People & Organisational Development

Willingness to share skills, knowledge and expertise: a good mentor appreciates that this is an ongoing requirement of the relationship, and understands the importance of it to guide their mentee to achieve their potential and progress within their role.

Takes a personal interest in the mentoring relationship: good mentors do not take their role lightly and are committed to helping their mentees succeed, whilst feeling gratification in doing so. Many mentors appreciate mentoring can also enhance their own career and personal development, and this valuing of their own growth can help to add a personal interest and passion to the relationship.

Provides helpful feedback: one of the main responsibilities of a mentor is to provide guidance and effective feedback. This is where the mentee is most likely to grow by identifying their current strengths and weaknesses and learning how to use them in their role. A good mentor will provide their mentee with challenges that will further their professional development whilst also encouraging them to become more self-aware and reflective. They will also help their mentee address and be more honest about where they might have gone wrong.

Active listener: mentors must ensure they are an active, and not passive, listener. They should be fully engaged and reinforce what their mentee is saying by showing nonverbal actions such as eye contact and nodding. They should show real sincerity in what the mentee is saying and ensure they ask questions.

Open-minded: a good mentor should approach their relationship with an open mind and try to keep their own thoughts, value system and prejudices aside. They need to open their mind to a new way of thinking.

• Further training available from Organisational Development: How to be an effective mentor

Take responsibility for own learning: a mentee should have a clear idea of what they want to achieve within their role, setting their own objectives and mentoring agenda. A mentee will only get out of the mentoring relationship what they put into it. A mentor has the ability to equip a mentee with the knowledge they possess, but only if the mentee is willing to take responsibility and absorb all the knowledge they can.

Be realistic: whilst appreciating the influence a mentor can have on their career, a good mentee must also realise that mentors have significant workloads however they are prepared to  invest their time and effort into a mentees career development. As such, a mentee should set attainable yet challenging goals for the time spent with their mentor. A mentee should also recognise the importance of other aspects of continued professional development and not singly rely on the mentoring relationship to aid in their career growth.

Open to feedback: a mentee must be open to the feedback received from their mentor and be willing to look at a situation from another person’s perception to gain a more objective viewpoint. Being open to try new things and considering alternative ways to achieve something is one of the biggest values gained via a mentoring relationship.

Be prepared: a mentee should be fully prepared for each meeting. .Being focused in your mentor discussions means  you are more likely to stay on task and optimise your time together. Being prepared also ensures a mentee is being respectful of their mentor’s time and shows appreciation of the time the mentor is devoting to them.

Be open and honest: a mentee must understand and appreciate their own needs and objectives to effectively share them with their mentor. This requires self-reflection and the willingness to be open and honest with their mentor to discuss the areas that may need work.

Be open-minded: a mentee should approach the relationship with an open mind and try to keep their own prejudices.

Agreeing on the terms of how you are going to work together is important. Aside from what you are going to focus on in your mentoring, it is important to consider how you are going to work together. For example, allocating planned time (e.g. regular planned meetings booked well in advance), boundaries, accessibility (e.g. drop in sessions vs planned time), availability, confidentiality, etc. You should also agree how you are going to monitor how mentoring is working for both parties. Planning check in sessions focusing on ‘how is this working for you?’ with agreement to be open and constructive in feedback.  The types of questions that may be useful for these discussions include:

• What is working well?
• What is not working as well? What suggestions do you both have to improve that aspect of mentoring?
• Are agreed actions carried through?
• Are meetings taking place as planned?
• Is the approach to mentoring working well for the mentee / mentor?
• What other support would be useful to the mentee?

Some other considerations:

• What note taking would be useful? Who is responsible for taking a note of agreed actions?
• Do you book your next meeting at the end of each meeting or have set meeting times?
• Would it be helpful to identify a key theme for each mentoring session with agreed actions leading up to the next meeting?
• Who else should be involved? Mentors may be sign-posting to other key contacts for specific aspects of development (e.g. getting feedback on grant application, observation of teaching, interpreting reports / feedback, expertise in specific area)
• How is the mentee keeping their line manager up to date on progress on development through mentoring and related activity? What is the role of the mentor?

Mentors can provide support to mentees in completing the participant section of the ECDP Objectives and Targets Form, particularly as a ‘sounding board’ for setting objectives and targets.

Looking ahead to development and related actions, agreeing priorities, next steps and related plans.

Considering approaches to development (e.g. target networking, 1-2-1 support with feedback, attending a professional development event, linking to an expert in field, etc).

ECDP mentoring may include a range of activities or experiences as relevant to the mentee’s development needs and is intended to be ‘hands on’.  For example, the types of activities ECDP mentoring could include are:

• providing assistance in the drafting of annual objectives , for example, including guidance on objectives as aligned to promotional criteria based upon the participants progress on the programme;

• providing feedback and guidance on a grant application;

• sharing tips for success tips in writing grants, providing feedback on draft grant applications, reflecting on unsuccessful grant applications;

• reviewing papers and  providing feedback;

• identifying key networks to join, making introductions where possible;

• Signposting to information and resources including making introductions to people and networks;

• assisting in the interpretation of feedback (e.g. student feedback);

• providing an overview of relevant aspects to R&T activities (e.g. Internationalisation, REF, Impact);

• understanding committee structures and key roles relevant to career progression including, for example, an overview of the purpose of key committees, benefits of being involved in committees, how committees recruit to key roles and how these opportunities link to career development and progression;

• working collaboratively  on a specific piece of work relevant to career development (on the job learning);

• providing an opportunity to explore a challenge or problem, consider options, review  implications and  plan future action;

• sharing knowledge, experiences, insights and lessons learnt as relevant.

There are a range of external resources which may be useful in getting the most from your mentoring including:

• Nature's guide for mentors
• Science – “Top 10 Tips to Maximise your Mentoring”
• The Academy of Medical Sciences - Mentoring downloads