Helping you step up with mentoring

When people ask: ‘what advice would you give your younger self’ my answer is get a mentor. When I graduated in 1999 I had no idea mentors were a thing, and to be honest it was something I never really grasped for myself until I worked independently from 2010. In all of my in-house roles there were no mentor programmes or official ways to access someone who could be a mentor to me.

I know I sought advice from those I trusted around me, and there were some particularly great people I worked with who provided guidance and support when I needed it in an informal manner. But that’s different to having a mentor who can focus on you, your needs and empowering you to achieve your aims without work and other dependencies influencing or distracting from what you really need.

Now, as a professional with more than 20 years’ communications experience across a range of industries and work, I feel able to provide support to others through mentoring. I consider it a way to give back to my profession, to help others achieve what they want to be and be a sounding board for those who need it. Now mentoring is prevalent and anyone who is looking to progress their work seeks a mentor, coach or advisor to help them navigate their challenges and opportunities.

I have an amazing strategic advisor who has helped me to get back on track post pandemic and renew my focus on what matters most to me in my work. I know it’s a huge benefit to have that impartial advice to nudge, guide and sometimes coach you into a better position to be able to reach your potential. We can all get stuck in a rut or distracted by external forces knocking us off our path.

I really enjoy mentoring and have been a mentor for over six years through Charity Comms and the last couple of years with CIPR since it started its progress mentoring programme. When you’re mentoring it’s really important to listen to your mentees and understand what they really want to achieve and consider if you’re able to help them in their goals. The match is really important.

I’ve been lucky to help the people I’ve mentored over the years in a range of ways. To prepare for promotion, return to education, prepare for retirement, change roles and achieve their ambitions, overcoming their own self doubt and other hurdles holding them back from achieving their potential, it’s all about changing or developing for their next stage. The feeling you get seeing someone you’ve built a relationship with over weeks and months achieve their ambitions or overcome their challenge is really rewarding.

One of my current mentees has taken on the Internal communications Diploma and gone on to secure a new role. When we first talked, she wasn’t sure she’d even continue to work in communications, Victoria Goff said: “It’s no exaggeration to say that Katie’s mentoring has been instrumental in salvaging my comms career, and I will always be extremely grateful for that. I hope that when I’m more experienced, I can be a mentor to others and support them in the same way she’s supported me.”

It’s this that makes mentoring so challenging and rewarding. If you have a little time to spare and enjoy conversations with people you can help, I recommend being a mentor. It’s one of the best things I’ve done for my own development as well as that of others. I learn so much from my conversations with a variety of people at different stages of their careers.

This month CIPR is promoting its Progress mentoring scheme, looking for more mentors and mentees. Get involved if you’re a member, it’s a brilliant benefit and support for mentees and hugely rewarding for mentors.