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PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday November 16, 2017.
See PA story ROYAL Investiture. Photo credit: Dominic Lipinski PA Wire
Mentor ambassador and mentor champion roles add huge value within any mentoring programme to make it work well long term for everyone’s benefit.
What is a Mentor Ambassador?
An ambassador encourages both mentoring itself and a mentoring approach in all their work. They truly recognise the value of investing in people. I was especially delighted to receive my OBE from HRH Prince of Wales, the now King Charles III, as he is a mentoring ambassador in every sense. He totally recognises the power of mentoring and has used every opportunity to encourage formal mentoring programmes in his charity work. Through all his work he encourages people to listen and support each other to gain perspectives and to give support.
What do Mentor Ambassadors do?
In any organisation whether it be charity, not for profit or corporate, the right mentoring ambassadors can act as a huge influence for starting programmes, maintaining engagement and helping share best practice.
The three key impact areas are:
- Creating an environment where mentoring part of what happens every day rather than a separate project.
- Sharing clear links to an organisations’ goals, values, vision and the mentoring programme.
- Leading the way in keeping the profile and recognition of the importance of mentoring high.
Who can be a Mentor Ambassador?
All mentors and all mentees naturally have the ability to be great ambassadors by sharing the experiences they have had. It also might be that someone (often a senior leader) recognises the value mentoring gives, however, cannot commit to the time needed to be a mentor. They can still make a real difference by supporting any mentoring programme as an ambassador. Ideally there will a team of ambassadors for different parts of an organisation to reflect the different stakeholders and bring everyone together for greater impact.
What is a Mentor Champion?
A mentor champion is an experienced mentor who supports other mentors. They are sometimes known as the mentor’s mentor.
What do Mentor Champions do?
Practically a champion enables a lesser experienced mentor to feel supported as they have someone to go to for support, help and guidance. As mentoring is confidential, building in this support means a mentor feels supported instead of isolated at high intensity or challenging times. A champion will have wider knowledge and resources that help the mentor’s signposting work, as well as creating engagement for mentors that are struggling or are less confident in their role to overcome challenges which reduces risk for all. It additionally increases mentor engagement and commitment to carry on mentoring. A champion will help ensure protocols are followed and appropriate hands offs and relationships are held and will share success story news and enables best practice sharing.
Who can be a Mentor Champion?
In most organisations we support, we often train experienced mentors to take on this role. This is flexible training for those that have existing mentor training and want to extend their organisational and their own professional impact by undertaking the work.
Some organisations also choose to outsource the mentor champion role to us. This works by us sharing with them a mentor champion expert who supports those mentors, either when needed, as a bespoke helpdesk option, or through regular one to ones, best practice or Q and A sessions. This support enables the mentor champion to cover any areas the mentors need extra help with. Both options have benefits. It is just so important that each mentor has this formal system of support and communication. A mentor champion role enables mentoring programmes to work long term for everyone’s benefit.
How does this Link to Mentoring Programme Design?
There are lots of areas to consider with programme design and whilst there are key principles across all programmes, some areas will vary according to each programme’s needs. So, we always support the design of a mentoring programme in a bespoke way. I always find it interesting that despite the very wide range of mentor programmes we support, that there are such key principles that are relevant to all.
Martin Lucas interviewed me on just this topic, and the podcast interview is here for you.
Happy Mentoring! 😊
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When we discuss mentoring, we often focus on the mentee as the person that is being supported. It is interesting to see this approach, as in all the mentoring programmes that I have supported or led on, it is a focus on the mentors that has added the most value and impact.
The three key reasons for this extra mentoring value being achieved are:
I was discussing just this with Martin Lucas who interviewed me to explore the important area of mentoring support.
Listen to the podcast here:
The three key reasons for this extra mentoring value being achieved are:
- People who have mentored are highly likely to mentor again and support more people.
- Mentors are highly likely to be in senior roles or roles of influence where they can achieve a positive impact with a mentoring mindset.
- Mentors who are trained and brought together under a supported mentoring programme frequently use the space to support each other and form very helpful collaborative networks that benefit all with resources, signposting and wider impact.
I was discussing just this with Martin Lucas who interviewed me to explore the important area of mentoring support.
Listen to the podcast here:
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Podcast: Steps to Gaining Support - Mentor
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Being a great mentor is a journey in itself. No sooner do you think that you are getting there with supporting others the right way through mentoring, then you discover there is more that you want to improve!
The three mentoring tips we are exploring today though are always relevant whether it is career mentoring, personal mentoring or enterprise mentoring that you are supporting:
The three mentoring tips we are exploring today though are always relevant whether it is career mentoring, personal mentoring or enterprise mentoring that you are supporting:
Leave
To achieve good things, we often need to let go of unhelpful thinking rather than actually do something. The blocks are not actual things standing in our way but our own habits, personality and mindsets that stop us being a great mentor.
Before mentoring, it is helpful to think through where you personally are on this. Some potentially useful questions to check in with yourself are:
What do I want to try and leave behind for my mentoring practice?
How am I choosing to get ready to mentor?
How calm, relaxed and open am I feeling?
How can I stay focussed on my mentee’s needs?
Do I have any unhelpful mindsets, approaches or drivers that may be best left at the door for my mentoring practice?
These decisions are vital to mentoring success.
One of the most important starting points for this in your mentoring practice is to leave your ego at the door. Your experience and knowledge are only valuable as tools to ask the right questions and to help your mentee explore their own thoughts, behaviours and actions. As soon as you feel you ‘must’ share something, ask yourself ‘why?’ Check that it is truly adding independent value to help your mentee think and manage themselves well, as opposed to telling the mentee what they should do or sharing your views on how things should be done.
Watchpoints on your thoughts and your language during the mentoring session that mean you haven’t left your ego at the door include:
Direct ego-based agendas which might sound like:
This is the way to do it.
I have done it and I got it right because of my experience.
If you do it this way it will work.
Subtle ego-based agendas which might sound like:
I think you should do this.
I recommend you do this.
As it worked for me, you should consider doing this.
What you are telling me means you must do this.
It is important to check your motives when you start mentoring. Are you wanting to share your experience or to help others make sense of their own experiences? If it is the former, then your role helping others will be better positioned as an experienced colleague to check work with, an advisor, a specialist trainer or a guest speaker rather than a mentor. These roles add immense value but in a different way to mentoring.
Listen
The most valuable investment as a mentor is listening to your mentee: truly practising active listening to check understanding and reflect back the mentee’s issues and opportunities.
The trouble is as human beings, we are not very good at active listening (as opposed to hearing words). To make it harder we also tend to think we are way more skilled at listening than we really are! If we have any hidden agendas, bias or stress – like most humans 😊 - then active listening takes even more effort and concentration. This mentoring skill takes ongoing practice and effort. Using reflective practice techniques and undertaking mentor training is really valuable in this regard.
Lightbulb
The lightbulb moment - when insight is gained, or great ideas are sparked - belongs to your mentee. As a mentor, your role is to support and challenge so that they reach that point. This is very different to trying to do their thinking for them.
This can be quite tough, especially for experienced managers who are used to getting results. It is about being focussed on the mentee’s timeframes and their space, so what might seem like an obvious solution to you may need time to filter through and develop for your mentee. It is about you supporting your mentee in a time and way that works for them to self-realise and manage themselves. This mentoring timeframe is quite likely to be different to your natural time preferences.
When we work with organisations to support the set up or running of their mentoring programmes, the clarity of the mentor role area is often one we spend the most time on. This mentor role clarity and related mentoring protocols for mentoring programmes are critical. It means mentoring risks are mitigated and that the mentoring scheme works well long-term for both the individuals involved and the organisation.
Having the right mentor who has willingly volunteered for the role for the right reasons and has been given the right training and support makes all the difference. With mentoring, we are developing the mentee’s capacity to solve their own problems. It is not for the mentor to take over that capacity, as it will inhibit progress and create dependency which is the opposite of a successful mentoring relationship.
The Code of Mentoring Practice can be a very helpful tool to discuss together at the start of your mentoring relationship to lay the right foundations. This mentoring code can be used throughout the mentoring or at key mentoring review points to check and potentially discuss how you continue to support your mentee. It can be especially helpful if you feel the mentoring is going or about to go into a different area e.g. advice or training, so that you can highlight this and agree where those other sources of help might be appropriate.
