WM

Mentoring

A mentor has specific skills and experience in an area you want to develop and a professional mentor is someone who has a background in a profession you want to develop in yourself. A good mentor will be able to share both their failings as well as their successes and it is their ability to turn a failing into a success that makes their input so valuable. A mentor acts as an advisor and guide to help the mentee to find the right direction and who can help them to develop solutions on work based and career issues. A mentor should ask questions and challenge, while providing guidance and encouragement.

Like coaching, mentoring is not telling someone what to do, but sharing experience and knowledge to help individuals consider other options and avenues. The distinctive difference between coaching and mentoring is that a mentor has specific expertise that they are there to share with a mentee. The mentor does not have to be more senior than the mentee, but they do need to hold expertise in an area that they can share and help an individual explore in depth.

By accessing a mentor from this Matching Hub you are looking for one or more of the following:

• practical advice or to deepen your technical or professional knowledge
• understanding of how a service area or organisation works
• how to work strategically or politically to get the job done
• to develop your networks

If you are an employee of one of the WMCMP subscribing organisations you may be eligible to access a mentor.

Some WMCMP subscribing organisations also offer the opportunity to access mentors from within your organisation (internal) as well as access to mentors across the subscribing members (external). Eligibility criteria for internal and external mentoring may apply.

To check your eligibility visit: www.wmemployers.org.uk/what-we-do/coaching/west-midlands-coaching-and-mentoring-pool/ and click on your organisations logo.

There is no set frequency for meetings; this will depend on the agenda and the contracting that is established by yourself and the mentor, however as a guide, sessions normally last between 1-2 hours and for approximately 2-6 sessions. Following an initial set of formal sessions you may agree additional adhoc contact with your mentor for a period of time. Sessions may be face to face, virtual (i.e. via MS Teams, Zoom etc) or over the telephone. The mentor may come to your place of work, or you might prefer another location for sessions (being away from the office environment can often be beneficial for focused sessions). You can specify your preferences once registered.

Weher possible, it is recommended you commit to a 'face to face' meeting initially with subsequent meetings being face to face or using another medium. This should be agreed as part of the contract negotiation. All of this you will agree with your mentor and organisational sponsor when you are setting up the arrangements.

Agreeing to work with a mentor means you are likely to need time away during working hours to attend sessions but remember this is time away to focus on topics required for your work, and therefore should be treated as a valuable use of your time that you commit to and have approval to attend.

There is no cost to you as your organisation is subscribing to this service, however you may need to agree that you can claim travel expenses if you travel for sessions.

Mentors come with many different skills, attributes and experience; so it is vital that they understand how they can help you. You need to be clear on what you want to gain from a mentoring relationship and know what you want to develop. Your line manager/sponsor may be able to help you define this.

An important question to ask yourself is "Why would a mentor want to work with me?"

The most successful mentoring partnerships are those in which the mentee takes the initiative and truly drives the partnership. In a mentee-driven partnership, the mentee determines the pace, route and destination. The mentor is then able to offer insights and inputs that are focused on the mentee's objectives.

If you want a good relationship you will first need to become a good mentee. This means a willingness to be challenged, be up for trying out new things and committed to your development. If you can answer 'yes' to the following questions you will be able to make the most of the opportunity

• Do I have a good idea about what I am trying to achieve?
• Am I comfortable asking for what I want?
• Am I open to hearing new ideas and perspectives?
• Do I allow myself to be open?
• Am I willing to change or modify my thinking and behaviours?

Respect the time and effort offered by your mentor: this means turning up to sessions on time, plan for each meeting, making sure you are clear what you want to gain from each session and prepare questions in advance.

Don't expect the mentor to tell you what to do, but expect to be questioned to help you work through your thought process and challenge your thinking.

Ensure that the mentor's privacy is respected and that you are clear on the acceptable levels of communication and methods of contact between sessions. Let them know what's working and what isn't throughout the relationship.

You will also be asked to keep your mentoring records up to date and respond to evaluation requests throughout the relationship to help WMCMP secure improvement and sustainability of this valuable shared service.

Mentoring is not an alternative to the role of line manager; however your line manager or organisational sponsor (i.e. Project manager, HR, learning and development etc.) can be a great support through the process by

• Helping to establish the goals and objectives
• Encouraging and supporting the process and respecting the confidential nature of the relationship
• Where appropriate, providing learning and development opportunities, to help your development

It can be a benefit to you if your line manager or sponsor can attend part of the first meeting to help clarify their expectations, but also to give an opportunity for your mentor to help raise their understanding of how the relationship will work and outline how they can best support you during the process.

Your line manager or sponsor may also be invited to the final session to review your progress.

Contracting It is expected that every mentoring relationship will be underpinned by 'a contract'. This is an agreement between you, the mentor and your line manager/sponsor and covers all aspects of the relationship. It is important to set and agree ground rules as part of this contract so that there is no confusion about how the relationship will be established and developed. The relationship should be conducted with courtesy and respect and ensure confidentiality is honoured.

Confidentiality The content of mentoring conversations remains confidential to the mentor and mentee. Any specific details of mentoring entered on this system are not visible to a third party. In using this Matching Hub mentors and mentees agree to the following limits to confidentiality:

• Where there is a perceived risk of harm to self or others
• Where there is concern of a breach of organisational or financial policy
• Where illegal activity is suspected

Information submitted to the Matching Hub will be used to report and evaluate the levels and range of mentoring activity undertaken across the region. Some of these details will be visible via secure access by West Midlands Employers (managing services for WMCMP) and your organisation administrators. The use of this information is outlined in the WMCMP Privacy Notice and will not breach confidentiality arrangements as outlined above.

Data Protection

Mentees must observe the Data Protection Act 2018 and General Data Protection Regulations when accessing and using data from the WMCMP.

By accepting these terms and conditions you confirm that you have read, understand and accept the WMCMP Privacy Notice and give consent to how WME store and use your personal information as defined in the WME General Privacy Notice.