Purpose of mentoring

To provide a mentoring provision throughout the University of York, where staff can be matched with more experienced staff (i.e. in terms of grade, expertise in an area etc.) and benefit from their knowledge and experiences to support their development and reach their potential.

 

The Benefits of Mentoring

Mentoring provides numerous personal and professional benefits throughout all stages of your career.

Some examples:

• Establishes a supportive relationship for addressing professional challenges and long-term development objectives.

• Provides opportunity to consider multiple perspectives.

• Delivers guidance from a more experienced colleague.

• Facilitates confidential and objective discussions.

• Provides constructive feedback.

• Offers tailored support to your circumstances.

 

As a mentee you should be prepared to:

• Learn from examples and reflect what you will apply from it.

• Learn from mistakes.

• Listen and be listened to.

• Be open and share your experiences.

• Learn more about the University.

• Be supported, encouraged and sometimes challenged.

• Leave with some questions answered, and others not.

 

How to get the most out of Mentoring

Both the mentor and mentee have a shared responsibility to make the mentoring journey successful. As a mentee, there are a few things you can do to get the most out of the process:

• Take initiative and be proactive: You will be expected to be actively working towards your objective. Ensure you are prepared for each session through coming prepared with discussion points, areas for feedback/ support, specific questions and updates on any actions you were exploring since the last session.

• Be open-minded and willing to learn: Listen with an open, but critical thinking mindset.  You don't always have to follow your mentor's advice or agree with their perspective. The role of a mentor is to support you to reflect on your situation and next steps, not to give you all of the answers and fix the situation for you.

• Take time to reflect: build in time to reflect on how things are going and what progress is being made towards achieving your objectives. It is a good idea to keep a record of your meetings, noting what has been discussed and agreed, and the objectives for your next meeting.

• Do not expect your mentor to have all of the answers: whilst our mentors have a huge amount of expertise and experience, they may not have all of the answers you are seeking. However, the conversation may help begin to point you in the right direction for further information and advice, and formulate your next steps.