I hope you have fun with your mentoring. We would love to hear from you if you would like support or training for your mentoring programme or your mentoring.
To achieve good things, we often need to let go of unhelpful thinking rather than actually do something. The blocks are not actual things standing in our way but our own habits, personality and mindsets that stop us being a great mentor.
Before mentoring, it is helpful to think through where you personally are on this. Some potentially useful questions to check in with yourself are:
What do I want to try and leave behind for my mentoring practice?
How am I choosing to get ready to mentor?
How calm, relaxed and open am I feeling?
How can I stay focussed on my mentee’s needs?
Do I have any unhelpful mindsets, approaches or drivers that may be best left at the door for my mentoring practice?
These decisions are vital to mentoring success.
One of the most important starting points for this in your mentoring practice is to leave your ego at the door. Your experience and knowledge are only valuable as tools to ask the right questions and to help your mentee explore their own thoughts, behaviours and actions. As soon as you feel you ‘must’ share something, ask yourself ‘why?’ Check that it is truly adding independent value to help your mentee think and manage themselves well, as opposed to telling the mentee what they should do or sharing your views on how things should be done.
Watchpoints on your thoughts and your language during the mentoring session that mean you haven’t left your ego at the door include:
Direct ego-based agendas which might sound like:
This is the way to do it.
I have done it and I got it right because of my experience.
If you do it this way it will work.
Subtle ego-based agendas which might sound like:
I think you should do this.
I recommend you do this.
As it worked for me, you should consider doing this.
What you are telling me means you must do this.
It is important to check your motives when you start mentoring. Are you wanting to share your experience or to help others make sense of their own experiences? If it is the former, then your role helping others will be better positioned as an experienced colleague to check work with, an advisor, a specialist trainer or a guest speaker rather than a mentor. These roles add immense value but in a different way to mentoring.
Listen
The most valuable investment as a mentor is listening to your mentee: truly practising active listening to check understanding and reflect back the mentee’s issues and opportunities.
The trouble is as human beings, we are not very good at active listening (as opposed to hearing words). To make it harder we also tend to think we are way more skilled at listening than we really are! If we have any hidden agendas, bias or stress – like most humans 😊 - then active listening takes even more effort and concentration. This mentoring skill takes ongoing practice and effort. Using reflective practice techniques and undertaking mentor training is really valuable in this regard.
Lightbulb
The lightbulb moment - when insight is gained, or great ideas are sparked - belongs to your mentee. As a mentor, your role is to support and challenge so that they reach that point. This is very different to trying to do their thinking for them.
This can be quite tough, especially for experienced managers who are used to getting results. It is about being focussed on the mentee’s timeframes and their space, so what might seem like an obvious solution to you may need time to filter through and develop for your mentee. It is about you supporting your mentee in a time and way that works for them to self-realise and manage themselves. This mentoring timeframe is quite likely to be different to your natural time preferences.
When we work with organisations to support the set up or running of their mentoring programmes, the clarity of the mentor role area is often one we spend the most time on. This mentor role clarity and related mentoring protocols for mentoring programmes are critical. It means mentoring risks are mitigated and that the mentoring scheme works well long-term for both the individuals involved and the organisation.
Having the right mentor who has willingly volunteered for the role for the right reasons and has been given the right training and support makes all the difference. With mentoring, we are developing the mentee’s capacity to solve their own problems. It is not for the mentor to take over that capacity, as it will inhibit progress and create dependency which is the opposite of a successful mentoring relationship.
The Code of Mentoring Practice can be a very helpful tool to discuss together at the start of your mentoring relationship to lay the right foundations. This mentoring code can be used throughout the mentoring or at key mentoring review points to check and potentially discuss how you continue to support your mentee. It can be especially helpful if you feel the mentoring is going or about to go into a different area e.g. advice or training, so that you can highlight this and agree where those other sources of help might be appropriate.
I hope you have fun with your mentoring. We would love to hear from you if you would like support or training for your mentoring programme or your mentoring.
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The end of Spring is a great time for relaxation and enjoyment. It is also a good time to check in with yourself over your priorities and what is really valuable to you. Though that’s only possible when you create space to stop being in ‘busy mode’ and actually take time to listen to yourself. Time out like this is actually time in!
As leaders we are often busy listening to others or listening to our inner voice which constantly says, ‘what’s next?’ Time invested in listening to yourself will add immense value to everything you care about.
So how good are you at really listening to yourself fully?
We have been covering this area recently with clients in our Leading Yourself & Others Training and our Career Crossroads service, so this lovely fox photo really made me think.
We have identified the top 3 ways that our clients have found make it only too easy for them to forget to tune in, check in and listen to themselves.
Deadlines
This can work two ways: you can be energised to finish something that you find pleasure in or it can be a deadline that you are dreading. However, both can have an impact you do not want. This can be shown in the following examples with some of our clients:
A leader in a fitness-based company took on an additional sport challenge. He wanted to champion it to help his team’s understanding and awareness of one of their new fitness products. He was enjoying it, wanted to do well and ended up overtraining. This resulted in him not being able to undertake all his normal work, including travelling to all his team locations, as he injured his shoulder. His inner drive to get a result meant that he did not listen to his body’s needs.
A lead architect had an urgent job to complete. The tight timeframes that he had agreed with his client and the complexities of the site made the work more difficult. He wanted the design details to be just right, especially as it was an important building to the town. However, if he could not speed up his work, his client would not be able to move premises in time which would cause significant business issues for them. He was grumpy, tired and was starting to make minor mistakes. It was only on his leadership training with us that he realised the situation he was in and came up with ideas on how to resolve it.
When we push through on deadlines, we often stop listening to ourselves. The watchpoints here are ‘I have to’ or ‘I must’. In business there are usually compromises to be found as urgency is often created when it is not fully needed. A sense of urgency with a deadline rather than a paced efficient approach results in a stress response. A stress response means less capability as your problem solving, creativity and communication skills will all be significantly depleted.
Key questions to ask yourself:
People Pressure
If someone else expects you to behave and think in a certain way, then often over time you can lose track of what you are really thinking and feeling as opposed to what they want. This can lead to considerable ill health and stress.
One of our clients had joined the family business and was trying to work hard. His father was very proud that he had joined as he had developed a successful business from a tiny start up. However, our client was struggling to learn and progress his skills and knowledge. He was bright but his passion lay elsewhere and the professional service area he was working in did not suit him. He attended our mentor training programme which we ran for the business and realised through that what he was really feeling and why. The value of seeing things through different perspectives really made a difference to him.
When our values and needs are being compromised over time in order to meet others’ values and needs, we stop listening to ourselves. What happens is that we simply disengage on a subconscious level. This leads to strained relationships and poor business results alongside health issues.
Key questions to ask yourself:
Culture
This is where you stop listening to yourself because ‘that’s the way we do it around here’ culture exists. There is a strong need to fit in and it can be only too easy to not even realise any negative affect it is having on you. For example, a long working hours culture can easily become the norm, however, all the latest research shows that working longer hours and not taking breaks is simply unproductive. Equally worrying is the research over multitasking which is showing the longer-term damage it does to our brains.
Our client was very excited to start her new role leading a bigger team across three areas in the bidding profession. She had a prior track record of high performance and great team engagement. However, she had not realised that the overseas merger that was mentioned at interview was changing organisational culture. Originally the company had been promised a stand-alone set-up, but one month later that was no longer the case. All her prior research into company ethos, culture and values was therefore not relevant.
The culture became extremely top down and metric driven with a lack of engagement. Our client became increasingly concerned over staff morale and turnover, however, she felt that she ‘should’ fit in. Direct guidance from her Line Manager over managing a ‘lazy’ team and refusing emergency leave for staff cut across her own values and beliefs. Instead of listening to herself she was becoming increasingly stressed trying to manage her team as they wanted her to.
Through our Career Crossroads service, she was able to identify why the new role was not working for her instead of trying harder and harder to fit in and feeling like she was failing. She was then able to gain what she wanted from the role whilst creating a platform to exit at the right time for the right role.
Key questions to ask yourself:
It is often hard to listen to yourself when you have not done it for a while. Investing time to do this means you are on the right track for you, and you are protecting your time, your energy, your relationships and your professional career.
