COMENSA defines mentoring as "a partnership in which a mentee is assisted in making significant advances in knowledge, perspective and vision in order to develop their full potential; the mentor's wisdom is utilised by the mentee to facilitate and enhance new learning and insight." The mentor's focus is the development of the learner, and about passing on personalised, domain-specific knowledge. Mentors help to set the agenda, their primary aim to develop an individual or small group to learn more comprehensively from their day-to-day working experience.

Mentoring, for example of recently-promoted managers within an organisation, can create an atmosphere where people feel comfortable and acknowledged. Mentoring can increase communication across organisational lines, prepare for a more diverse management team, improve staff retention, and support the organisation's beliefs and values. Mentors can convey knowledge of organisational routines and the managerial system; help to identify opportunities for training; and teach learners how to navigate the organisation's "political" system. Mentors convey knowledge about organisational values and traditions.