VIEW FROM THE CHAMBER
Be a mentor
You may already know that Lochaber Chamber of Commerce is currently delivering the first year of its One Lochaber one-year leadership development course to participants from across local businesses. The course will qualify students with a Level 5 Management qualification accredited by the Chartered Institute of Management.
After fantastic feedback from our earlier request to members who might be interested in becoming a mentor or mentee, we’re pleased to be working again with our friends from Ethos Consulting on our new One Lochaber Mentoring Programme, that will run alongside our One Lochaber Leadership Programme. We’ll be asking people to sign up as mentors to develop informal working relationships to help guide mentees in their self-development.
Why be a mentor?
Becoming a mentor allows you to give back and help develop the future of Lochaber business in an informal and flexible way. Mentoring is not the same as training, teaching, or coaching, and a mentor doesn’t need to be a qualified trainer or an expert in the role the mentee carries out.
You need to be able to listen and ask questions that will challenge the mentee to identify the course of action they need to take in their own development. You won’t be doing it alone – The One Lochaber Mentoring Programme will help you with support along the way.
What is a Mentor?
Mentorship is a personal development relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps to guide a less experienced or less knowledgeable person. The mentor may be older or younger; but have a certain area of expertise.
So, what kinds of things does a mentor actually do? Well, there are no hard and fast rules, but a mentor generally does things like: listen effectively; ask questions to help develop your and the mentee’s understanding of a situation or problem; provide information and knowledge and share informal networks; provide advice on career development; offer different perspectives; provide support and encouragement; provide an insight into your work and career; be a sounding board; be a critical friend; encourage self-reflection; help mentees identify areas for development
As a mentor you will have the opportunity to use your experience and knowledge to support the development of the mentee. However, the responsibility for making things happen and putting plans into action lies primarily with the mentee – not with you.
We know that Lochaber has a fantastic community spirit and at times like these, we can achieve much more by working together to support each other. Mentoring is a great way to help our business community, add to your CV skills and get involved in shaping the future of business in Lochaber. If you’d like to find out more about becoming a mentor, or you would like to benefit from a mentor, email: membership@ lochaberchamber.co.uk