Mentoring and leadership training solutions work brilliantly here to create a helpful and supportive space so you can decide your priorities and solutions for yourself.
So, here’s wishing you a lovely summer ahead and lovely time out to check in with yourself. 😊
As leaders we are often busy listening to others or listening to our inner voice which constantly says, ‘what’s next?’ Time invested in listening to yourself will add immense value to everything you care about.
So how good are you at really listening to yourself fully?
We have been covering this area recently with clients in our Leading Yourself & Others Training and our Career Crossroads service, so this lovely fox photo really made me think.
We have identified the top 3 ways that our clients have found make it only too easy for them to forget to tune in, check in and listen to themselves.
Deadlines
This can work two ways: you can be energised to finish something that you find pleasure in or it can be a deadline that you are dreading. However, both can have an impact you do not want. This can be shown in the following examples with some of our clients:
A leader in a fitness-based company took on an additional sport challenge. He wanted to champion it to help his team’s understanding and awareness of one of their new fitness products. He was enjoying it, wanted to do well and ended up overtraining. This resulted in him not being able to undertake all his normal work, including travelling to all his team locations, as he injured his shoulder. His inner drive to get a result meant that he did not listen to his body’s needs.
A lead architect had an urgent job to complete. The tight timeframes that he had agreed with his client and the complexities of the site made the work more difficult. He wanted the design details to be just right, especially as it was an important building to the town. However, if he could not speed up his work, his client would not be able to move premises in time which would cause significant business issues for them. He was grumpy, tired and was starting to make minor mistakes. It was only on his leadership training with us that he realised the situation he was in and came up with ideas on how to resolve it.
When we push through on deadlines, we often stop listening to ourselves. The watchpoints here are ‘I have to’ or ‘I must’. In business there are usually compromises to be found as urgency is often created when it is not fully needed. A sense of urgency with a deadline rather than a paced efficient approach results in a stress response. A stress response means less capability as your problem solving, creativity and communication skills will all be significantly depleted.
Key questions to ask yourself:
- Are you looking at all perspectives?
- Are there any other solutions that do not impact negatively on you?
- How can you renegotiate the deadline with yourself and with others?
- What have you learnt about your own approach to deadlines?
People Pressure
If someone else expects you to behave and think in a certain way, then often over time you can lose track of what you are really thinking and feeling as opposed to what they want. This can lead to considerable ill health and stress.
One of our clients had joined the family business and was trying to work hard. His father was very proud that he had joined as he had developed a successful business from a tiny start up. However, our client was struggling to learn and progress his skills and knowledge. He was bright but his passion lay elsewhere and the professional service area he was working in did not suit him. He attended our mentor training programme which we ran for the business and realised through that what he was really feeling and why. The value of seeing things through different perspectives really made a difference to him.
When our values and needs are being compromised over time in order to meet others’ values and needs, we stop listening to ourselves. What happens is that we simply disengage on a subconscious level. This leads to strained relationships and poor business results alongside health issues.
Key questions to ask yourself:
- What do you really want from your business/career?
- Is your current role fully meeting your needs?
- Are these your goals or someone else’s?
- Have you explored all options that are important to you?
Culture
This is where you stop listening to yourself because ‘that’s the way we do it around here’ culture exists. There is a strong need to fit in and it can be only too easy to not even realise any negative affect it is having on you. For example, a long working hours culture can easily become the norm, however, all the latest research shows that working longer hours and not taking breaks is simply unproductive. Equally worrying is the research over multitasking which is showing the longer-term damage it does to our brains.
Our client was very excited to start her new role leading a bigger team across three areas in the bidding profession. She had a prior track record of high performance and great team engagement. However, she had not realised that the overseas merger that was mentioned at interview was changing organisational culture. Originally the company had been promised a stand-alone set-up, but one month later that was no longer the case. All her prior research into company ethos, culture and values was therefore not relevant.
The culture became extremely top down and metric driven with a lack of engagement. Our client became increasingly concerned over staff morale and turnover, however, she felt that she ‘should’ fit in. Direct guidance from her Line Manager over managing a ‘lazy’ team and refusing emergency leave for staff cut across her own values and beliefs. Instead of listening to herself she was becoming increasingly stressed trying to manage her team as they wanted her to.
Through our Career Crossroads service, she was able to identify why the new role was not working for her instead of trying harder and harder to fit in and feeling like she was failing. She was then able to gain what she wanted from the role whilst creating a platform to exit at the right time for the right role.
Key questions to ask yourself:
- How can you create a better culture for yourself and your team?
- How can you best respect yourself as well as others?
- How can you best look after your body and mind?
- What is the most effective way for you to work?
- Have you got your balance right?
It is often hard to listen to yourself when you have not done it for a while. Investing time to do this means you are on the right track for you, and you are protecting your time, your energy, your relationships and your professional career.
Mentoring and leadership training solutions work brilliantly here to create a helpful and supportive space so you can decide your priorities and solutions for yourself.
So, here’s wishing you a lovely summer ahead and lovely time out to check in with yourself. 😊
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What is Career Mentoring?
Career mentoring is where the focus of the mentoring is purely on career development. This usually means a strong focus on career stepping stones and on team members who are new or team members who have high potential.
I see career mentoring best used when the wider aspects of all career needs are included. This may, for example, include career enrichment, career secondments, career changes, returners to work, new leaders or senior team members wanting to achieve more impact in the same role.
We miss opportunities to help people when a mentoring programme isn’t inclusive of all our team’s needs. When we design mentoring programmes, we help the exploration of behaviours and thinking patterns. These wider issues can be missed if the focus is on stepping stones and this exploration acts as a practical enabler. This is why mentoring is such a brilliantly practical way to help people at any stage of their career journey.
How does Career Mentoring Work?
Some organisations create a full in-house internal mentoring programme where more experienced employees support other lesser experienced team members to ‘show them the way’ This is often more of a training role rather than a mentoring one. This type of career mentoring programme needs extra care in planning and development to support people in the right way and to protect against conflicts of interest. In these cases, we help to plan and design programmes to include training the mentoring programme leader and the mentors and we give tailored guidance to mentoring programme ambassadors to ensure the programme is sustainable and successful.
Other organisations have totally and partially outsourced their career mentoring programmes to organisations like ours. We can provide guidance on every aspect of design and delivery. This includes tailored training and career mentoring to nominated individuals and individuals can, of course, seek external support such as our Career Crossroads Service.
The decisions over these flexible career mentoring programmes are about choosing which elements are to be outsourced. These elements can cover the full range of areas from pre-launch activities through to launch and then ongoing matching, communication and management responsibilities.
Benefits of Career Mentoring Programmes
By creating a mentoring programme you can increase the following for both mentors and mentees:
Career mentoring is where the focus of the mentoring is purely on career development. This usually means a strong focus on career stepping stones and on team members who are new or team members who have high potential.
I see career mentoring best used when the wider aspects of all career needs are included. This may, for example, include career enrichment, career secondments, career changes, returners to work, new leaders or senior team members wanting to achieve more impact in the same role.
We miss opportunities to help people when a mentoring programme isn’t inclusive of all our team’s needs. When we design mentoring programmes, we help the exploration of behaviours and thinking patterns. These wider issues can be missed if the focus is on stepping stones and this exploration acts as a practical enabler. This is why mentoring is such a brilliantly practical way to help people at any stage of their career journey.
How does Career Mentoring Work?
Some organisations create a full in-house internal mentoring programme where more experienced employees support other lesser experienced team members to ‘show them the way’ This is often more of a training role rather than a mentoring one. This type of career mentoring programme needs extra care in planning and development to support people in the right way and to protect against conflicts of interest. In these cases, we help to plan and design programmes to include training the mentoring programme leader and the mentors and we give tailored guidance to mentoring programme ambassadors to ensure the programme is sustainable and successful.
Other organisations have totally and partially outsourced their career mentoring programmes to organisations like ours. We can provide guidance on every aspect of design and delivery. This includes tailored training and career mentoring to nominated individuals and individuals can, of course, seek external support such as our Career Crossroads Service.
The decisions over these flexible career mentoring programmes are about choosing which elements are to be outsourced. These elements can cover the full range of areas from pre-launch activities through to launch and then ongoing matching, communication and management responsibilities.
