Have any of you taken part in a mentoring scheme?

[kernowgal]

First off, I've been asked to consider being a mentor to a trainee at work, something I would be pleased to do as I think it's really important to have guidance and someone to bounce thoughts off, who isn't a line manager.

Second, I've found out about a mentoring scheme run by one of the big institutions in my industry, and I think it would be a great opportunity to find someone to mentor me. I've put the wheels in motion to find out more, but I would appreciate any input from you all about what I should expect from a mentor, and what I should do myself to get the most out of it.

My main reason for wanting a mentor is to find out the best way to move my career forward, maybe identify career paths that I didn't know about - things like that. I would also like to move into a managerial role sooner rather than later, and so it would be useful to have some guidance on that front.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts!

I work as a clinical coach ( mentor) for student veterinary nurses. When I trained it was emphasised that my job was mainly to listen and help my students to identify where they want to head, then to draw up a pathway to help them get there.
In truth some students are brilliant at this others are terrible and full guiding the whole time.

Being a mentor can be very rewarding, however, at times it can be incredibly hard work and take up a very large amount of your time.

I recently signed up as a mentee. So far I've had 2 sessions with my mentor. It's someone I already knew, and I was delighted she agreed. I had some specific issues I wanted another perspective on, and she's helping me with that. She had mentored in the past (another organisation) so she's good: she asks me lots of questions, makes me think and provides a sounding board! It's very valuable to me. She says it makes her feel that she's doing something useful, so it's a win-win.

Thanks both. The mentee in this case has already asked when she's likely to get a mentor, which hopefully means she will find it useful. I've ordered a book on coaching and mentoring from the library and so will read that, I'm also doing a short course at work to find out more.

It's highlighting how much I could do with a sounding board myself. Am wondering if there's anyone high up in my organisation who would be interested in chatting, although most of them have been there for decades and risen through the ranks, so tend to be a bit "institutionalised", for want of a better word, and maybe not best placed to offer career guidance.

I've had several mentors (in the formal sense) through my career - some have been amazing, others nice but not that useful. Be prepared for a mentoring relationship not to "click". If your first attempt doesn't work out, try again.

I found that for figuring out how to move my career forward/other career paths, that going to events where I could talk to peers was actually most helpful. Being able to talk over how I'd handled different situations with my mentor was massively helpful when I was on a very difficult project.

Know what you mean about "lifers" in an organisation being institutionalised though - however in terms of making progress in that organisation, it can be tremendously useful to have a senior sponsor, someone who's interested in your career and wants to see you succeed. (Though in a huge organisation, it's not necessarily the case that someone senior will have any clout in your area!).

Good luck!