Mentor and Mentee Development Programme

What is mentoring?Professional mentoring is an increasingly popular development tool. It describes a relationship in which a more experienced colleague shares their knowledge to support the development of an inexperienced colleague. Undertaken effectively, mentoring can be a highly effective empowerment tool, supporting staff to progress in their career.

Mentoring is a professional partnership between two members of staff, normally working within the same field or with similar experiences. It is a professional relationship that is based in mutual trust and respect.

Why mentoring?Mentoring provides a safe space to devise and explore a range of options and plan for future actions. It is where a mentee can be challenged and supported by their mentor to develop insights and ideas. Mentors provide guidance and support to the mentor and inspire new perspectives.

Mentoring is not a substitute for line management or supervision. It can nurture but is not a short cut to promotion. It is not an alternative to friendship or networking. Coaching skills may be used, on occasion, by a mentor but they may also provide more directive advice, support and guidance.

Benefits of mentoring Effective mentoring has a range of potential benefits for the mentor, the mentee and the University.

For the mentee:

• Increase self-awareness, motivation and confidence• Greater clarity of purpose and productivity• Increased University knowledge and know-how• Improved skills• Focus and preparation for the future and career aspirations

For the mentor:

• New perspectives• Keeping in touch with the realities and challenges faced by colleagues• Development of interpersonal skills• Personal satisfaction• Contribution to the wider area and University goals

For the University:

• Increased job satisfaction and retention of talented people• Contribution to talent development• Increased performance and productivity• Improved staff engagement

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“ Every great achiever is inspired by a great mentor. ”

Lailah Gifty Akita

Mentor Development Programme

Overview Mentoring is based on the use of one-to-one conversations focusing on enhancing an individual’s skills, knowledge or performance. A good mentoring programme is dependent on the relationship between the mentor and the mentee. Effective mentoring relationships move beyond the directive approach of ‘telling it how it is’, to one where both mentors and mentees can learn from each other. This requires effective skills in questioning, listening, clarifying and reframing. An effective mentoring relationship is a learning opportunity for both parties, encouraging sharing and learning across generations and/or between roles. This Programme aims to develop awareness, skills and confidence in establishing this relationship and developing effective mentoring partnerships.

The aim of this Programme is to develop effective and productive mentoring relationships that enable tangible outcomes for both the mentor and mentee. The Programme follows a number of stages that evolve as the mentor evolves in their role.

The Programme is constructed in three stages:

Workshop: Effective Mentoring Skills

Psychometric: Myers Briggs Type Indicator

Mentoring Matching Event

Early Stage Mentoring Meetings Mentor Reflections Certificate Award

Join Mentoring Club Programme Evaluation

Pre Mentoring Stage

Early Mentoring Stage

Mentoring Stage

“ One of the greatest values of mentors is the ability to see ahead what others cannot see and to help them navigate a course to their destination. ”

John C. Maxwell3 4

Pre Mentoring StageTitle Pre Mentoring Stage 1: Being an Effective Mentor Workshop

Aim

Objectives

This Programme will provide an interactive and supportive learning environment in which you can explore the purpose and nature of being a professional mentor. It will develop mentoring knowledge and practical mentoring skills, enhancing learning in how to develop and manage a professional mentoring relationship, and how to engage in useful and meaningful mentoring conversations.

This session will provide the opportunity to:• Learn about the purpose and nature of mentoring as a professional

development tool• Practice mentoring skills, observe others’ practice• Give and receive constructive feedback to enhance mentoring approach • Learn about approaches to mentoring and support to reflect on developing your

own approach• Explore the key elements of a mentoring profile/pen portrait

Title Pre Mentoring Stage 2: Psychometric Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

Aim

Objectives

The MBTI is a personality framework and feedback tool that provides a basis for better understanding certain key aspects of personality, such as how you take in information, communicate and how you make decisions and manage complex issues. The MBTI is a popular development tool that is widely used in many organisations globally. Its application is varied and used mostly for individual development. It impacts on which activities the individual prefers to adopt, how they approach them, the types of people individuals work best with and the types of environments that different individuals might prefer.

This development tool will:• Increase individual awareness of personality and how it applies to them• Develop awareness of the individual’s ‘preferences’ and those of others and how

to work together • Aid understanding of individual approaches to life/work balance and style,

information and decision making

Title Pre Mentoring Stage 3: Mentoring Matching Event

Aim

Objectives

To increase the opportunity for a mentoring relationship to endure and be effective, it needs a strong foundation. This requires a good mentoring match. Good matches arise from a high-quality matching process that takes into account the characteristics of each mentor and mentee and their learning objectives.

This activity will:• Bring together mentors and mentees in a social and safe development

environment • Deliver a facilitated introduction activity to introduce mentors and mentees• Connect individuals to start to create a community of learners• Facilitate a Speed-Matching to enable mentees to explore who they might want

to work with as their own mentors• Create a matched mentoring partnership

Early Mentoring StageTitle Early Mentoring Stage: Mentoring Reflections

Aim

Objectives

Reflection is a purposeful activity in which the mentor analyses their experiences of their own practice/skills/responses, in order to learn and improve performance. Reflection considers the impact mentoring has had on you as an individual. The reflective review provides an opportunity to clarify for yourself the learning and development that has taken place on a professional level.

The mentor may want to consider keeping a learning journal as a form of informal, regular reflection.

Effective refection reviews may involve:• Reflecting on your own professional or academic practice• Scrutinising an experience and the way you have worked with it• Evaluating your mentoring relationship/performance and considering how you

might enhance this

Upon successful completion of the Pre Mentoring and Early Mentoring stages, the mentor will achieve the Institute of Leadership and Management certificate in Mentoring Skills and be enrolled in the Mentoring club. See overleaf for further information.

