Mentoring report – June 2011 «

Mentoring report – June 2011

Posted 25/07/2011

Its been about a year since we started the scheme and 6 months since the first mentoring pairs were set up and, so far, the scheme seems to be going well.

First things first… the numbers.

In the last 6 months we have had 20 enquiries to join the scheme,17 people have joined and have managed to pair up 12 people and are waiting to find suitable mentors for 5 people and a mentee for one person, and if the maths looks wrong its because one person is both mentor & mentee!

The feedback I have received so far has been great, with both mentors and mentees finding lots of value in belonging to the scheme. To quote from one member

“The scheme really is a unique, invaluable resource for people like me and I hope more people get involved!”

As expected most of the mentees are in the location recording field, but we do have some who need OB, Studio and post production experience and the mentors we have cover a broad range of experience.

How it works

The way the scheme works is that mentors and mentees contact me with their details, using an email proforma that can be found here on the Mentoring page. I then enter them into the database and match up mentors and mentees according to geographical location and discipline.

I send them some information about what mentoring is, the scheme, how it works, and provide the mentor/mentee pair with each others contact details. After that its up to the two individuals to schedule meetings, work out what each of them wants out of the relationship and work towards fulfilling these goals. The relationship can last for as long or as short a time as they see fit; they can then ask for another mentor/mentee if they wish.

I am amazed that, given the geographical spread of our membership, we have had such success in pairing so many people. We have pairs in Scotland,the Midlands and the South East and have members waiting for mentors in Ireland and the South East. We also have a mentor available in South Wales. So if you are willing to volunteer your time as a mentor please get in touch. I will be putting up Mentor Wanted/ Mentor Available notices on the home page on the website so the membership will know where we have mentors & mentees available, but if you think the scheme is for you, please get in touch. We want to extend this successful scheme to more members.

In the last couple of weeks AMPS has announced to their members that they will also run a Mentoring Scheme. AMPS contacted the IBS about our scheme and we came to the conclusion that the most sensible course would be to share information, increasing the size and geographical spread of the pool of mentors/mentees.

Lets hope that this time next year I will be able to report that the scheme has even more members spread over the country. To do that we need more people to get involved, so if you think you could benefit from mentoring someone, or could benefit from having a mentor, get in touch.

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