Leadership Mentoring Programme: Training and Support Guide for Mentors

LEADERSHIP MENTORING PROGRAMME 2018/19 TRAINING AND SUPPORT GUIDE Contextual text would go here Forever King’s Your global alumni community King’s alumni office | mentoring@kcl.ac.uk

Mentoring

LEADERSHIP MENTORING PROGRAMME 2018/19

INTRODUCTION Thank you for kindly giving your time to take part in this year’s Leadership Mentoring Programme. We have put together this training and support guide for you to familiarise yourself with, in order to ensure that you are prepared for the expectations of the programme. Please do take a look and get in touch if you have any questions.

SECTION 1: BENEFITS OF THE PROGRAMME The programme has many benefits, not just for your mentee, but for you as well:      

Develop your listening, questioning, empathising and rapport-building skills.

Extend your experience in developing people.

Reflect on your own career.

Expand your professional network.

Receive bespoke communications and event invitations from the Alumni Office.

Become part of an exclusive and exciting community of students and alumni!

SECTION 2: EXPECTATIONS OF THE PROGRAMME 2.1: How the programme will progress Each cycle of the programme runs for approximately one year, however it may differ slightly depending on yours and your mentee’s needs. In general, we expect your relationship to follow this cycle: Building a Rapport

 Building rapport is an essential early stage of a mentoring relationship. It allows you both to feel that you can speak frankly and honestly.  Spending time asking each other about your experiences and finding common ground can be a great way to build rapport.

Setting Direction

 Some mentoring relationships can get stuck in the “building rapport” stage and can become more of a cosy chat rather than a professional relationship.  To move a relationship to the next stage, make sure that you commit time to setting effective objectives for your mentee.  Although objectives should always be driven by your mentee, we suggest setting objectives with them, so that you both can feel fully committed to them.

Making Progress

 At this stage, it’s time for your mentee to put their planning into action.  We suggest that they write a summary of each meeting and send it to you. This will help to focus your meeting for the next time; easily picking up where you left off.

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LEADERSHIP MENTORING PROGRAMME 2018/19

 You can also assign them specific tasks to complete in advance of your next meeting. You may find this helps to keep you both on track.

Winding Up and Moving on

 When your mentee has achieved their objectives, you should both reflect upon how successful they were in achieving them.  At this point, you can either go back to the “setting objectives” stage or you can agree to end the relationship.

2.2: Communication Once you have been matched with your mentee, your mentee will send you an introductory message with information about themselves and their background. You can then both agree on when to schedule in your first meeting.

You can communicate with your mentee via a range of channels such as face-to-face, email, skype, video chat, or text message. Please keep the following in mind:  Each mentoring relationship is unique and will communicate differently. Decide which methods will work best for you and your mentee. In the past, some mentors and mentees have preferred to meet in person each month, others have held monthly video chats, and some have chosen to communicate mostly through email.  We suggest that you conduct your first few meetings in person if you are both located in the same city or through video chat if you are located further away from one another.  Plan to meet or communicate for 1-2 hours each month as a minimum to ensure that you both get the most out of the relationship.

2.3: Your First Meeting We have asked all mentees to come prepared! During your first meeting you will likely:  Discuss your backgrounds, career inspirations and experiences.  Set objectives for your mentoring relationship. Your mentee should be prepared with a list of objectives that fit SMART criteria for the first meeting. (SMART objectives are Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound).  Determine the best means of communication for the mentoring relationship and schedule your next meeting.  Determine topics to discuss at your following meetings.

2.4: Making Progress You and your mentee are not required to report your progress to King’s however we recommend that you track your relationship to ensure you are both getting the most out of the mentoring relationship. Your mentee has been given a Mentoring Session Plan that can be used to help focus meetings. The session plan can be used to help:  Identify your mentee’s long-term goals.  Create 1-5 objectives that will help your mentee achieve their long-term goals. These should be SMART objectives: Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic, and Time-bound.

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LEADERSHIP MENTORING PROGRAMME 2018/19

 Identify and agree what actions you and your mentee need to undertake in order for them to achieve their objectives.  Identify any potential barriers that could hinder your mentee achieving their objectives.  Identify how your mentee’s success will be measured.  Set a date for your mentee to complete their objectives.

SECTION 3: TIPS AND GUIDANCE Remember to:

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Maintain contact with your mentee.

Respect your mentee.

Get to know your mentee.

Define your expectations.

Be honest with your mentee.

Stay positive!

Strategies for Giving Feedback:

 The key to providing effective feedback is establishing mutual trust and regard. This will be created during the ‘building rapport’ stage of your relationship.  Make sure your mentee understands that you are both working towards their success – this will make giving feedback a positive experience.  Remember to acknowledge your mentee’s success as well as areas in which they can improve.  Keep feedback simple, concise and focused on one area so as not to overwhelm your mentee.  Help your mentee to develop solutions to the areas you have identified they need improvement in.

Confidentiality:

Confidentiality is key for any mentoring relationship. Please do not disclose any information exchanged in your mentoring relationship with anyone else. However, should a concern arise during your mentorship please do not hesitate to get in touch with the Alumni Office at 020 7848 3053 or at mentoring@kcl.ac.uk.

SECTION 4: HOW MATCHING WORKS The Alumni Team hand-matches all alumni and students who are taking part in the programme. When matching, we take into account the following:    

Subjects of study.

Industry experience.

What both mentee and mentor have said they are looking for.

Career trajectory and objectives.

Whilst we will take all of these factors into account, we cannot guarantee that there will be a perfect fit for every mentoring relationship we match. Please remember that even if your mentee is not studying exactly what you expected or they are not hoping to enter your specific field or industry, you can still offer them invaluable guidance and support.

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LEADERSHIP MENTORING PROGRAMME 2018/19

SECTION 5: FINAL AGREEMENT Mentor Agreement:

Please complete and sign the Mentor Agreement.

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