Tuesday 8 November 2011

Thoughts on mentoring #cpd23

Firstly, thanks to all the mentors out there - your support is much appreciated!

I'm glad that mentoring is part of the chartership process, as without a mentor, it would be so much harder to keep on track. My mentor and I agreed to email once a month and meet quarterly. As a person who quite likes structure, having these 'deadlines' to work to helps me set myself targets so that I have something to say in each email and meeting! Opinions vary on which is better: to have a mentor who you already know and get on well with, or somone you don't know. I deliberately contacted someone who I didn't know at all, and who worked in a different sector to me, so I could benefit from their different perspective. 6 months into the mentoring relationship, and I really appreciate the advice from my mentor and the questions asked that I wouldn't necessarily have thought of asking. It was interesting to visit my mentor's library, and see how completely different it is from the one I work in!

Mentor meetings usually involve something like this:

I've also been lucky with my jobs in that those in more senior positions have been very supportive and I've learnt a lot from their experience and advice in more informal ways, about my career path and personal/professional development as well as more directly relating to my roles.

When I am more senior and experienced, I hope I'll be able to help someone by mentoring them, either formally or informally.

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