Benefits of Career Mentoring Programmes
By creating a mentoring programme you can increase the following for both mentors and mentees:
When a mentoring programme is created with the appropriate frameworks and protocols to protect all parties, it is practical and impactful investment in the growth and development of all involved.
Mentoring versus Training versus Support
One key area of strategy here is deciding exactly what team members want and need.
If we take the example of the mentoring programmes set up for employee next level professional accreditation purposes, then the mentee often wants:
Mentoring versus Training versus Support
One key area of strategy here is deciding exactly what team members want and need.
If we take the example of the mentoring programmes set up for employee next level professional accreditation purposes, then the mentee often wants:
Mentoring cannot cover all these areas and indeed some of these areas are outside the Code of Mentoring Conduct. As an example, you cannot fulfil an independent mentor role with no conflict of interest if you are also responsible for your mentee’s assessment for their next career role.
There are lots of protocols to consider here too. For example, acting in the mentee’s best interests and confidentiality could come into conflict with your role and responsibilities, if your mentee shares that they are considering leaving/taking time out/not completing the next stage of their career. An example we see frequently is that a mentee has sought mentoring because of a perceived lack of support from their Line Manager or, on occasion, difficulties with their Line Manager. That means extra care with designing protocols is very often needed for in-house programmes.
In programmes like this, mentoring often works best as part of a blended holistic programme including training and access to an experienced training colleague for knowledge and technical help to support overall. Mentoring can additionally be a really helpful intervention after training to help the mentee put the training into practice over a longer time frame.
Career Mentoring versus Overall Mentoring
The reason I am often concerned about positioning career mentoring programmes is that I honestly believe mentoring works best for everyone when it is a holistic development.
The focus on the career step result can make for very narrow mentoring interventions which may lead to less value being added. Whereas if you take extra care to position that mentoring is for overall career success (whatever that means to the individual staff member), then this will work better.
The positive boundary of the programme will need to make clear that this is holistic career support which is different to personal mentoring or indeed counselling. The full understanding of the differences of all support roles and, therefore, what the mentoring can and cannot help with by everyone involved are very important.
Top 3 Things to Consider in Introducing Mentoring Programmes
Inclusivity
If the programme has been created for a specific sector such as new entrants, then how do other employees feel? Only providing support to certain employees can result in resentment building over time, as team members feel that they have not been invested in whilst others have.
A recent Investors in People survey found 60% of UK employees were not happy in their jobs, with a lack of job satisfaction being cited by 48% of these and feeling undervalued by 30%. So, creating a positive mentoring programme for a few and not considering inclusion could create even more disengagement.
Mentoring can and does help at all career stages. Senior staff, for example, can gain enormous amounts of value from being mentored, as they can then potentially see the impact of long-standing mindsets or approaches through different perspectives. Those in senior positions then have wider opportunities to add value to their teams and the business.
Training and Support for Mentors
Clearly, I’m biased 😊, however, after supporting the training of hundreds of mentors I have yet to find someone who regretted taking the time out for the training.
However, just because someone is experienced and skilled in their role, it doesn’t mean they will naturally make a great mentor. Even where mentors have had previous leadership and senior experience, the mentoring means that they now need to use those skills in a unique way. In fact, some of the skills that are needed to be highly focussed and successful in some roles are the ones that are unhelpful in mentoring roles.
If you take a sports example here, then the best coaches are not necessarily the best sports achievers in their field. This means it is very important to consider the application process to become a mentor to ensure only the right people who can give the right support get involved.
Once the mentor training is completed then that’s only the start of their journey. It is critical to build in ongoing training, support and peer learning to develop your mentor’s confidence, engagement and skills. This ongoing support protects everyone involved and ensures the programme is a sustainable one. It means any issues or mentoring practice concerns get supported quickly and appropriately which increases impact and retention of your mentors.
The investment in mentor training here will help your organisation in so many ways. Mentor training means high levels of employee engagement which is, of course, crucial to boosting business profits. However, training also contributes in another way. It is only logical that by improving your team members’ skills, they are going to be better at their jobs.
The special thing about mentor training though is that it boosts confidence, communication and emotional intelligence skills which leads to a much better working environment for all.
Mentee Guidance
This stage often gets ignored and it can cause real issues. It makes a real difference that well before the mentoring starts the mentee fully understands what to expect. The Mentoring Code of Conduct comes in useful here as you can use it as a discussion point. I’ve found that reassurance over confidentiality and being very clear on boundaries has been especially useful here.
The mentees also need a central point of reference for any issues and of course sharing success! This is also a great opportunity to bring together communities within your organisation with ongoing mentoring events or mentoring cohorts who then stay in touch as cross-organisational support.
Mentoring Next Steps
I do hope this blog has helped you to think through your own options. Mentoring really does make an amazing difference to individuals, teams and organisations, so it is definitely worth doing!
If you want our help at any time, then we would love to hear from you. We have a flexible support for Mentoring Programmes and various training and qualification options for mentors.
Happy mentoring! 😊
There are lots of protocols to consider here too. For example, acting in the mentee’s best interests and confidentiality could come into conflict with your role and responsibilities, if your mentee shares that they are considering leaving/taking time out/not completing the next stage of their career. An example we see frequently is that a mentee has sought mentoring because of a perceived lack of support from their Line Manager or, on occasion, difficulties with their Line Manager. That means extra care with designing protocols is very often needed for in-house programmes.
In programmes like this, mentoring often works best as part of a blended holistic programme including training and access to an experienced training colleague for knowledge and technical help to support overall. Mentoring can additionally be a really helpful intervention after training to help the mentee put the training into practice over a longer time frame.
Career Mentoring versus Overall Mentoring
The reason I am often concerned about positioning career mentoring programmes is that I honestly believe mentoring works best for everyone when it is a holistic development.
The focus on the career step result can make for very narrow mentoring interventions which may lead to less value being added. Whereas if you take extra care to position that mentoring is for overall career success (whatever that means to the individual staff member), then this will work better.
The positive boundary of the programme will need to make clear that this is holistic career support which is different to personal mentoring or indeed counselling. The full understanding of the differences of all support roles and, therefore, what the mentoring can and cannot help with by everyone involved are very important.
Top 3 Things to Consider in Introducing Mentoring Programmes
Inclusivity
If the programme has been created for a specific sector such as new entrants, then how do other employees feel? Only providing support to certain employees can result in resentment building over time, as team members feel that they have not been invested in whilst others have.
A recent Investors in People survey found 60% of UK employees were not happy in their jobs, with a lack of job satisfaction being cited by 48% of these and feeling undervalued by 30%. So, creating a positive mentoring programme for a few and not considering inclusion could create even more disengagement.
Mentoring can and does help at all career stages. Senior staff, for example, can gain enormous amounts of value from being mentored, as they can then potentially see the impact of long-standing mindsets or approaches through different perspectives. Those in senior positions then have wider opportunities to add value to their teams and the business.
Training and Support for Mentors
Clearly, I’m biased 😊, however, after supporting the training of hundreds of mentors I have yet to find someone who regretted taking the time out for the training.
However, just because someone is experienced and skilled in their role, it doesn’t mean they will naturally make a great mentor. Even where mentors have had previous leadership and senior experience, the mentoring means that they now need to use those skills in a unique way. In fact, some of the skills that are needed to be highly focussed and successful in some roles are the ones that are unhelpful in mentoring roles.
If you take a sports example here, then the best coaches are not necessarily the best sports achievers in their field. This means it is very important to consider the application process to become a mentor to ensure only the right people who can give the right support get involved.
Once the mentor training is completed then that’s only the start of their journey. It is critical to build in ongoing training, support and peer learning to develop your mentor’s confidence, engagement and skills. This ongoing support protects everyone involved and ensures the programme is a sustainable one. It means any issues or mentoring practice concerns get supported quickly and appropriately which increases impact and retention of your mentors.
The investment in mentor training here will help your organisation in so many ways. Mentor training means high levels of employee engagement which is, of course, crucial to boosting business profits. However, training also contributes in another way. It is only logical that by improving your team members’ skills, they are going to be better at their jobs.
The special thing about mentor training though is that it boosts confidence, communication and emotional intelligence skills which leads to a much better working environment for all.
