In my previous post, which I have linked below, I wrote about traditional mentoring and what I feel the advantages are from it. However as I was writing that article I started to think about the other types of mentoring that I have encountered so I wanted to write about them too.
Where a traditional mentoring relationship is a one-to-one conversation a mentoring circle is based on a group of individuals coming together instead.
The group of individuals normally come together for a common purpose. Maybe they are all focused on the same thing i.e. a promotion. Or they all just have a common interest in personal development.
The mentoring circle that I have been a apart of was within my Finance division led by a senior colleague and they took on the role as chair person and facilitated all of the meetings we had.
We would meet once every 8 weeks but of course this can be in whatever frequency is deemed acceptable by the group.
The agenda was mainly driven by the group again, with suggestions coming from the senior manager. Most of us hadn't met before even though we worked in the same division.
Pro's Of A Mentoring Circle
- Networking: As it is a group of people, you now have the ability to network with all of those individuals. When you open up about things that you need to work on or people you need to talk to, the chances are that someone in the group Not only this but if it is being led by someone more senior, you also get to build a network with this person too.
- Varying opinions: Another advantage of having a group rather than an individual is that you get differeing views and opinions which you can then decide which you think is worth listening to.
- Improve confidence: One thing you need to be able to do in these sessions is be able to speak up within a group. If the person chairing the sessions does a good job, they will give everyone a chance to speak. As with most things, the more you do things the easier they become so, the more you speak up within the group, the more confident you will get in doing so.
- You can give back: Everyone in the group will have certain skills deficits and looking to improve in a particualr area. The chances are that there will be something you are good at that someone else isn't so you will have the opportuntity to give back which is a great feeling.
- Long term relationships: Normally, like a traditional mentoring set up, the circle will not last forever so there will come a time when it is time for it to disband. However, if you are lucky you will have built up great bonds with one or more of the individuals and you can still keep that relationship live.
Con's Of A Mentoring Circle
- Won't be all about you: With a traditional mentoring relationship it will be all focused on you and what you want to talk about. In a mentoring circle there may be times that the topic is about something that you don't feel is relevant to your personal circumstance. However the point of the mentoring circle is that it you are all there to help each other. You have to acknowledge that there will be times like this but it is important to contribute as everyone needs to do this in order for it to succeed.
- Time input vs output: Mentoring circles will probably in nature need more time assigned to them than a traditional mentoring one-to-one. This is bevause there are more people, so naturally will take more time for everyone to contribute. You may feel like you are having to dedicate a lot of time to the meeting but you need to weigh up as to whether you are getting enough from it too.
- Needs a good chairperson: I was lucky to have a good chairperson, however I can see that if you don't have a good chairperson then the meetings can get hijacked by louder personalities and the individuals that tend to not speak up will sdtay quieter. If you end up in this situation, it is important that the chairperson is made aware so they can address it, otherwise everyone will not get something from the sessions.
- Consistency of attendance: We had about 10 people in our mentoring circle and I would say there was at least one person missing from the group in each session. This is because it is naturally very hard in finding a time that is suitable for everyone. The important point to get across in the beginning is that you all agree a day/time and stick to it and give it the priority it deserves. As soon as attendance starts slipping then the group can get disjointed and the conversations are never as great as they could be.
Conclusion
Overall I would highly recommend mentoring circles and would urge you to pluck up the courage to start one within your work area. I feel the pro's far outweigh the con's and If it doesn't work out you can always disband it at any time but you don't know unless you give it a go!
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Thanks for reading,
Gav
