Esther's blog: Mentoring

"Yesterday Louisa and I launched the new Citymothers Mentoring Scheme, a cross-company mentoring scheme open to all Citymothers members.

Of the 120 or so applicants, we were able to match around 30 pairs for this pilot, so the seminar room at Clifford Chance, where the induction took place, was a sea of faces. First Louisa and I set out some of the principles of the scheme:  “The purpose of the mentoring relationship is for the mentor to offer the mentee a supportive and confidential environment in which to discuss and think through issues regarding her work and parenting role from the perspective of managing her career progression and work-life balance”.  We explained that the role of Citymothers was to introduce mentors and mentees and set reasonable expectations for the continuation of that relationship, in line with current best practice.  Accordingly we had asked applicants to sign up to a Citymothers Code, which was itself derived from the ethical principles underlying professional coaching organizations such as the Association of Coaching as well as the British Psychological Society.  These include observing confidentiality, boundaries, asking the mentor to work within her competencies and skills, being careful of conflict management and generally working together to create an environment of trust and confidence in which the mentoring relationship can flourish.  We were then treated to panel contributions on “the shape of the mentoring relationship and some signs of its success” (Sarah Dudney, Founder of Ignite, a transitions consultancy), “organizational mentoring and some tools which show mentoring is not rocket science” (Claire Howe, London head of HR, Clifford Chance) and “mentoring ethics and the boundaries of the mentoring relationship” (Sara Chaudry, DCC Clinical, Counselling Psychologist). 

The scheme, currently in pilot phase, will no doubt develop and grow over future iterations.  But, looking at the applications, it is clear that a large part of our membership feels that mentoring is worthwhile, and potentially transformative.  Of course there might be other mentoring formulations which could be interesting:  Cityfathers could become involved as both mentors and mentees for instance.  Certainly we will now be on the watch for future Citymothers mentors, so please keep an eye open for the next application “window” opening in the Autumn. 

In the meantime, can I say thank you to those who attended, in particular perhaps the mentors.  It is really very touching and encouraging to see so many, very busy people being willing to take time out of already committed lives to support their women colleagues.  There is clearly a need for such support even if “sponsorship”, rather than mentorship is now the new buzz word.  Personally I think we need both. But that is a topic for another occasion."

Esther worked for over 20 years in the City, having originally been an academic musician.  She was a lawyer first at Linklaters then Clifford Chance, where she led her own group within the Banking and Capital Markets for many years. Esther sits on the Citymothers Committee.