Mentee Guidance
This stage often gets ignored and it can cause real issues. It makes a real difference that well before the mentoring starts the mentee fully understands what to expect. The Mentoring Code of Conduct comes in useful here as you can use it as a discussion point. I’ve found that reassurance over confidentiality and being very clear on boundaries has been especially useful here.
The mentees also need a central point of reference for any issues and of course sharing success! This is also a great opportunity to bring together communities within your organisation with ongoing mentoring events or mentoring cohorts who then stay in touch as cross-organisational support.
Mentoring Next Steps
I do hope this blog has helped you to think through your own options. Mentoring really does make an amazing difference to individuals, teams and organisations, so it is definitely worth doing!
If you want our help at any time, then we would love to hear from you. We have a flexible support for Mentoring Programmes and various training and qualification options for mentors.
Happy mentoring! 😊
- Published on
As mentors our listening skills are the most important skills that we have. Closely listening to your mentee helps you to observe how your mentee is seeing issues and opportunities. Listening gives you insights into how best to support your mentee in understanding themselves and in turn moving forward. The best mentors are the ones that have the right questions - not the right answers.
Listening is an invaluable life skill and the cornerstone of high emotional intelligence. Many new mentors tell me they now realise how useful this skill is. They see that listening is transferable to their leadership roles, as well as helping with their professional and personal relationships.
So here is a quick insight into 5 key areas of listening that I hope will help you personally and professionally, as well as sharing what mentoring can involve:
1. Focus
As humans we communicate a lot so you may assume we are naturally good at it. Sadly, that is not the case! Part of communicating is listening which is a skill that can be learnt, practised, and continually improved.
Research suggests that we focus and remember only between 25% and 50% of what we hear.
That means that when you talk to people that are important to you, including your family, on average they will be taking in less than half of the conversation. The added challenge is you won't know which of the 25-50 percent they have missed!
As a mentor it means that unless you are aware of this challenge and continually focus on improving your skills when you are in a conversation with your mentee, you will not be taking in all of what your mentee is saying either.
In addition, our life mentor specialist, Adam, likes to remind us: “Whatever you focus on expands.”
In other words, if you are looking for particular themes or confirmations you will only listen and look to the part that reinforces your focus. That focus then becomes utmost in your mind and has a greater impact for you. Clearly, if you are using this knowledge to focus on positive outcomes this can often be a very useful way to listen and communicate. The issue here is that humans are very good at focussing on negatives not positives.
2. Emotion
To get the best out of a conversation, it is necessary to connect emotionally. My friend, Professor Kiran Trehan, reminded me of this at one of her lectures quoting Maya Angelou: “People will forget what you said and did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”
Listening shows how much you value someone. By listening carefully, you make them feel their views and opinions are important to you and that you care. This includes all your relationships, professional or personal. All of these will work better if they connect with you through communicating on an emotional level.
This can be difficult for some mentors, as they feel that they need to be senior and be the guide. That isn't mentoring and having an ego in mentoring is unhelpful to you and your mentee.
To connect with people emotionally as a mentor, you need to be just you. There is only one of you and people will feel when you are being authentic.
3. Interpretation
Whenever someone is talking roughly 7% is speech; and 38% is pitch, emotion, speed, volume and tone. So the majority, the 55 % left, is body language.
Your ears can only pick up the sounds of language, not its physical expressions. Your ears can only hear what is being said; they pass on the signal to the brain. Hearing what is NOT said only takes place in the brain itself. Your brain simultaneously processes and works out signals from the eyes and the ears, picking up these so much faster than conscious thought.
So, what is your mentee really sharing with you? Listening needs to include all your senses. Start thinking:
Your personal and professional instincts in mentoring are very powerful tools that are really helpful to you here. So by being observant and focussing on using all of your wider information tools, you will becoming better at understanding unspoken messages and therefore become a much better listener and mentor.
4. Personal bias
Everyone has biases and to be a great listener it is critical to have an awareness of these biases.
We apply bias without realising and sometimes this is just in a small way. Any bias however will be both damaging to you and those that you support through mentoring. It is therefore important to consider:
One example is with closeness communication bias. People frequently overestimate their ability to communicate, especially with people they know well. Research shows that people who know each other well understand each other no better than people who had recently met! Our problem in communicating with people we know is that we have an illusion that they really know and understand us to the extent they can ‘fill in the gaps’. In other words, when we speak with people we know well, we make assumptions about what they understand.
So in the mentoring world you need to take as much care with a mentee that you have been working with for a long time to continually check your and their understanding as you would with a new mentee relationship.
5. Active listening
“You have been given two ears and one mouth, so you should use them in that proportion”.
The way to improve your listening skills is to practice "active listening." This is where you make a conscious focussed effort to hear the words that another person is saying and critically focus your attention on the complete message being sent. To make this work as a mentor you will need to use your brain and concentrate a lot! That is because you need to use all your senses and all of your awareness.
How to improve listening with your brain
The great news is once you appreciate that something you have done naturally for your whole life can be enhanced by mentoring practice and awareness then it is easily improved. Here are 10 quick practical mentor actions:
Listening is an invaluable life skill and the cornerstone of high emotional intelligence. Many new mentors tell me they now realise how useful this skill is. They see that listening is transferable to their leadership roles, as well as helping with their professional and personal relationships.
So here is a quick insight into 5 key areas of listening that I hope will help you personally and professionally, as well as sharing what mentoring can involve:
1. Focus
As humans we communicate a lot so you may assume we are naturally good at it. Sadly, that is not the case! Part of communicating is listening which is a skill that can be learnt, practised, and continually improved.
Research suggests that we focus and remember only between 25% and 50% of what we hear.
That means that when you talk to people that are important to you, including your family, on average they will be taking in less than half of the conversation. The added challenge is you won't know which of the 25-50 percent they have missed!
As a mentor it means that unless you are aware of this challenge and continually focus on improving your skills when you are in a conversation with your mentee, you will not be taking in all of what your mentee is saying either.
In addition, our life mentor specialist, Adam, likes to remind us: “Whatever you focus on expands.”
In other words, if you are looking for particular themes or confirmations you will only listen and look to the part that reinforces your focus. That focus then becomes utmost in your mind and has a greater impact for you. Clearly, if you are using this knowledge to focus on positive outcomes this can often be a very useful way to listen and communicate. The issue here is that humans are very good at focussing on negatives not positives.
2. Emotion
To get the best out of a conversation, it is necessary to connect emotionally. My friend, Professor Kiran Trehan, reminded me of this at one of her lectures quoting Maya Angelou: “People will forget what you said and did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”
Listening shows how much you value someone. By listening carefully, you make them feel their views and opinions are important to you and that you care. This includes all your relationships, professional or personal. All of these will work better if they connect with you through communicating on an emotional level.
This can be difficult for some mentors, as they feel that they need to be senior and be the guide. That isn't mentoring and having an ego in mentoring is unhelpful to you and your mentee.
To connect with people emotionally as a mentor, you need to be just you. There is only one of you and people will feel when you are being authentic.
3. Interpretation
Whenever someone is talking roughly 7% is speech; and 38% is pitch, emotion, speed, volume and tone. So the majority, the 55 % left, is body language.
Your ears can only pick up the sounds of language, not its physical expressions. Your ears can only hear what is being said; they pass on the signal to the brain. Hearing what is NOT said only takes place in the brain itself. Your brain simultaneously processes and works out signals from the eyes and the ears, picking up these so much faster than conscious thought.
So, what is your mentee really sharing with you? Listening needs to include all your senses. Start thinking:
- What is being said?
- Is there anything not being said?
- What hidden messages are there below the surface?
- Do the non-verbal signals match the words being said?
- Why did they say something?
- Has anything been left out?
- Do you feel your mentee is being authentic, transparent and honest?
Your personal and professional instincts in mentoring are very powerful tools that are really helpful to you here. So by being observant and focussing on using all of your wider information tools, you will becoming better at understanding unspoken messages and therefore become a much better listener and mentor.
4. Personal bias
Everyone has biases and to be a great listener it is critical to have an awareness of these biases.
We apply bias without realising and sometimes this is just in a small way. Any bias however will be both damaging to you and those that you support through mentoring. It is therefore important to consider:
- Have you accurately interpreted what your mentee said?
- Is their meaning clear or have you added your own translation?
