One of the best ways to support equity and personal/professional development in the workplace is by affiliate mentoring programs. The following figures show that mentoring can have benefits both for mentors and mentees:

• Mentored employees are 5 times more likely to get promoted
• 71% of Fortune 500 companies have mentoring programs
• 60% of graduates favour places of employment with formal mentoring programs
• Mentoring is credited with an 88% increase in managerial productivity

Mentoring however is not entirely intuitive for everyone, so when creating a mentoring program it is very important to provide support for the people who step up to be mentors. Simply longer professional experience is not always enough. Being able to navigate and bring to equilibrium the inherent power imbalance of the mentoring relationship, asking the right questions, and sharing experience as opposed to giving instructions is fundamental to a great mentor. In this session we will explore the following questions: How to be a great mentor? How could you use the skills you learn to support your fellow colleagues and the myGwork network?

The session will cover:

• Listening and questioning techniques
• Methods of levelling power imbalance
• An introduction to the GROW model
• How to define an achievable goal?

As well as the appropriate questions to ask your mentee in order to:

• Help them establish a clearly defined and achievable goal
• Build a good understanding of the reality of the situation and their own strengths and resources
• Generate a rich pool of options
• Commit to action

The session will conclude with an interactive training and time for a Q&A at the end.