I don’t have a lot of experience with mentoring, but here’s my little contribution!
My first experience of having a mentor was during my graduate traineeship. I was very fortunate to have a fab formal mentor, who had just finished her MA and was working towards getting her first professional post. It was a funny situation, where our mentor sessions tended to involve cups of tea and complaining about the less brilliant parts of our jobs. The thing I got out of it the most, to be honest, was knowing that I wasn’t alone, but that can be really important I think, and it certainly was for me. As well as the ‘formal’ mentor, I was taken under the wing of a really lovely librarian who kept both me and my mentor cheery! Again, knowing that there was someone there whose shoulder I could cry on when things were grim was great. She was also able to give historical insight into why things were as they were, which is always helpful! My experience is definitely in the Mentoring School of Tea and Sympathy.
Since then, I’ve neither been mentored nor been in a mentoring role, at least formally. I don’t know if it’s like this in every profession, but it seems that there’s a natural tendency for people to help each other, and that can sometimes take the form of a kind of informal mentor-type thing. When people have more experience, they’re happy to impart their wisdom in a non-pushy way. When people need advice, they seem to ask, and people seem to help. It’s good! With all the asking and the helping and the information come professional relationships, if you want to call them that, and within those relationships there seem to be different degress of informal mentoring.
One example of informal mentoring I can give is the work that goes on in Voices. We’re a varied bunch, drawn together by a shared desire to publicly stick up for public libraries. We share a lot of the same values and beliefs, but we’re a very diverse group in terms of age and experience. The things I’ve learnt from just having email conversations about how we might consider dealing with a sticky situation, for example, have really helped me to develop and given me an insight into things I otherwise wouldn’t find out about. Mick has years of experience behind him, so if I’m unsure about how I ought to tackle something, I know he’s a good person to ask about stuff, and he’s kind enough to put up with me! My campaign BFF, Jo, is an absolute brick – we’ve both had to deal with a lot of pressure with the local campaigning we do, so we’re able to support each other, bounce ideas off each other and work out how we feel about things when stuff’s particularly complex! Ian and I appear to share the same brain and tend to email/tweet the same thing at the same time…perhaps this is the sign of mentoring gone horribly wrong, when two people develop some kind of mini hive mind… I’d like to think that I’m of some use to people too, but I guess you’d have to ask them!
Outside of Voices, I’m very fortunate to have a really ace bunch of people I know I can turn to for advice, guidance or an opinion on something. I shan’t list them and get gushy (done that already in my Movers and Shakers thank you post), but I hope they know they’re appreciated. I certainly try to express my gratitude for all their support!
In terms of a medium- or long-term mentor-style thing, I still feel like too much of a baby to help much there, but it’s something I’d like to do in the future, formally or informally, to help people in the way that I’ve been helped by so many kind people who’ve been mentors to me.
Of course you are useful! You’ve been a big help for me…especially when you give me priority access to the hive mind
In all seriousness though, you do provide me with sensible advice at times and that is something I very much appreciate. Even if you are x years younger and I should know better
As far as informal mentoring goes, I’d agree with you about the Voices situation, Lauren. It definitely helps having a range of people with different experiences and personalities involved in the group. The personalities count just as much in my mind as the experience, just because if you don’t feel comfortable about a person it’s sometimes difficult to accept what they’re saying, no matter if their advice is useful!
And, yes, of course you’re of use too – you might class yourself as a baby!!! in library terms, but age has nothing to do with it. I’ve benefitted from the informal mentoring/advice you and the other toddlers in the Voices group have to offer, as well as from people in my own age range and older.
It also seems that informal mentoring is now much more accessible via social media and technology than it has ever been before. Even if that mentoring is just passing on a simple bit of advice in a 140 character tweet, it all counts and all helps.
You take no putting up with and I think I’ve learned as much from you as you may have from me. But I’m enormously flattered by those remarks, thank you.
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