- Are you so focused on hearing what you want to hear that you have missed something important?
One example is with closeness communication bias. People frequently overestimate their ability to communicate, especially with people they know well. Research shows that people who know each other well understand each other no better than people who had recently met! Our problem in communicating with people we know is that we have an illusion that they really know and understand us to the extent they can ‘fill in the gaps’. In other words, when we speak with people we know well, we make assumptions about what they understand.
So in the mentoring world you need to take as much care with a mentee that you have been working with for a long time to continually check your and their understanding as you would with a new mentee relationship.
5. Active listening
“You have been given two ears and one mouth, so you should use them in that proportion”.
The way to improve your listening skills is to practice "active listening." This is where you make a conscious focussed effort to hear the words that another person is saying and critically focus your attention on the complete message being sent. To make this work as a mentor you will need to use your brain and concentrate a lot! That is because you need to use all your senses and all of your awareness.
How to improve listening with your brain
The great news is once you appreciate that something you have done naturally for your whole life can be enhanced by mentoring practice and awareness then it is easily improved. Here are 10 quick practical mentor actions:
Simple steps like these will really help you, your leadership and your mentoring.
They all make it clear that you value the other person and your relationship with them.
Happy listening!
They all make it clear that you value the other person and your relationship with them.
Happy listening!
- Published on
Choosing the right helping hand for you - mentoring solutions
Mentoring has the very special power to help you at any stage of your life, your career and your business.😊
For you to make the most out of mentoring, it is really important to know what type of mentoring solution will be the best for you and your teams.
There are 3 main ways that mentoring works, which I have shared for you here:
Life mentoring
This is also known as personal mentoring. This type of mentoring focuses on you as an individual and where you want to be. It will often include elements of your career or business to explore. This would be in areas such as work-life balance or difficult working relationships but only where those areas impact on you as an individual. This type of mentoring is especially valuable at key life stages e.g. serious illness, a general sense of wanting more from your life, divorce, redundancy and retirement.
Career/educational mentoring
This type of mentoring is where you want to get to the next stage of learning and development for your educational and career goals. These goals are not necessarily about promotion or change of roles. They can be about being the best in your current role or thinking about role enhancements or changes. It is often used for aspiring leaders/students with extra potential. However, it is very helpful for anyone to support them manage their career or study commitments well. It has also proved a useful tool for those who feel disengaged. Although in those cases it tends to be more of a life mentoring session with the emphasis on the outcomes that relate to the disengagement e.g. dropping out of college.
Enterprise mentoring
This is also known as business mentoring and its purpose is to help a key person in a business at any stage of its cycle. This is from pre-start stages through to start up, growth or exit and succession planning. Whilst this mentoring focusses on the business, the individual’s leadership skills will also be explored. This is, therefore, a brilliant tool if you want to develop both yourself and your business. It combines well with other forms of business support, especially training.
Once you have decided which type of mentoring is the right one for you at the time then the next decision is which delivery method you will feel most comfortable with. There are many ways, all of which work.
The key delivery methods of mentoring are:
One-to-one face-to-face mentoring
This is still the most popular delivery method, and with good reason. Most of what we communicate is non-verbal so by being with someone who is an experienced mentor, they will be able to notice areas that need exploring more easily and help you come to your own conclusions.
One-to-one via remote channels
This can be through the use of the phone or video conferencing. This is a great solution where time and distance are challenges. Greater care is needed to set frameworks and the mentoring relationship up. It can often make the interactions faster and more intense which works well for some, whilst others need more thinking and reflection time. It often works best when you have already met face-to-face first or as part of your overall mentoring relationship.
Peer-to-peer mentoring
This is where a small group of people mentor each other. Often they take turns to bring one issue each to the table. It really can bring people together. Great structure, careful management and facilitation is key, otherwise individuals can feel left out or overwhelmed as they have too many conflicting questions and ideas with the greater number of people involved.
Speed mentoring
These are mini sessions where you either have one-to-one taster sessions or meet a mentor (often a specialist) at a quick round table with others. This is best for a quick input and review on something important to you or to explore whether you feel mentoring is the right solution for you.
Specialist mentoring
This most often occurs with enterprise mentoring where you have specific mentoring sessions for a particular issue whilst often you still stay with your overall mentor. This is especially valuable to think through big changes such as trading internationally or expanding your digital capability where often one session will help you think things through and your overall mentor then supports you in taking that thinking through all parts of your business.
Reverse mentoring
This is most often used in career mentoring. It is where a senior colleague is mentored by a more junior colleague. It is often used when one person is very senior looking at areas such as strategy and planning head office work and the junior colleague is in a front line position. The benefits are that both see a different point of view and develop through that, whilst also improving the organisation. Whilst it is possible for this to work well on occasion, it needs to be a very carefully implemented solution as protocols are needed to protect and support the junior mentor.
Swap mentoring
This is where 2 individuals both have mentoring skills and have knowledge in complementary areas. This can work brilliantly as a trusted relationship where you both support each other. It can be great fun and very rewarding. The downside is the amount of time needed as you have to act as both mentee and mentor.
Supply chain/client mentoring
This is where an organisation mentors their stakeholders. It has huge benefits as it upskills both the individuals involved .as well as bringing overall relationships and understanding together. This option works best with full facilitation and programme management.
It is also possible for people to be involved in more than one mentoring relationship/mentor programme at a time. Whilst this can work, having more than one mentor at a time can be too much for people to get the most from the experience.
However, it's really worth mentioning here that whatever you decide is right for you right now will work. Going forward at any time, as things change in your life, career and business different types of mentoring/mentoring programme may be more valuable for you.
Whichever option you choose I am totally convinced that you will gain benefit. I hope this helps you decide the right option for you. Mentoring works 😊
If you want to know more, please contact us.
We can support you with the design, training, delivery and structure of any mentoring programme to suit your needs.
For you to make the most out of mentoring, it is really important to know what type of mentoring solution will be the best for you and your teams.
There are 3 main ways that mentoring works, which I have shared for you here:
Life mentoring
This is also known as personal mentoring. This type of mentoring focuses on you as an individual and where you want to be. It will often include elements of your career or business to explore. This would be in areas such as work-life balance or difficult working relationships but only where those areas impact on you as an individual. This type of mentoring is especially valuable at key life stages e.g. serious illness, a general sense of wanting more from your life, divorce, redundancy and retirement.
Career/educational mentoring
This type of mentoring is where you want to get to the next stage of learning and development for your educational and career goals. These goals are not necessarily about promotion or change of roles. They can be about being the best in your current role or thinking about role enhancements or changes. It is often used for aspiring leaders/students with extra potential. However, it is very helpful for anyone to support them manage their career or study commitments well. It has also proved a useful tool for those who feel disengaged. Although in those cases it tends to be more of a life mentoring session with the emphasis on the outcomes that relate to the disengagement e.g. dropping out of college.
Enterprise mentoring
This is also known as business mentoring and its purpose is to help a key person in a business at any stage of its cycle. This is from pre-start stages through to start up, growth or exit and succession planning. Whilst this mentoring focusses on the business, the individual’s leadership skills will also be explored. This is, therefore, a brilliant tool if you want to develop both yourself and your business. It combines well with other forms of business support, especially training.
Once you have decided which type of mentoring is the right one for you at the time then the next decision is which delivery method you will feel most comfortable with. There are many ways, all of which work.
The key delivery methods of mentoring are:
One-to-one face-to-face mentoring
This is still the most popular delivery method, and with good reason. Most of what we communicate is non-verbal so by being with someone who is an experienced mentor, they will be able to notice areas that need exploring more easily and help you come to your own conclusions.
One-to-one via remote channels
This can be through the use of the phone or video conferencing. This is a great solution where time and distance are challenges. Greater care is needed to set frameworks and the mentoring relationship up. It can often make the interactions faster and more intense which works well for some, whilst others need more thinking and reflection time. It often works best when you have already met face-to-face first or as part of your overall mentoring relationship.
Peer-to-peer mentoring
This is where a small group of people mentor each other. Often they take turns to bring one issue each to the table. It really can bring people together. Great structure, careful management and facilitation is key, otherwise individuals can feel left out or overwhelmed as they have too many conflicting questions and ideas with the greater number of people involved.
