What is Mentoring?

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A mentor is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as an “experienced and trusted adviser”. Mentoring is about helping others develop in a positive way and more effectively. It is a relationship designed to build confidence and support the mentee so that they are able to take control of their own development and progress. It is trust-based and confidential and should help people to feel valued, represented, productive, self-fulfilled and rewarded;

• To grow personally and professionally
• To restructure or reprioritise their lives
• To overcome obstacles and barriers
• To grow their career

Mentoring is not the same as training, teaching or coaching and a mentor does not need to be a qualified trainer or an expert in the role the mentee carries out.

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​What does a Mentor do?

A mentor is expected to:

• Listen and give their time
• Support, encourage, push and engage
• Provide a framework to look at options, understand implications and plan future actions
• Share experience and impart knowledge

They are not expected to:

• Collaborate on work or funding
• Get involved in matters relating to status, promotion or payments

All mentors will be paid for the service they provide. Payments will go through MfW, making the responsibility for managing the transaction easy. If a Mentor decides to work on a voluntary basis, the money they would have received will go into The Helga  Laura Women's Foundation for mentoring bursaries or women-centric projects or needs.

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I Want a Mentor​

​You’ve come to the right place!  At Mentors for Women we have a great selection of mentors with a wide range of different skills and experience to offer.
 
There are many benefits from having a mentor:

• A mentor can provide you with a chance to talk confidentially about your challenges, and offer encouragement and support.
• A mentor can help you to identify goals that you want to achieve, and improve your performance in working towards those goals. They can help you to figure out what to do next, releasing your own understanding and confidence in finding your own solution, without any hidden agenda or vested interest.
• Being mentored can help you gain clarity, question your assumptions, learn, get unstuck, develop options, and take action.

A mentor can support you, providing structure and accountability, pushing you to proactively manage your development.
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Our mentors are all interviewed before selection and trained in mentoring skills.  They receive ongoing feedback from mentees, and we review this to assure the quality of the services we provide.  

Contact us now to find a perfect Mentor for you, or join us here

I Want to be a Mentor

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​Are you a Mentor in waiting? Do you have what it takes to join an organisation of women offering to mentor other women?

If so join us and offer your expertise to our members. As a mentor, not only will you be part of an extremely exciting and positive movement, benefiting women from all walks of life and in all stages of their career but you will have the opportunity to earn money in doing so.
 
What Mentors gain from Mentoring
People who act as mentoring generally report it as a very enjoyable and rewarding experience.  It can offer:

• Satisfaction in seeing someone else grow and develop
• challenge and stimulation
• learning and development for the mentor

The skills used in mentoring are useful in many different areas of work and life. Being a mentor enables people to practice and hone these transferrable skills.
 
Am I mentor material? 
Anyone thinking about becoming a mentor, should ask themselves if they possess the kind of traits and aptitudes that good mentors need.
 
• Self Awareness  - aware of your own strengths and development needs
• Credibility – ability to inspire belief
• Accessibility –willing and able to commit time to support and guide a mentee
• Communication –excellent communication skills, empathetic and a great listener
• Ability to empower –able to create an environment where it is safe for mentees to try out different things
• A desire to help others develop – an understanding of how individuals develop and have experience, either formally or informally, of developing others
• Inventiveness – be open to new ways of doing things and different ways of working
• Empathy – Ability to understand and share the feelings of others
• Understanding –You should be prepared to try to understand different perspectives, approaches and backgrounds 

All mentoring will be paid for, MfW will collect the money and pass the payment on to you, so taking the responsibility for managing the money out of your hands, putting a value on the work you do. If you decides you don’t want to be paid then that money will go into The Helga and Laura Foundation to be used for women centric projects. ​ 

If this is of interest to you simply Contact Us and we will help you train to be a Mentor. Join here 

​See our Training page for further details.

I Am a Mentor​

​MfW really value the skills, experience and commitment that our mentors bring and actively encourage our members to consider becoming one of our Mentors. As a mentor, not only will you be part of an extremely exciting and positive movement, benefiting women from all walks of life and in all stages of their career but you will have the opportunity to earn money in doing so. 

What can you expect from us?
All mentoring will be paid for, MfW will collect the money and pass the payment on to you, so taking the responsibility for managing the money out of your hands, putting a value on the work you do. If you decide you don’t want to be paid then that money will go into The Helga and Laura Women's Foundation, to be used for women centric projects. 

​There are a range of support methods available to mentors for those times they need a little support for instance how to approach a difficult situation

• The MfW team
• Their own mentor if they have one (a good idea if mentoring others)
• Mentor development sessions/programmes
• On-line resources and tools, including the information provided on the MfW website.

 
What do we expect from you?
At MfW we ask our mentors to commit to the following:

• Actively participate for a minimum of 3 sessions from the time they are matched with a mentee 
• Attend two introductory events or Webinar (Levels 1 & 2) when joining
• Maintain contact with their mentee in person or by phone
• Participate in program assessments
• Communicate any concerns in a timely manner
• Receive and objectively consider feedback during participation in the mentoring program

Take a look at the MfW Mentoring Guidelines here for further details. 

If you haven't already joined us, Contact Us now or  join our extensive Mentor Network and benefit from all that Mentors for Women has to offer.

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Mentoring Competencies

We aim to align our service to the framework of the ILM, and all our competencies and training are built on that basis. 

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Building Mentoring Expertise

Mentor CV Template

This Template is to give you some ideas for what you might want to put into your Mentoring CV for uploading into Your Detailed Biography section of Your Account. It is not obligatory to use this format

MENTOR CV

About Me
OPTION 1:
I am an experienced mentor who works with… to help….. I have expertise in….
OPTION 2:
I am qualified Executive and Life coach and help people:
    - to clarify
    - to unlock
    - to build
    - to find
    - to be
OPTION 3:
As a leader and xxxx professional, I have xxx. As a xxx, I deliver results through xxx, and am/have xxx.
As a leader and mentor, I create xxx, so that xxx. I have a particular interest in xxx.
I work with people who want xxx. We achieve more when we collaborate and challenge ourselves to think and work differently. As a xxxx, I help and encourage you to xxxx and achieve xxxx

My Skills
Xxxxxx

My Mentoring Experience
Xxxxx

My Recommendations (if you have any you want to share)
xxxx