This blog will advise you on ways to benefit from having a mentor and what you can do to ensure you make the most of your opportunities.
Contracting the Mentoring relationship
Once you are paired with your mentor it will be your responsibility as the mentee to drive the mentoring relationship and for you to make initial contact with your mentor. From the outset, the roles of mentee and mentor need to be established so there is a clear understanding from the beginning. Boundaries will also need to be set to avoid any miscommunications.
You will need to prepare yourself for your initial meeting with your mentor and make sure that you have set out your goals and what you want to accomplish from having a mentor. You will both need to mutually agree a location, time and date for the meeting and ensure that both parties are happy with regards to safety, security, travel arrangements and mutual well-being.
Your mentor is there to help support and guide you through the professional registration process; however, a mentor cannot give you careers advice or help you find a job. As a mentor, they will help you with your development and challenge you in a supportive way whilst also providing you with constructive feedback.
Developing the Mentoring relationship
Whilst the first meeting with your mentor is the most significant, it is important to maintain communication with your mentor. Although you are the key person to drive the mentoring relationship, it is expected for both, the mentee and mentor, to take responsibility for the mentoring relationship and to keep in contact with each other.
You both need to aim to keep the mentoring relationship working well and you should keep in regular contact as much as possible and when convenient. Keep each other updated with your circumstances and progression and remember everything you discuss with your mentor is to be kept confidential.
Ending the Mentoring relationship
There is no time limit for a pairing; it is between you and your mentor to establish when it is appropriate to end communication and we ask that both parties mutually agree a relevant time period for the mentoring relationship at the beginning.
There are three main reasons why a mentoring relationship could be terminated:
The mentee’s goals/objectives have been met
If once you have achieved registration, for example, you may find it no longer necessary to stay in contact with their mentor. Some mentees, however, do choose to keep in regular contact with their mentor if they have built up a good rapport or purely if they wish to seek further support.
Differences between mentee and mentor
Not everyone in life will get on and it may be a clash of personality when you first meet or when you have your initial conversation. We do ask you try to make it work before we seek an alternative mentor for you but we do appreciate this isn’t always possible and will look to pair you with someone more suitable. If you have an in-company mentor this would need to be discussed with your line manager.
Lack of communication/busy schedules
We appreciate that our members have a busy schedule and mentoring is a voluntary role so there needs to be mutual respect between mentees and their mentor. Both parties at times will have a heavy workload or other commitments so you need to be fair with each other and appreciate that your mentor might not always be available 24/7. We are aware that people lose touch, however, and that it is not always possible to communicate on a regular basis.
A pairing can be terminated at any time but should be discussed first ensuring mutual respect and understanding. Once the relationship has ended you need to inform us at the IET by completing an End of Pairing form or you need to discuss the decision with your line manager.
Become part of the IET Mentoring Service today
If are interested in joining the IET Mentoring Service and you would like to benefit from having support from one of our mentors, please return your completed Mentee Registration Form to: mentoring@theiet.org