Speed mentoring
These are mini sessions where you either have one-to-one taster sessions or meet a mentor (often a specialist) at a quick round table with others. This is best for a quick input and review on something important to you or to explore whether you feel mentoring is the right solution for you.
Specialist mentoring
This most often occurs with enterprise mentoring where you have specific mentoring sessions for a particular issue whilst often you still stay with your overall mentor. This is especially valuable to think through big changes such as trading internationally or expanding your digital capability where often one session will help you think things through and your overall mentor then supports you in taking that thinking through all parts of your business.
Reverse mentoring
This is most often used in career mentoring. It is where a senior colleague is mentored by a more junior colleague. It is often used when one person is very senior looking at areas such as strategy and planning head office work and the junior colleague is in a front line position. The benefits are that both see a different point of view and develop through that, whilst also improving the organisation. Whilst it is possible for this to work well on occasion, it needs to be a very carefully implemented solution as protocols are needed to protect and support the junior mentor.
Swap mentoring
This is where 2 individuals both have mentoring skills and have knowledge in complementary areas. This can work brilliantly as a trusted relationship where you both support each other. It can be great fun and very rewarding. The downside is the amount of time needed as you have to act as both mentee and mentor.
Supply chain/client mentoring
This is where an organisation mentors their stakeholders. It has huge benefits as it upskills both the individuals involved .as well as bringing overall relationships and understanding together. This option works best with full facilitation and programme management.
It is also possible for people to be involved in more than one mentoring relationship/mentor programme at a time. Whilst this can work, having more than one mentor at a time can be too much for people to get the most from the experience.
However, it's really worth mentioning here that whatever you decide is right for you right now will work. Going forward at any time, as things change in your life, career and business different types of mentoring/mentoring programme may be more valuable for you.
Whichever option you choose I am totally convinced that you will gain benefit. I hope this helps you decide the right option for you. Mentoring works 😊
If you want to know more, please contact us.
We can support you with the design, training, delivery and structure of any mentoring programme to suit your needs.
- Published on
Welcome! A big thank you for taking time to read this and for considering mentoring. In this post, Jackie Jenks OBE, Leapfrog Mountain’s Founder, talks about the ways in which mentoring could help you to embark on a totally rewarding, enjoyable journey:
Why am I so confident?
After mentoring and being mentored myself, I can see, first-hand, the benefits of it. Through my wider national and international work with mentoring, I am lucky enough to see ‘acres’ of research proving the benefits. The numerous mentors that I have supported on the journey also tell me that they have gained so much from it.
So whilst I am confident you will enjoy mentoring, what other benefits does it bring?
1. The ability to truly help others
As a mentor you are sharing a special gift that it is invaluable – your time. Mentor training will help you use your mentoring time for the utmost long-term good of those you want to help.
2. The ability to truly help yourself
As a mentor we share and develop skills in our training and ongoing support that are intrinsic leadership and life skills: how to listen effectively; how to be aware of unconscious messages; and how to be more emotionally intelligent.
These are transferable skills for home and work. The fascinating thing about a successful mentoring relationship is that you learn just as much yourself as does your mentee – a true win–win for all involved. You will gain skills, confidence and experience that are valuable in all areas of your life.
3. The ability to view things from different perspectives
Often in our work and home life we spend time with people who are very similar to ourselves. We are surrounded by people with similar education, attitudes, and beliefs. Often, we don't even realise how our version of ‘normal’ is seen from different perspectives.
Mentoring gives you an excellent way to meet new people, see different perspectives and learn different things. The mentor training gives you and your mentee a safe framework to do exactly that.
We cover the codes of conduct and throughout the mentor training we explore areas to be careful with so you can support and challenge perspectives in the best way.
4. Meeting new people
Overall, the mentor community is a positive collaborative one that loves to share news and views. The mentor training gives you a chance to benefit from meeting like-minded people like you that genuinely care about making a difference.
5. Developing Your Team and Organisation
The mentor training works brilliantly when it is part of team or organisation-wide development or social impact programme. This way the mentoring training achieves organisational goals for growth, engagement and impact, whilst supporting individuals’ growth too. We support organisations in creating the right mentoring programme for their goals with training and guidance for mentoring programme leaders/ambassadors alongside the mentor training.
So, I hope you decide to take a leap into mentoring in 2023.
Curious to learn more? Why not get in touch for a chat? We look forward to hearing from you!
Jackie
Don’t just take my word for it…..delegates from previous Leapfrog Mountain training courses have given the following feedback:
“Excellent trainer, very knowledgeable with real life experience and was the perfect person to lead the training as she brought the subject to life in a well delivered programme. It’s made me much better informed about how to be a mentor in my career and to use in my private life. I felt the course was the tip of the iceberg as there was plenty more to discuss if we had more time and more training would be great when we are at the next stage of mentoring.”
Corporate Relationship Director, HSBC
“Having worked with Jackie and Leapfrog Training for almost a year now, I can honestly say that choosing to work together was one of the best career decisions I’ve made. Jackie has directly supported me with a bespoke mentoring programme which has been adapted (sometimes mid-session!) through periods of significant change and growth. A highly intuitive and empathetic leader, Jackie has an uncanny ability to unpick complexity and help you find the right answers with the care and attention of a critical friend. A huge plus point has been the flexibility built into the programme. Key themes are drawn in from Leapfrog’s training material, but sessions are adapted to suit your needs at that time. This is combined with Jackie’s personal experiences and anecdotes which are drawn upon from a very successful and diverse career. Working with Leapfrog has been a hugely beneficial and transformative personal experience which has opened my eyes to the benefits of an effective mentor.”
COO, Capita Consulting
- Published on
A mentor can add value to you, your career or your business in so many ways.
In this series, we are exploring key ways in which you might want to work with your mentor to make the most of your mentoring relationship. That way you achieve the mentoring success that you want. It shows the value any organisation can gain for their people, profits and priorities through mentoring programmes too.
The area we are discussing today is clarity. When you have clarity through mentoring you will be able to:
- Make great decisions.
- Understand yourself better.
- Be more resilient.
- Build better relationships.
- Be more productive.
A great mentor and a great mentoring programme will help you achieve this through a mixture of support, positive challenge and signposting to help you succeed the way you want to.
So let’s look at clarity some more and I’m going to use the example of water here to hopefully bring the value of mentoring to life for you!
Surfing Waves through Mentoring
You want to get somewhere. You might be looking at career, professional or business success. You are working hard. However, you keep getting knocked back by waves of change or waves of circumstances. These waves can additionally come from within through waves of low confidence, low resilience or even waves of unhelpful thinking patterns and behaviours. A mentor will help you make sense of your setbacks to help you, as a mentee, learn from them and then get to your calm waters again.
Managing Currents through Mentoring
You’re in a situation (business or professional) where there is so much change you’ve lost your direction. You may have even got caught in a rip current taking you far away from where you were, leaving you feeling very tired and confused. A mentor will help you find the clarity of what’s really important to you now your circumstances have changed. You can explore why the change had really unsettled you and strategies for coping with change better next time. A good mentoring programme here will support your mentoring relationship over the longer term. This is to ensure that clarity stays with you through the transition and through to your new circumstances.
Removing Blocks through Mentoring
You’re getting along really well with your goals and have great clarity on them. However, small setbacks are irritating and distracting you. Small blocks or debris bobbing up in the water confuse you. These blocks can then seem much bigger and more important than they really are. That’s where our name ‘Leapfrog Mountain’ came from, as so many clients told us their mentoring or their mentoring programme had made them feel they could leap mountains! A mentor in these circumstances will help you really focus, understand what the blocks really mean to you and help you set the best priorities for you. The mentor will then help you find your tools for you to better manage distractions like this. You, as a mentee, can then achieve calm focussed success.
Managing Storms through Mentoring
If you feel you are in a storm, it’s very likely you are in a stress response. If you’re in this space sadly you are very unlikely to be making the best decisions. A stress response usually diminishes your capability to listen, to understand and to think creatively – all vital to make good decisions. Clarity therefore often gets lost unless you had exceptional clarity to start with over what’s important to you. Mentoring will create a safe space for you to make sense of your priorities. Mentoring will give the perspective on the storm and see it for what it really is – intense maybe but only a passing storm not a permanent state. Mentoring can additionally help highlight there is a stress issue and then a mentor can help by signposting to specialist support.
