Whatever your reasons for mentoring, you will be more effective if you are clear on how you will approach that activity. Before meeting someone, it’s a good idea to have an initial understanding of each other, in both professional and personal terms. For example, knowing their contact details, where they are based, their professional background. As a mentor, you want to begin to orientate towards your mentee and perhaps consider how you might be able to support them.
You also want your mentee to begin thinking about what they want from you that can help them learn, grow and make progress. The success of any mentoring relationship is increased by building a framework which supports that up front. The balance you aim to strike is to adopt structure in a way that is helpful and not excessive. It’s useful to consider how much structure you think you need early on.