Mentoring – ‘off-line help by one person to another in making significant transitions in knowledge, work or thinking’ (David Megginson and David Clutterbuck).
Mentoring is well recognised as an important professional development opportunity. Through a series of conversations it can help mentees develop their own learning and thinking about their career goals. The term ‘offline’ means outside of normal line management arrangements, with mentors acting as ‘critical friends’ to their mentees.
The Institute provides a mentorship scheme which aims to pair more senior IMI members with newer (non-student) members following a ‘reciprocal’ mentorship model. This allows for learning to occur in both directions, from the more senior member of the pair to the junior as in a traditional mentorship, but also in reverse, with the member of the pair newest to the profession also having useful insights to pass on.
Members are encouraged to take part at whatever stage in their career they may be at.
We recommend six sessions over a period of six months:
Session 1: Getting to know each other.
Session 2: Setting objectives – What do we both want to get out of it, is it advice on career progression or team dynamics etc.
Sessions 3-5: Two-way discussions – each partner takes it in turn to lead the session.
Session 6: Reflection.
If you have any questions or would like further information, please contact Dr Caroline Erolin.