What you get as being a mentor?

At its core, mentoring is a one-on-one relationship in which “a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps to guides a less experienced or less knowledgeable person.” The mentor usually helps the mentee identify career goals and provides advice and guidance. Sounds a bit like a coach, right? Not quite. While a mentor might use coaching techniques while working with mentees, coaches aren’t necessarily mentors. Coaching is a set of skills and behaviours; mentoring is fundamentally relationship-based. Unlike a coach, a mentor might also share personal experiences or recommend potential actions. To get the best mentor for your career come to SkillPal.

SkillPal Mentoring relationships seem to be most successful when both parties are willing to engage in reflection on the purpose of the mentoring program, the mentoring relationship itself, and whether or not progress is being towards the goals laid out at the beginning of the relationship. No matter what the structure of the reflective process, it can be an essential element in successful mentoring relationships. Personal and professional growth or other changes are likely occurring as the mentoring signs of progress and these changes will impact what participants may want or need from the relationship. Therefore, it is important for mentors and mentees to take time to reflect upon their relationship and the extent to which it is flourishing, or perhaps what can be done to remove obstacles. Those involved in mentoring partnerships should also reflect upon the degree to which goals are being met. There is strong evidence that successful partnerships keep their eye on the goal and the degree to which progress is being made.

Consider the needs of mentors. Building a solid base of mentors can be a challenge. It is important to understand the positive and negative factors that impact mentor participation. Once you have identified them, look for creative ways to reinforce positive drivers and lower the hurdles of negative ones throughout the mentoring process. For example, mentors are often busy people with limited time to spend. How can you help mentors be more efficient with the time they have to dedicate to mentoring? Also, consider recognition and reward strategies. Formally recognizing mentor involvement can be very motivating and help attract additional mentors to the program. A mentor of SkillPal can help you advance within your field and connect you with opportunities that you might not have otherwise had access to. They do this by sharing their knowledge, helping you identify opportunities in your path, and potentially opening doors for you when the time comes.

The benefits of a mentor included:

• recognised involvement in a programme of strategic importance to your Faculty
• new perspectives and insight into your Faculty
• potential for networking
• additional experience in staff management and development
• opportunity for self-reflection, and personal satisfaction
• funding bodies increasingly value an active mentoring programme and often encourage senior staff to be mentors
• developing mentoring/coaching skills

SkillPal Mentoring is more than the transfer of advice, knowledge and insights. The relationship offers reciprocal benefits for mentors willing to invest their time in developing another professional. As well as the personal satisfaction of sharing their skills and experience with a willing learner, being involved in mentoring also provides some tangible benefits that can reward mentors professionally.

Some key benefits for mentors include:

· Recognition as a subject matter expert and leader

· Exposure to fresh perspectives, ideas and approaches

· Extension of their professional development record

· Opportunity to reflect on their own goals and practices

· Development of their personal leadership and coaching styles

The specific benefits of being mentored by a top SkillPal mentor include:

• being encouraged and empowered in personal development
• being helped to identify and achieve career goals
• being helped to identify and correct gaps in generic skills and knowledge
• increasing your confidence
• developing and maintaining a broader perspective on career options and opportunities
• having access to a senior role model
• gaining insight into University culture
• developing mentoring/coaching skills
• career advancement, including a higher rate of promotion
• increased opportunities and a likelihood of staying at the institution
• higher salaries
• increased productivity and better time management
• greater success in achieving external research grants
• personal and professional development, including increased job-related wellbeing, self-esteem and confidence, and better work-life balance
• preparation for the future and heightened career aspirations
• developed networking skills

Mentoring is a well-established technique that helps talented individuals achieve their potential. SkillPal Mentors provide their mentees with support, encouragement, friendship reinforcement and a constructive example. But mentoring isn’t one-size-fits-all. Mentees have individual needs so mentoring relationships should offer enough flexibility to suit each circumstance while allowing the relationships to flourish within a defined structure.

· Mentors should not be in the mentee’s immediate discipline or have any line management responsibility

· Mentorship should be mentee-driven and mentees will choose their potential mentor

· Individuals involved should sign a contract committing to an ongoing relationship for about 2 years (or at least as long as both are within the University)

· The relationship is not expected to last indefinitely

· A ‘no-fault’ divorce clause will be in effect

· Each mentor should have no more than 2 mentees within the School’s programme

· All mentors should have received training

· All mentees should understand/be trained about the mentoring relationship

· The relationship between the mentee and the mentor is two-way and each party bears equal responsibility for making it work effectively. Both parties will gain and learn from their relationship and will decide together how it will work and what the relationship will encompass.