Once a mentor and mentee (or protégé) have paired and agreed on a mutually agreeable mentoring relationship, the fun starts. Initially, this may be easy because there is a lot of ground to cover and so much for the mentor to teach the mentee. However, after several months, it is often possible for the relationship to become stagnant, and in need of a boost to keep the relationship strong and meaningful for both the mentor and protégé. You may want to consider implementing one of these mentoring activities.

Regular Communication: Lets start with the easiest that may sometimes be overlooked. With modern technology, there is no reason for a mentor and protégé not to stay in touch. The obvious is telephone but for a busy mentor this can be a distraction in the middle of a busy work day and that in turn means the mentee is not getting 100% of the mentors attention. Instead, consider email or text messaging. One of the great aspects of email communication is that the mentor can respond when time allows, which translates into a meaningful and thoughtful response. Email communication also provides a non-intrusive way for the mentor and protégé to maintain regular and ongoing contact.

Hot Topic Debates: Taking the cue from the previous activity, one of the best activities to conduct via email is the debate of hot topics, which can be initiated by either the protégé or the mentor. Find a relevant current event that affects your business or industry, and send it to the other for comment. It is a great way for the protégé to learn and provides a written record of the exchange, which can be invaluable for the learner.

Attend a Seminar or Conference Together: Again, this may be initiated by mentor or protégé but is a great way for the protégé to see how the mentor absorbs information, learns and interacts with colleagues and peers. It also provides another common building block for the mentor and mentee to build a long term mentoring relationship on.

Set up an Internship: Either within the mentors company, or with a colleague, an internship is the perfect way to immerse the protégé into the mentors world and be able to accurately gauge the mentees abilities and shortcomings. This type of experience is invaluable to the protégé as they learn the industry ropes. Nothing teaches better than doing and having the mentor to fall back on to discuss issues and opportunities makes that experience all the more valuable.

Take a Protégé to Work: Every mentor should invite their protégé to their workplace to shadow the mentor. This is by far one of the most valuable experiences a mentor can offer to a mentee. The protégé is able to see the mentor in action and learn from their advisors business acumen.

Research Assignment: If the protégé is agreeable and the time is available, a valuable activity is for the mentor to assign a research project or white paper to the mentee. The more relevant the assignment is to the mentors place of business, the more the protégé will covet the project. If the protégé can take on a task that solves a problem or uncovers an anomaly in the mentors business, the worth felt by the mentee is immeasurable as is the strengthening of the bond between mentor and protégé.

Aside from expected regular meetings and usual phone conversations that take place between a mentor and mentee, there are many other ways to spice up the relationship and create opportunities for learning - not just for the protégé but also for the mentor. In the case of long term mentoring relationships, it is important to have a variety of activities that are interesting, exciting and challenging to both; thereby engaging the relationship and inspiring long-term interaction.

Kurt Green is a representative for Advantage Conferences, a business mentoring company. http://earn7kathome.com/ Kurt is also the owner of Green Cylinder Heads, a high performance engine building company. http://greencylinderheads.com/