{"id":622801,"date":"2022-09-06T08:44:39","date_gmt":"2022-09-06T06:44:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=622801"},"modified":"2022-09-06T10:03:29","modified_gmt":"2022-09-06T08:03:29","slug":"helping-guiding-supporting-mentorship-and-women-in-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/industry-news\/622801\/helping-guiding-supporting-mentorship-and-women-in-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping, guiding, supporting: Mentorship and women in leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Having the right mentor has the potential to transform your career. A mentor can help you make difficult decisions, analyse situations, provide invaluable advice, and send you on a trajectory you might never have thought possible.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.acumenmagazine.co.za\/articles\/helping-guiding-supporting-mentorship-and-women-in-leadership-12113.html?utm_source=BusinessTech&amp;utm_medium=Article&amp;utm_campaign=September+2022\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Click here for more information about mentorships<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This is especially true for women. Many women who enter professions don\u2019t progress to senior leadership positions \u2013 a phenomenon known as the leaky pipeline.<\/p>\n<p>Having a mentor or sponsor to provide guidance can encourage career development and assist organisations with talent retention.<\/p>\n<p>Having a mentor allows women to understand how female role models in senior positions can manage their obligations and succeed at work while juggling personal responsibilities.<\/p>\n<p>Mentorships can help keep us connected. They can also benefit the mentor, giving them an opportunity to gain a fresh perspective.<\/p>\n<p>While many companies run mentorship programmes for employees, are these worthwhile, or is it better to develop your own mentoring relationship?<\/p>\n<p>Adele Bekker, head of career services at GIBS, says it is up to individuals to create mentorship relationships: \u201cYou can\u2019t force people \u2013 they need to find their own mentors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Informal mentoring is more personal, allows in-depth, authentic conversations and can often be more useful than the benefits gained from formal mentorship programmes.<\/p>\n<p>Bekker believes mentoring should start at the beginning of one\u2019s career. She advises mentors and mentees to meet monthly and have a formal confidentiality agreement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe onus is on the mentee to set an agenda for the meeting. There needs to be commitment and skin in the game, or it is just a coffee chat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elise McCabe, a career coach at Career Management Consulting, says that while coaches and mentors are often given to senior leaders, there is a growing realisation that young people also need to be equipped with skills.<\/p>\n<p>Different mentoring processes require different strategies, benchmarks and goals. Informal mentoring has very little structure and is based on the relationship of the two partners involved.<\/p>\n<p>Often, these develop into a long-term friendship, with no specific goals or timelines and often only indirectly benefit the organisation.<\/p>\n<p>Organisations benefit from formal programmes that are structured, based on business objectives and which are measurable.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><strong>Gender and mentorship \u2013 does it actually matter?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Is it better to be mentored by an experienced senior executive or someone of the same gender who may have encountered similar obstacles to you during their career?<\/p>\n<p>It can still be relatively difficult to find a female mentor in a senior leadership role. According to Bloomberg, women held only 29% of the board seats in the top 100 listed companies in South Africa as of April 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Identifying a mentor is a very personal choice. There must be a trust factor, and you have to be comfortable with their advice.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><strong>Networking events are a good place to identify potential mentors<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Current and past bosses, former colleagues and experts in your field can all be potential mentors.<\/p>\n<p>A mentor doesn\u2019t have to occupy an executive position \u2013 sometimes an individual a few years ahead of you in their career can offer practical and relevant advice.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to pursue a career change and enter a new field, find someone who has undergone a similar journey, McCabe advises.<\/p>\n<p>An effective mentor is someone you can confide in and who has a mutual desire for your personal and professional growth.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><strong>Becoming a mentor<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Being a mentor is a discipline. Mentors must realise the relationship is a dynamic one, and they could potentially end up being mentored by their mentees.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIdentify a niche you would like to help out in and realise that not everyone is equipped to be a mentor,\u201d McCabe advises.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><strong>What\u2019s the difference?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>A mentor focuses on helping you navigate your career, identifying your strengths, and working through challenges. They act as your cheerleader and guide and help you to navigate difficult situations.<\/p>\n<p>A sponsor is an influential leader who actively works to highlight your work and helps you access opportunities and promotions. While mentors tend to coach and advise, sponsors take on a more active role.<\/p>\n<p>A coach provides a combination of coaching, mentorship, and advice. Whereas a mentoring relationship offers guidance, coaching helps people to find the answers within themselves by directing and giving tools and tips.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.acumenmagazine.co.za\/articles\/helping-guiding-supporting-mentorship-and-women-in-leadership-12113.html?utm_source=BusinessTech&amp;utm_medium=Article&amp;utm_campaign=September+2022\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Click here for more information about mentorships<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Having the right mentor has the potential to transform your career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":623157,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10459],"tags":[5316],"class_list":["post-622801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-news","tag-gibs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622801"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":622813,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622801\/revisions\/622813"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}