors: be honest here rather than generous. An agreed "within a week" that you meet is worth more than an aspirational "any time" that you do not.

4. Confidentiality

What is discussed in our sessions stays between us, with two exceptions we both understand:

Safeguarding and policy. If something is raised that indicates risk of harm, or a breach of [COMPANY] policy, the mentor will say so at the time and will escalate to [NAMED ROLE].
Program data. The program manager can see whether sessions happened and whether goals were marked complete. They cannot see what was discussed.

Neither of us will share the content of our conversations with the mentee's manager, or with anyone else, without the other's explicit agreement in advance.

5. What is in scope, and what is not

In scope:

[EXAMPLES: career direction, skill development, navigating the organisation, preparing for a specific conversation or milestone]

Out of scope:

Performance management or any input into the mentee's review
Compensation decisions
Acting as a reference or advocate in a promotion process, unless separately and explicitly agreed
[ANYTHING EITHER PARTY WANTS TO ADD]

The third bullet is worth reading aloud. Mentees often assume advocacy is part of the deal, and mentors often assume it is not. Settle it now.

6. How we will know it is working

We will check in on the relationship itself, separately from the goal, at:

Midpoint: [DATE]
Close: [DATE]

At each of those, we will both answer honestly: is this still worth the time?

7. How this ends

This relationship ends on [CYCLE END DATE] by default.

Either of us can end it earlier, for any reason, by saying so. No explanation is required and none will be asked for. We both agree in advance that ending early is a normal outcome and not a failure of either person.

If we want to continue past [CYCLE END DATE], we will agree that explicitly and write a new agreement rather than drifting on.

8. Signatures

This is not a legal document. Signing it means we have had the conversation above and agree on the answers.

Mentor: [NAME] Date: [DATE]

Mentee: [NAME] Date: [DATE]

Note for program managers

Collect these but do not police them. The completed agreement tells you a pair has had the right first conversation. It is a useful leading indicator at kickoff: pairs that have not returned an agreement within two weeks of matching are the pairs most likely to lapse, and are worth a nudge before month two rather than after.

If you are running the program in MentorStack, the cadence agreed in section 2 is what the meeting reminders and the pairing health view key off, so it is worth entering.

Mentor and Mentee Agreement Template