"My mentor and I were both on the same page from the start. By the end, I think it was quite obvious that we had helped each other as much as we could. We talked about how far we’d come and how it had been working together."
CharityComms found me the perfect match. As head of membership and communications, my mentor had management, membership and brand experience and she’d gone through a rebrand in a previous job.
Setting an end date
We knew when my project was going to launch, so set a date for the mentoring to end as soon as we got started, which I think is really important. Although we talked about other aspects and challenges of my job, we had a very definite project to work on together, which made this easy.
Before each meeting, my mentor would say “You know, we have X months left – let’s look at how we can make the most of it.” We thought about this all the way through our relationship, rather than just thinking “Right, it’s finishing now.”
The last meeting
My mentor and I were both on the same page from the start. I think it was quite obvious that we had helped each other as much as we could by the end.
We talked about how far we’d come and how it had been working together. She asked me questions about how useful I’d found it, gave me her contact details and said we could stay in touch.
Having flexibility is important. It was great to know that, even if we didn’t have another meeting, I could contact my mentor if I had any questions.