Pipeline Inclusive Mentoring Scheme (PIMS)
"Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction"
John C. Crosby
If you are interested in receiving mentoring or being a mentor at the University, please contact inclusion@lincoln.ac.uk to register your interest and find out more
What is mentoring?
Mentoring is a relationship of mutual trust where an experienced individual shares knowledge, skills and information to foster the personal and professional growth of someone who is less experienced.
The Pipeline Inclusive Mentoring Scheme (PIMS) adopts an inclusive mentoring approach and is open to all staff (academic and professional services/support) and postgraduate students (PGR/PhD) at the University who wish to develop their careers, improve their working environment, expand their understanding, and take advantage of the mentoring opportunities offered. The scheme enables potential mentees to receive support and advice from more experienced colleagues, helping them to develop their careers, and understand and overcome any obstacles to career progression.
PIMS offers a range of both traditional and progressive pathways, providing tailored support for the challenges of contemporary HEI environments.
Role of the mentor
A mentor is often defined as a professional friend or supportive challenger.
The role of a mentor is to provide a mentee with support that will encourage them to find their own solutions and tackle problems effectively. A mentor should be a sounding board, someone to share ideas with and approach for help. A mentor needs to provide support by signposting a mentee in the right direction, often by challenging their assumptions.
* Reverse mentoring
Reverse or 'upward' mentoring, as the name might suggest, turns the traditional hierarchical approach to mentoring on its head. Whereas in traditional mentoring the mentor provides support and guidance to a less experienced member of staff, reverse mentoring places the more senior person as the mentee, and emphasises particular experiences or skills of the more junior person.
The objective of reverse mentoring is primarily to enable leaders and senior managers to stay in touch with their organisations and the outside world. There are two common objectives that have been successfully addressed through reverse mentoring:
- Advancing the technological skills and understanding of senior leaders (in a world where technological change is continuous)
- Educating senior leaders about diversity and inclusion issues within their organisation, and helping them to understand on a human level.
The advantages of reverse mentoring go both ways — more junior staff are given the opportunity to understand and be heard by more senior and experienced people in their organisation.
Benefits of mentoring
For mentors
- Job enrichment
- Satisfaction of role modelling and sharing experiences
- Development of skills: coaching, management and counselling
For mentees
- Increased motivation through shared experiences
- Development of skills, both personal and professional
- Identification of learning and development gaps
- Access to networks and organisational knowledge
For the University
- Demonstrates commitment to learning and development
- Improved communication across the organisation
- Increased motivation of all parties involved
- Helps develop diverse groups of staff and remove barriers that may hinder their success
