How do you know you can be a mentor?
A mentor is someone with experience in life, and their field of work, or someone who believes they can offer their knowledge and experience to others. They enjoy supporting others to develop skills and knowledge.
So, if you are motivated to guide other women towards success, like to help people work things out for themselves by being their guide, and are grateful to have been mentored in your life; mentoring is for you.
Things you get by becoming a mentor:
How do you know you need a mentor?
A mentee is someone who thinks that they could use guidance with their aspirations in life or professionally.
They seek to earnestly and honestly analyse their strengths and weaknesses with another person.
So, if you are willing to learn, and serious about changing your approach then you may be a good candidate to be a mentee, and we will try and match you to an appropriate mentor.
Things you get by becoming a mentee:
Not at this stage. This program is only for women in the Goulburn Valley Region of Victoria.
The Flamingo Project does not charge anything. However, if you decide to meet in person over a coffee, or use any other means of telecommunication, the cost will be on the mentor/mentee.
Someone from our team will be in touch with you in 24-48 hours. If your preferred option is a phone call (our favorite!), we will call you to discuss a few things about you, so we can pair you with a mentor or mentee. If you prefer an email, we will send you a questionnaire to fill out.
Finding a mentor/mentee could take up to 2-3 weeks. As The Flamingo Project is run by a team of volunteers, we get straight on it, after our regular day jobs.
Yes. Resources include a handbook for mentor and mentee and a month by month guide to help both parties navigate the conversation and determine progress. You do not have to use these questions, but if you find yourself in a situation where discussions are less productive, this can come handy.
Besides this, you will have to sign a code of conduct and an agreement before starting.
The purpose of the code of conduct / agreement is to establish the nature of the relationship that you would have with your mentor/mentee. Mentor-Mentee relationships are confidential, which means that anything that may be discussed between the two shall not be shared with anyone else. While the existence of the relationship is not confidential, anything the mentee shares about their life or career or workplace are to be treated private by the mentor, and vice versa.
The purpose of mentoring others and being a mentee is the same- To seek growth.
As a mentee, you are seeking to learn from the experience and career journey of your mentor who has been there and done that. This could save you time and help focus your efforts. It helps to take off the blind spot or sometimes it shifts the paradigm.
As a mentor, you will learn a lot about yourself especially some inherent biases when you mentor a person less experienced than you. It is an exercise to train your muscle of empathy and listening skills. It is about challenging yourself to change, growing into someone who accepts the world as it is.
The critical question to ask yourself in a mentoring relationship is: are we meeting enough to maintain a sense of purpose? As a general rule of thumb, we recommend that for a short term mentoring program lasting 6 months, meetings should be scheduled every 2 to 4 weeks.
When it is not possible to meet in person, you can meet on any online platforms, email or a phone call. Where the mentoring relationship is longer term, stretching to a year or beyond, it is usually sufficient to meet every 6 to 8 weeks. Pairs who meet less often can quickly lose momentum, and report that they find it hard to get their relationship off the ground.
The Flamingo Project will connect the mentor and mentee; they can then decide on the logistics of the meeting depending on the availabilities of both parties. We will be in regular contact to check in, get some feedback, and provide any assistance either parties would need.
The first thing to do is be open with each other. It’s good practice to review the relationship every few meetings, and certainly after the first two meetings. If you decide the match is wrong, that’s OK – in a small proportion of pairs, either the chemistry isn’t right or the mentor’s experience doesn’t match what the mentee needs. If you are not sure about chemistry, make sure you don’t throw in the towel before you have met a couple of times, as it sometimes takes time to build rapport.
We will be more than happy to help you with any questions you may have. We are still learning as well, so any new questions will only help us broaden our knowledge.
Please email your questions on hello@theflamingoproject.com.au
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