In the first of our series of blogs for International Women’s Day 2019, here are some ideas to use in briefing male mentors to mentor in a female mentoring programme. Research shows there are pros and cons to using female and male mentors when mentoring your female talent. Some male mentors are just naturally brilliant when mentoring a woman. Others need a little more support to really blossom. Here are some ideas to support them: Continue reading
Five ideas to develop male mentors for female mentees
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We are now hurtling towards Spring, the earth is telling us so, the weather, the flowers, the mornings are easier. The yoga classes have settled down to their more normal levels from the January upsurge. At the end of one of the early morning yoga classes last week, one of the students said, ‘I have to run, I am chasing an overseas client, the competition has quoted for the work I am hoping for.’ 
There are a number of factors to consider when matching mentors and mentees in a programme. Matching can get complicated at times when stakeholders in the scheme have very clear views of who the mentoring pairs should be. Matching criteria need to be in alignment with the purpose/business objective for the programme. If a senior leader wants to choose their own protégée to mentor, you may need to be tough and reinforce your matching criteria. So make sure you are clear what they are! 
The most comprehensive literature review of the benefits of mentoring that I have ever read was by 
Don’t choose the Ego Strokers!
I’ve always been a goal-setter in life, generally successfully or I tend to give up quickly and relegate the goals to the bin of ‘bad ideas’. However, in 2019 I decided to take a different approach to my life in favour of emerging principles and a more mindful route through the year, noticing what is important to me and creating some principles I want to live by instead of setting goals. We are now 10% through 2019 and already I am feeling good about my new approach. 
It is extremely important to spend time at the beginning of your relationship to build the rapport and trust required to have meaningful and open and honest mentoring discussions. This fast-paced 60 second briefing video gives you the basics you need to consider when building rapport in mentoring. 
Have you recently gained a promotion at work? Or are you striving to take the next step in your career? Whatever it may be, making the transition into a leadership role is definitely a great achievement. It’s one you should be excited about.
Most organisations understand the great benefits of an in-house mentoring programme, but setting up and running an effective and beneficial programme takes time. Programme management is often added into someone’s already packed job description. This can lead to loss of momentum and ultimately a programme that hasn’t been as effective as it could have been. Even worse, it may be seen a failure and this will hamper getting future programmes off the ground!