Would it be appropriate to mentor this chap?

[Poocatcherchampion]

Ive just started a new role as a fairly senior manager. It is a maternity cover.

An old colleague of mine works there in a different team but in the same physical room. There have been issues between a staff member of my team and a member of his team, which I gather are mostly poor performance on his staff members side and there is quite the frosty atmosphere in the room. It seems that he hasn't dealt with it particularly well and I think that may be due to his lack of managerial experience.

As the most senior person in the room I am going to get this issue resolved and I am wondering whether a good way to build relationships would be to mentor him.

We are at the friendship level of going out for lunch etc.

Or am I too close to mentor him?

Maybe have a meeting about it with him and see what he would do to proceed as clearly the issue hasn't been resolved thus far.

If he doesn't have a clear or tangible plan of action then you could step in?

It means that you're not treading on toes or egos I suppose.

That is my plan anyway. But I was wondering if I might mentor him too or if our relationship was too close for that.

Too close and mentors need to far removed so there is no perceived threat for work on either side. Presumably at the end of the maternity leave you would go back to being a closer colleague