Expert: Victoria Humphries Facilitator: Don Wild, Wild Ochre Consulting
Headlines:
- There is a big demand for skills development and a mentoring approach to be included in a Personal Development plan
- Building up resilience, through help from a mentor and the broader support network was critical to realise individual potential
- There is still quite a gap between demand for and the actual provision of a mentor
Discussion points:
The session was attended by some very talented paraplanners eager to improve their own skill sets.
It was flagged that we cannot rely on our companies to provide a mentor, we may need to take accountability and find one ourselves.
Defining mentorship, as opposed to coaching and management:
Mentorship is focussed on the mentee, on how they can develop themselves as well as learning and implementing their own coping and improvement strategies.
The ‘mentor’ is somebody or something that provides wise counsel, guidance, wisdom and insight, and most importantly, they also have a listening ear and holds the mentee to account.
A mentor can also come in the form of a wider support network. Different people can come in and act is a mentor at different times to focus on more specific areas. Social media platforms, can also come into play, with blogs or podcasts also forming mentoring in a remote form.
The group shared their own personal experiences where mentoring had been helpful. More striking was the recognition that mentoring could be of great value back in the work place.
In one specific example two delegates were about to embark on a new business venture, in which they recognised how a mentor or mentors could be of great assistance to them.
Perhaps the over-riding benefit for mentoring is to help build up resilience for the individual. A link back to the main plenary session, which focussed on ‘life’s challenges’ and how you overcome them. Building up resilience, through help from a mentor and the broader support network was critical to realise individual potential.
Key takeaways:
- As we go through life all of us will face challenges which we cannot foresee
- We cannot prevent them but we can develop our resilience strategies so we come out stronger
- A mentor, in all its forms is a key factor in helping to bring about future success
