Grow Yourself and Others
–
Mentoring is a relationship in which one person (mentor) supports the learning, development and progress of another person (mentee) to achieve a mentee’s goals and improve their knowledge, skills or performance. Mentoring has been shown to have multiple benefits for the mentee, the mentor and the organisations (host or external).
Mentoring can be a powerful intervention to build skills, transfer knowledge, engage employees and improve performance. There has been a significant amount of research extolling the benefits of mentoring for women’s leadership and career development.
WANT ACCESS TO MY RESOURCES?
The Benefits…
Mentoring helps individuals and organisations learn and grow as part of creating stronger and healthier institutions and organisations.
JOIN OUR LEADERSHIP REFLECTION SPACE
Download your ‘Mentoring Checklists’ to get the best out of your mentoring experience. These checklists provide summaries of the key elements you want to consider as a mentor or mentee. You can use them to ensure that you optimize your mentoring relationship.
How it Works?
We work with organisations who want to provide mentoring to their employees. In partnership with the host organisation, we co-create mentoring programmes that match global development professionals with international executives and academics to have professional development conversations around career advancement and leadership development.
All our matching is personalised – carefully connecting individuals to find the right match between dedicated professionals to deliver greater value. In developing a mentoring intervention, we:
- Work with you to define your mentoring programme
- Liaise with your organisation to recruit mentees
- Launch a call to mentors and develop an appropriate mentor pool
- Process mentee and mentor applications
- Match mentees with mentors, based on stated goals, expectations, experience and values
- Introduce mentors and mentees
- Orient and train mentors and mentees
- Monitor progress throughout the duration of the mentoring experience
- Organise a final evaluation
Interested in learning more about
unabridged mentoring?
frequently asked questions
What is the purpose of this type of mentoring programme?
Our goal is to match professionals working in international development with executives and academics around the world, to share experiences and build skills so that everyone benefits.
People working in development organisations are often faced with resource constraints – on time and money – and professional or leadership development initiatives can be scarce or non-existent. We help such individuals to access professional development opportunities to reinforce their skills and achieve their social outcomes with greater effectiveness.
On the other side, experienced professionals, executives and academics who are interested in helping others or giving back to society often don’t know how to go about it. Unabriged mentoring provides them with meaningful opportunities for self-reflection and growth whilst supporting others.
At the organisational level, mentoring refines skills in management and leadership for both mentors and mentees; builds purpose and added value to the company’s culture; increases job satisfaction and well-being and reduces staff turnover.
We make connections for mutually beneficial relationships that enable more people and organisations to achieve the SDGs.
How do you match people?
First, we ask prospective mentors and mentees to complete a detailed questionnaire to build their profiles, covering key areas such as –
- Personal interest in mentoring
- Expectations
- Values
- Personality traits
- Experience
- Partner preferences i.e. gender, qualities, skills, experience etc.
After submission, we analyse profiles. We look at ‘partner preferences’ and match people meeting these criteria with best ‘fit’ – compatible expectations, values and personality. We also take logistics into consideration e.g. time zone, scheduling preferences.
Based on this combination of factors, we match mentors and mentees as closely as possible, in a match that will work well for each participant.
What if I'm not happy with the arrangement?
Speak up if anything goes wrong! If you’re unhappy or unsure, we suggest that you first discuss these things with your mentoring partner to attempt to resolve them. Give it a try! Dealing with people is part of your development. (We did match you both for a reason ?).
If you are unable to resolve things, or if you’d like help or guidance, please let us know. We will do our best to find a solution.
Should mentors have had mentoring experience, already?
Not necessarily! You don’t need previous experience as a mentor to be a part of our mentoring programmes. We provide you with the Unabridged Mentoring Handbook, full of advice and guidance for both mentors and mentees; we offer support through regular webinars, and regularly follow up with mentors and mentees throughout the experience.
We do ask that mentors have management and/or leadership experience, and want them to have the appropriate attitude and skills, e.g. wanting to empower and help others to succeed; ability to listen and communicate clearly; self-awareness.
What is International Development?
International development addresses global challenges like poverty, inequality, disease, mass migration, insecurity and conflict – to improve people’s well-being in a sustainable way. Development organisations (governments, UN, Non-Governmental Organisations) work to develop safer, healthier, more prosperous lives for people in developing countries – often impacting on societies everywhere.
Interventions are made in numerous ‘programme areas’ (e.g. health, education, water and sanitation, women’s empowerment, human rights, and the environment).
What is an International Development professional?
International development professionals/aid workers are employed by charities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), international aid agencies and voluntary groups.
They provide support and assistance to people in locations around the globe, addressing healthcare, sanitation, housing, education, construction, agriculture, industrial development, human rights, sustainability and relief from natural disasters.
Many thousands across the globe work for organizations like Red Cross, the Salvation Army and the United Nations.
Does a mentor need to be experienced in International Development?
No. The mentoring programme focuses on building management and leadership skills in general – which are all transferable to another context. It is more important to have skills in these areas, which your mentee can apply to their own development context.
What's the difference between internal and external mentoring programs?
Internal mentoring programmes pair individuals within the same organisation. External mentoring programmes pair individuals from different organisations, and even from different sectors/countries, as we do at unabridged mentoring.