Seeing Clear Paths through Mentoring
Sometimes we think we know where we are heading and suddenly things just get a bit cloudy for us. That can make us feel lost, confused and tired. This wastes valuable time and energy. It often means we focus on low value tasks just because we feel like at least we are doing something. This strategy is really unhelpful. A mentor will help you find clear water again. Just by investing your time as a mentee in taking that mentoring relationship seriously in itself often gives clarity. Time out is really time invested in, as mentoring gives so much back for results and productivity for mentees.
Finding Your Direction through Mentoring
If you haven’t got clarity over which direction to head in, then a mentor can add real value here for you. A mentor can’t make that decision for you though as it’s you, as a mentee, that needs to decide your way forward. A mentor will help you see the pros and cons of each option. You then jointly explore this and see if your assumptions are valid and the impacts of each of those options. Often by doing this more possibilities become available, as your breadth of thinking is expanded. As a mentee, this will help you gain the clarity to make the right decision for you.
Creating Your Safe Harbour through Mentoring
A great mentor will add amazing value to you, as a mentee, by helping you find your own safe harbour. A safe harbour means you have total clarity on what’s important to you and why. You understand yourself better. You recognise the drivers for your thoughts and behaviours. You manage yourself better to achieve the right outcomes. This is the really valuable space where you develop, through mentoring, the clarity and focus to build on your own definition of success. In other words, you have nailed it!
How We Can Help You
If you want clarity and success for your team, we would love to support your organisation’s mentoring programme plans. We help create, design and deliver mentoring programmes and mentor training solutions.
If you would like us to support your individual mentoring, either as a mentor or mentee, we have flexible leadership and mentoring programme support for you, so please just get in touch.
Happy mentoring! 😊
- Published on
How has the Summer and the second half of the year started for you?
Are you focussed on where you want to spread your wings either emotionally, mentally, personally and professionally? Do you have a strong sense of what’s important to you and your business for this next half of the year?
Many of our clients have told us that they have finally had the opportunity to see with ‘eagle’ eyes the landscapes around them and reflect on their own priorities. This time now will be important to start putting those priorities in place.
Some of our clients have been such ‘busy bees’ with leading their teams, leading their business or supporting others that they have told us that they simply need to take a break.
A few clients have had a mixture with ‘butterflying’ around; feeling they need to be busy doing something but not sure quite what to focus on.
I’m also delighted to say that some clients have been scanning the horizon for opportunities and have found them; creating growth and new ventures for themselves and their business. These ‘meerkats’ have kept a great look out and have built new foundations to expand.
Whichever space you are in, taking some proper time out at this time of year is important. It gives you a chance to develop 2020 to be just as you and your business want.
So which space are you in right now? Are you ready to spread your wings?
If you’ve decided that you are in ‘eagle’ mode, then the most helpful reflections are to check that you are truly in balance to take the best flight forward. How especially are your personal and professional priorities balanced? ‘Eagle’ mode can sometimes mean you’ve a tendency towards perfectionism so is that causing tensions for you personally or as you lead others? Mentoring programmes or leadership training for organisations and individuals can really help here.
If you’ve decided you are in ‘busy bee’ mode then taking a break is a proven tool to help! However, if nothing changes when you get back, it’s only pressed the pause button not the restart button and you will be back in the same chaos very soon. How can you do things differently, deal with people differently, prioritise your time and energy differently? Leadership means leading yourself successfully as much as leading others well. How skilled are you? We’ve seen great success with a variety of tools here with different clients from mentoring programmes through to tailored training in the areas of Time Management, Emotional Intelligence, Resilience and Leadership. Once leaders or entire organisations work together to understand triggers and raise awareness then great results happen naturally.
If you’ve been ‘butterflying’ around, then the big question is what are you avoiding? Distraction activities and keeping busy are all things we do when we’ve lost our way. Avoiding something is much harder work than facing something. Avoidance is very draining. When was the last time you let yourself stop, pause and reflect? Have you given 100% focus to your challenge or have you been just 'butterflying' around? What’s making you feel uncomfortable and why? Training and mentoring programmes can be helpful here for businesses and business leaders. Some private clients have realised they want to make very significant changes and our Career Crossroads service has given them the support to do that in a flexible way. Spreading your wings simply means doing it in the most helpful positive way for you.
If you’ve been in ‘meercat’ mode then that’s a lovely result in our current climate. Our clients have used us through both mentoring and training programmes to continue to build on their success. Opportunities are great things – they just need managing carefully to maximise the results for both people and business. We’ve shared training as our clients have grown and expanded or acted as a sounding board through mentoring, as they build sustainable changes for themselves and their businesses.
Every feeling from total grey to seeing bright Summer possibilities. It has definitely been a very varied time with all the different businesses and business leaders we work with. Whatever the circumstances though, there are always the key themes of training and developing people and teams positively through finding the right training and mentoring programmes just for them.
Please contact us so we can help you explore what training or mentoring solution will help you spread your wings – just as you want!
Wishing you every success and a wonderful Summer ahead! 😊
Are you focussed on where you want to spread your wings either emotionally, mentally, personally and professionally? Do you have a strong sense of what’s important to you and your business for this next half of the year?
Many of our clients have told us that they have finally had the opportunity to see with ‘eagle’ eyes the landscapes around them and reflect on their own priorities. This time now will be important to start putting those priorities in place.
Some of our clients have been such ‘busy bees’ with leading their teams, leading their business or supporting others that they have told us that they simply need to take a break.
A few clients have had a mixture with ‘butterflying’ around; feeling they need to be busy doing something but not sure quite what to focus on.
I’m also delighted to say that some clients have been scanning the horizon for opportunities and have found them; creating growth and new ventures for themselves and their business. These ‘meerkats’ have kept a great look out and have built new foundations to expand.
Whichever space you are in, taking some proper time out at this time of year is important. It gives you a chance to develop 2020 to be just as you and your business want.
So which space are you in right now? Are you ready to spread your wings?
If you’ve decided that you are in ‘eagle’ mode, then the most helpful reflections are to check that you are truly in balance to take the best flight forward. How especially are your personal and professional priorities balanced? ‘Eagle’ mode can sometimes mean you’ve a tendency towards perfectionism so is that causing tensions for you personally or as you lead others? Mentoring programmes or leadership training for organisations and individuals can really help here.
If you’ve decided you are in ‘busy bee’ mode then taking a break is a proven tool to help! However, if nothing changes when you get back, it’s only pressed the pause button not the restart button and you will be back in the same chaos very soon. How can you do things differently, deal with people differently, prioritise your time and energy differently? Leadership means leading yourself successfully as much as leading others well. How skilled are you? We’ve seen great success with a variety of tools here with different clients from mentoring programmes through to tailored training in the areas of Time Management, Emotional Intelligence, Resilience and Leadership. Once leaders or entire organisations work together to understand triggers and raise awareness then great results happen naturally.
If you’ve been ‘butterflying’ around, then the big question is what are you avoiding? Distraction activities and keeping busy are all things we do when we’ve lost our way. Avoiding something is much harder work than facing something. Avoidance is very draining. When was the last time you let yourself stop, pause and reflect? Have you given 100% focus to your challenge or have you been just 'butterflying' around? What’s making you feel uncomfortable and why? Training and mentoring programmes can be helpful here for businesses and business leaders. Some private clients have realised they want to make very significant changes and our Career Crossroads service has given them the support to do that in a flexible way. Spreading your wings simply means doing it in the most helpful positive way for you.
If you’ve been in ‘meercat’ mode then that’s a lovely result in our current climate. Our clients have used us through both mentoring and training programmes to continue to build on their success. Opportunities are great things – they just need managing carefully to maximise the results for both people and business. We’ve shared training as our clients have grown and expanded or acted as a sounding board through mentoring, as they build sustainable changes for themselves and their businesses.
Every feeling from total grey to seeing bright Summer possibilities. It has definitely been a very varied time with all the different businesses and business leaders we work with. Whatever the circumstances though, there are always the key themes of training and developing people and teams positively through finding the right training and mentoring programmes just for them.
Please contact us so we can help you explore what training or mentoring solution will help you spread your wings – just as you want!
Wishing you every success and a wonderful Summer ahead! 😊
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