We all need someone who inspires us to do better than we know how.

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The Mentee Development Programme

Overview Mentoring is a widely used development tool that has proved to have a beneficial impact on effectiveness, confidence and career advancement. This Mentoring Programme provides the opportunity for dedicated mentee development and support. At the heart of mentoring is a relationship based on trust and mutual regard where one colleague uses their expertise and knowledge to support the development of another colleague. Through 1:1 confidential conversations, the mentee is encouraged and challenged to achieve their potential and aspirations.

The mentee is not a passive partner in the mentoring relationship. The mentoring process is a partnership or a two-way process where each individual has their own role. This will require the mentee to take responsibility and be actively involved in discussing and agreeing relevant and appropriate development actions and is available and open to challenge.

This element of the Mentoring Programme is suitable for all staff who are currently or are able to become a mentee on a University mentoring programme.

This element of the Programme has four core activities. These are:

Title Getting the Best from Mentoring workshop

Aim

Objectives

The aim of this workshop is to provide mentees with an introduction to the basics of how to be an effective mentee and how to get the most from their mentoring partnership.

This workshop will: • Explore the definition of mentoring• Define the benefits of mentoring• Foster a deeper understanding the mentoring process and how to get the best from it• Foster a deeper understanding your role and responsibilities as a mentee• Clarify what the mentee wants from their mentor: creating mentoring

learning objectives• Provide instruction on how to build your mentoring relationship

Workshop: Getting the Best from Mentoring

Psychometric: Myers Briggs Type Indicator

Mentoring Matching Event

Programme Feedback

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Mentoring StageUpon successful attainment of the Institute of Leadership and Management certificate in Mentoring Skills, mentors will join the Mentoring Club. This club provides ongoing continuous professional development for mentors. This includes access to biannual Mentor Learning Sets and biannual 1:1 professional mentoring supervision. Membership also includes the quarterly mentoring club e-newsletter with up-to-date mentoring articles and podcasts, and hints and tips on mentoring good practice. Membership of the club last for 24 months from the date of joining.

Title Mentoring Learning Set

Aim

Objectives

The Mentoring Learning Set is a development method. It is a process which involves working on mentor experiences, using the knowledge and skills of a small group of people, combined with skilled questioning, to share learning and enhance thinking /awareness. At its core is the idea that action learning is based upon small groups of colleagues meeting over time to tackle real problems/issues in order to achieve; reflecting and learning with and from, shared experiences as they attempt to change things. This may be virtual or face-to-face.

The mentor learning set will:• Provide a safe environment to explore new ways of thinking and doing• Facilitate sharing, coaching and stimulating fellow mentors’ curiosity, growth and mentoring potential • Provide space for individual reflective learning• Facilitate personal, as well as professional, learning and development • Encourage insight into how others achieve different solutions• Learning that you can take back to the mentoring partnership, and translate

into action • Enable supportive and constructive discussion with colleagues

Title 1:1 Mentoring Supervision

Aim

Objectives

Individual supervision provides a confidential 1:1 opportunity for mentors to explore practice issues and mentoring challenges with a professional mentoring supervisor. The purpose of supervision is to enhance the wellbeing and develop the practice of mentors. Supervision is considered a powerful vehicle for deep learning. This may be virtual or face-to-face.

This activity will:• Develop mentoring skills to provide an effective mentoring partnership leading to

successful mentoring outcomes• Address with an experienced mentor supervisor, on a confidential basis, ethical

issues that you may encounter during mentoring• Explore issues in a safe and confidential environment and obtain an experienced

second opinion on mentoring situations that may arise• Develop skills, knowledge and build resilience and confidence for new mentors

Title Psychometric Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

Aim

Objectives

The MBTI is a personality framework and feedback tool that provides a basis for better understanding certain key aspects of personality, such as how you take in information, communicate, make decisions and manage complex issues. The MBTI is a popular development tool that is widely used in many organisations globally. Its application is varied and used mostly for individual development and impacts on which activities the individual prefers to adopt, how they approach them, the types of people individuals work best with and the types of environments that different individuals might prefer.

This development tool will:• Increase individual awareness of personality and how it applies to them• Develop awareness of the individual’s ‘preferences’ and those of others and how

to work together • Aid understanding of individual approaches to life/work balance and style,

information and decision making

Title Mentoring Matching Event

Aim

Objectives

To increase the opportunity for mentoring relationships to endure and be effective, they need a strong foundation. This requires a good mentoring match. Good matches arise from a high-quality matching process that takes into account the characteristics of each mentor and mentee and their learning objectives. This type of matching gives mentees a say in the process, enabling them to select a particular mentor or submit their top choices.

This activity will:• Bring together mentors and mentees in a social and safe development

environment • Deliver a facilitated introduction activity to introduce mentors and mentees• Connect individuals to start to create a community of learners• Facilitate a Speed-Matching to enable mentees to explore who they might want

to work with as their own mentors• Create a matched mentoring partnership

Title Programme Feedback

After 12 weeks, each mentee will be asked to complete an online Mentoring Programme feedback form. This will evaluate both the mentee’s experience of the Mentee Programme as well as their experience of being a mentee to date. This comprehensive feedback form is in addition to standard post-event feedback.

How to apply

To Apply Attendance on this Programme is by application. As with all development, the application must be supported by your line manager.

For more information, please contact your Organisation Development Team at: organisationdevelopment@stir.ac.uk

“ The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves. ”

Steven Spielberg9 10

The University of Stirling is a charityregistered in Scotland, number SC 011159.

Find out moreFor further advice and information, please speak to your line manager or contact Organisation Development at: OrganisationDevelopment@stir.ac.uk