Mentoring Scheme - Information for mentors

Mentoring Scheme Information for mentors

Congratulations!

You are now a British Gymnastics mentor.

This booklet will provide you with all of the information you need to embark on a relationship with your mentee.

Being a mentor You don’t need a professional qualification to be a mentor; however, you will be expected to participate in some initial training which the Learning & Development team will brief you on. The purpose of your role as a mentor is to provide support and guidance to your mentee to assist them to develop their skills, knowledge and abilities.

In practical terms, you will be required to meet regularly and develop a supportive relationship with them. You should agree specific details up front, including the duration and frequency of those meetings, and the goals and objectives that your mentee wishes to focus on.

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What skills and experience will I need to demonstrate?

Even though the primary focus of the mentoring relationship should be on the development needs of your mentee, it is important to have a good understanding of your own strengths and development areas. You will need to be able to demonstrate commitment to improving the quality of your mentee’s thinking, and also: • Provide accurate, up-to-date information which can be easily understood.

• Actively listen.

• Provide guidance and advice.

• Communicate effectively.

• Use your own initiative to establish the relationship.

• Gain the trust of your mentee to help them build their confidence.

• Present yourself as a positive role model.

• Be willing to maintain confidentiality and respect boundaries.

• Recognise the limits of your own knowledge and responsibility.

• Be willing to seek advice and support if necessary.

• Be able to draw on strengths gained from life experience.

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Initial meeting Organise to meet with your mentee about two weeks before the first formal mentoring session. This will be the initial meeting and an opportunity to set expectations, agree dates, times and objectives for the mentoring sessions, and discuss the level of support that the mentee requires. This initial meeting should last between 45 and 60 minutes.

Ahead of the initial meeting, familiarise yourself with the templates that have been provided to you, ready to complete them with the mentee during the meeting.

These include: • A Mentoring Agreement • A Mentor Profile • A Mentee Profile During the meeting, you will work with your mentee to establish what they require from the relationship and talk through what support you’re able to provide based on your knowledge and experience. Use the meeting to build rapport and trust, and get to know each other.

You should also agree how and when your mentee is able to contact you.

Once the Mentoring Agreement has been completed and signed, ensure that your mentee has a copy for their records. At the end of the meeting, check that your mentee is comfortable with what you’ve discussed and is clear on the next steps.

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Mentoring sessions Once the ground rules are set, you can progress with your mentoring relationship and the formal mentoring sessions.

These sessions should be used to: • Identify goals and objectives for your mentee to work towards.

• Identify strengths and areas for development.

• Review experiences.

• Discuss issues or problems.

• Set targets for actions.

• Offer advice or guidance to your mentee.

When planning for these sessions, you should remember the following: • Always set an agenda, stick to the time agreed and have a clear structure and purpose for each session • Don’t cancel meetings, except in emergencies • Ensure there is a balance between reviewing action points and discussing current issues • Have a bank of open-ended / probing questions at the ready • Encourage two-way conversation • Be prepared to give feedback (and to receive it) • Do what you promise you will do

As a mentor, you will take on the role of a facilitator during these sessions, and should make use of good questioning techniques with a non-judgmental approach.

You might find the GROW model useful to help your mentee to set goals and objectives, by encouraging them to identify problems and generate ideas for solutions themselves. For more information on this, please request a ‘Coaching conversations - Manager’s guide’ from Learning & Development.

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Monitoring and evaluation Monitoring and evaluation is an important part of the scheme. As mentor you will need to complete a Monitoring Form on a monthly basis and return it via email to Learning & Development, so that they can collate information on the scope and breadth of mentoring activity being carried out across the organisation. A Final Evaluation Form will be completed at the end of the relationship by your mentee.

Ending the relationship It is important to think about how your mentoring relationship will end and to plan for this.

You should always discuss the reasons why you feel it is necessary to end the relationship and expect that your mentee may feel the same at some point.

It is likely that you will have agreed an end date during your initial meeting, but it’s not always possible to do that depending on the goals that your mentee is working towards.

Sometimes, even after careful planning and agreement, the mentoring relationship may not work as well as you might have hoped and you may feel the need to end it prematurely.

It’s important to be honest with your mentee about why you feel that it’s not working, but be careful not to become the victim or assign blame.

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There are a number of reasons why the relationship can end. These could be: • Your mentee has achieved their objectives • You feel that your mentee is confident and ready to move on • Your mentee isn’t responding to the relationship and is not committed • The Mentoring Scheme is closing • The relationship isn’t working for either party Generally, it is good practice for both you and your mentee to review their original goals and objectives and compare them to the outcome achieved. This enables a review of progress made and an acknowledgement of activity to date.

As a mentor, it is useful to evaluate how you feel you have developed during the relationship and what lessons you’ve learned.

Who to contact for more information For further support or guidance, please don’t hesitate to contact the Learning & Development team learning-development@british-gymnastics.org

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