WOMENTOR International Conference Mentoring- UK experience Marina Larios MA MSc FRSA WiTEC President / Director Inova Consultancy Graz, Austria 15 th – 18 th October 2008

UK snapshot – Pay Gap n Agriculture, hunting & forestry =10.7% n Electricity, gas and water supply = 18.5% n Hotels & restaurants = 16.1% n Transport, storage, communication =5.0% n Financial (Banking, insurance & pensions) = 39.7% n Real estate, renting & business activities = 23.9% n Public administration, defence, social security = 18.6% n Education = 11.3% n Health & social work = 32.8% n Other community, social & personal activities = 20.7% n Source: Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2006, Table 4.6a.

Snapshot UK n Each year across the UK 3 million women experience violence, and there are many more living with the legacies of abuse experienced in the past. n The conviction rate for rape has fallen for three decades, and now stands at 5.7% of reported rapes in England and Wales, and just 4.3% in Scotland n It is estimated that violence against women costs society £40 billion each year (New Philanthropy Capital).

Snapshot UK- Women n Just 20 per cent of our MPs are women. n The UK ranks 41st out of 184 countries around the world in terms of the percentage of women in parliament n Women working full-time earn, on average, 17% less an hour than men working full-time. For women working part-time the gap is 36% an hour. n Two-fifths of women in employment in Britain work part-time, compared with 11% of men n 11% of directors of the UK's top 100 companies are women n Employees in Britain work the longest hours of developed nations (more than 25% work more than 45 hours a week), with men working much longer hours on average than women, mainly due to women’s caring responsibilities

Mentoring Workshop (July 08) n Mentoring Research Centre- Sheffield Hallam University n Open Space Methodology n Participants: private sector, public bodies, academics, coaches, recent graduates, project managers, trainers, mentees

Emerging Themes 1. Mentoring Approaches in the UK 2. Getting started in Mentoring/Skills for Mentors 3. A European Federation for Mentors/Funding Issues

Emerging Themes.. cont 4. Mentoring Girls/Women in SET 5. Do mentors need to be more ‘educated’ or ‘experienced’ than Mentees? 6. Mentoring for Women Returners

Mentoring Approaches in the UK n Variety of approaches n Mentee commitment- what does this mean? n Paid mentoring versus free mentoring n Voluntary mentoring programmes versus organisation’s programmes

Getting started in Mentoring/Skills for Mentors n Importance of training for mentors n Development of skills for mentors and supervision n Matching: Strategies for successful matching (using psychometric testing, learning styles, etc) n Management of expectations

Mentoring Girls/Women in SET n Need to support girls and women in non traditional fields n Teacher’s development via mentoring n Mentoring as a way of tackling stereotypes n Examples of successful mentoring programmes for women in SET

Do mentors need to be more ‘educated’ or ‘experienced’ than Mentees? n Expectations of relationship n Definition of mentoring will in turn define mentor – mentee relationship n Evaluation of programmes- key component for monitoring mentor- mentee relationship

Mentoring for Women Returners n Stages of transition: how to support clients during these changes? n Successful mentoring programmes in the UK for women returners have proved the business case for mentoring eg. Equalitec

Mentoring outcomes n Learning about the self n Learning about helping relationships n Introduction to action learning n Developing creative thinking techniques n Establishment of a support / networking group n Empowerment to succeed

Results n Increased self-confidence n Empowerment n Shift in paradigms n Self- belief n Increased motivation = R E T U R N or T R A I N I N G

More feedback… n ‘It has made me feel more positive’ n ‘I enjoyed the way we explored different aspects of moving forwards’ n ‘It has made me think about my goals and what is important’ n Gained ‘inspiration and confidence’ from involvement in the group

Feedback n ‘The mentoring circle is an independent forum to discuss ideas and plans for business, where everyone is focused on support and encouragement’ n ‘the mentoring circle has helped me to make new connections with businesses I can work with’ n ‘The support of the other women in the group was the best motivation to keep going’

More feedback… n ‘ The mentoring circle provided great help and encouragement at a time when a lot of decisions had to be made’ n ‘This experience has had a positive impact on both my business and personal development’ n ‘My mentor was very inspirational..I am now moving forward with confidence.’

Conclusions n Mentoring is about transformational change n Mentoring methodology= self reflection + action learning + strategy n Change: multilayer impact

Contact details Marina Larios