The opportunity to receive mentorship from another professional or peer can create a valuable activity for continuing professional development and growth by offering a varied and hands-on approach to learning.
Typically, a mentoring relationship can enable individuals to benefit from real-world/industry insights, shared experiences and individual and personalised guidance. These are all essential for both career growth and development, regardless of the sector you work in, but this is certainly true for those working in higher education.
This was highlighted in a report from AdvanceHE (formerly the Equality Challenge Unit), which discussed the impact of mentoring on progressing women’s careers in higher education (Quinn, 2012). This found that mentoring has a number of benefits for mentees, mentors and higher education institutions alike. For mentees, the general benefits might include personal and professional development, including increased well-being, confidence, self-esteem and a better work-life balance, alongside heightened career aspirations (Quinn, 2012). Whilst for mentors it was identified that they might benefit from increased confidence, personal fulfilment and career rejuvenation.
Read our guide to find out more about what mentorship might involve and how it can play a pivotal role in career development for both parties.
What might mentorship involve?
The nature of a mentoring relationship and what is involved is likely to vary from industry to industry, from employer to employer, and even from department to department within an organisation. The activities may be structured or informal and are likely to be wide-ranging, from providing feedback on prospective applications to sharing recommended resources with mentees, and from discussing ideas for career exploration to networking with colleagues and/or skill-sharing opportunities.
Typical formal mentoring activities might include:
- Structured 1:1 mentoring: might involve a formal programme of regular one-to-one meetings, with clear career exploration, goal-setting, and impact monitoring activities.
- Group mentoring: a dedicated mentor working with a small group of mentees, offering scope for collaborative learning and sharing of knowledge and expertise.
- Reverse mentoring: although less common, senior members of staff within an organisation may be mentored by a junior colleague to assist with upskilling. This could be in relation to topics such as new technology, use of social media, and understanding the work environment from an early careers perspective.
Common informal mentoring activities might include:
- Sharing of experiences and learning: a mentor might look to share their own career trajectory and the insights they have gained through their journey with their mentee(s).
- Networking sessions/socials: mentors could individually / collectively organise informal networking opportunities through social lunches/meetings, offering mentees the opportunity to meet one another, share their knowledge, experience and key learning.
- Book/article discussions: encouraging mentees to engage with a range of resources, including books and articles linked to their profession, practice or sector to encourage learning and reflection.
Other activities which could be incorporated as part of mentorship may include role-plays – offering simulation of real-life scenarios to assist with skills development and confidence; job shadowing – offering the chance to observe professionals in the workplace to gain insights into different roles and areas of work; and reflective journaling – encouraging mentees to document and reflect upon their experiences to identify gaps in their skills and to determine areas for growth.
How is mentorship impactful?
There is a wide range of benefits to a mentoring relationship for both parties involved. Those recipients of mentorship could benefit from:
- Feeling encouraged and empowered to engage in activities to support their personal development;
- Dedicated time to focus on identifying and/or working towards career and professional development goals;
- Being helped to identify potential gaps in either general or specific skills and knowledge;
- Increased confidence by engaging in reflection to identify strengths and development opportunities;
- Gaining a broader perspective on career options and progression opportunities;
- Having access to a senior role model, whilst gaining insight into organisational culture;
- Potentially developing their own mentoring/coaching skills from understanding more about the nature of mentorship.
Those professionals who choose to become a mentors could benefit from engaging with the process through the following:
- Recognition for their involvement in a programme that could be of strategic importance to their organisation
- Gaining new perspectives and insights from their peers/colleagues through training and development for the mentor role
- Increased opportunities for networking with colleagues and additional experience in staff development. This could be advantageous when looking to apply to future roles, especially in management
- Dedicated time to undertake an activity which can increase own self-reflection and personal fulfilment when supporting a colleague
- Developing own mentoring/coaching skills, which could be utilised in the future
How can you source a mentor?
The potential to source and secure a mentor is likely to depend on the nature of the organisation you work for. In the higher education sector, in particular, mentoring opportunities and structured programmes are fairly common and will be promoted during staff induction, through staff updates, and/or as a CPD activity identified as part of performance reviews.
If you are working in a sector/area of research linked to a professional body, then it will also be worth looking at their individual websites to establish whether they offer professional mentoring programmes. This could offer an opportunity to engage as both a mentee and a mentor, depending on the programme structure and intended outcomes.
Mentoring can be an incredibly impactful means of continuing professional development – both for the mentee and the mentor – by offering the chance to learn from experience, build positive working relationships, gain new insights into work culture and development opportunities, as well as offering dedicated time to commit to activities linked to the mentorship. Overall, mentorship can play a significant and pivotal role in career development by encouraging skills development, increasing job satisfaction, and contributing to the retention of staff in the workplace.
Do I need to have a clear set of career goals in order to enter into a mentoring relationship? My employer has offered me the opportunity to be mentored but I do not want to waste the mentor’s time by lacking a clear vision of where I would like to go.