Become a Leadership Mentor

As a highly competitive year-long practical programme, the Leadership Academy strives to create the leaders of tomorrow, through a personalised approach to leadership and professional training. The mentoring programme, as part of the Leadership Academy, is fundamental to the continued success of the course. The Academy is made up of a number of components for student leaders, including interactive workshops, guest speaker series, discussion groups such as book clubs and think tanks, drop-in sessions, a two-day leadership training residential, personalised mentoring from Durham alumni and partners and monthly newsletters with signposting to leadership opportunities.

Commitment to Mentoring

Mentoring would involve meeting (online or in person) your mentee at least once every 6 weeks from the start of term in Autumn to the end of the Summer term, plus the opportunity to take part in our virtual talks programme, forums and a networking event with all students and mentors. In our programme, the role of the mentor is to assist the mentee with:

• Personal development: Looking at what your mentee may need to develop or strengthen, to achieve their own personal goals. This could include being more globally or socially aware, improving their communication skills, developing their confidence, etc.
• Development as leaders: Creating goals for the teams that your mentee leads, understanding how to communicate these goals so that they are adopted and understood, knowing their team culture, and learning how to manage conflict.
• Future and careers: Understanding how to build a portfolio of evidence of your mentee’s strengths to use when applying for future jobs. Knowing how they are communicating, how are they preparing, and what they should be looking at to guide them.

Benefits of Mentoring

The benefits of mentoring are extensive, both to the mentor and the mentee in a number of ways. Below are just some of the ways in which our mentors and mentees have benefitted through being a part of the Mentoring Programme:

• As a mentor, it creates a direct link back to Durham University, allowing for greater engagement with the University, with some mentors taking up seats on the University Council, taking part in the guest speaker series, engaging with students and getting involved with fundraising events
• Collaboration is at the heart of the Leadership Academy, creating a platform for collaborating between mentors and mentees, sharing knowledge, developing skills, providing a soundboard for both parties, and progressing as leaders
• Being a mentor provides direct access to Durham students, who are the leaders and consumers of the future
• As part of the Mentoring Programme, mentors have access to a wide range of interactive workshops, guest speaker series, discussion groups such as book clubs and think tanks, and an in person networking event
• Our mentors are part of a growing alumni and partner network at Durham, providing opportunities for mentors to connect with others in the programme.

Mentor Interest Form

At the Durham Leadership Framework, we are undertaking a comprehensive review of our information and data on mentors to ensure the Academy remains beneficial for mentees and mentors. As such, we kindly ask current mentors to complete this short form, to confirm their preferred contact details along with necessary personal and professional details to support our programme development.  
 

Mentoring Agreement

As a mentor you have the opportunity to support your mentee in their personal development, providing the opportunity to hone their skills, and progress as leaders. Being part of the mentoring programme is entirely voluntary, but it is an important commitment for both mentor and mentee, which is beneficial to both parties involved.

The majority of the partnership will be focussed on development opportunities and activities, and you will agree the aims of this partnership with your mentee at the beginning, signing a Mentoring Agreement document, which sets out the following expectations:

• The focus of the partnership
• Roles of the mentor and mentee
• Frequency and length of your meetings together
• How often you will contact each other
• As a mentor, you will agree to give honest and constructive feedback to the mentee
• The mentee agrees to be receptive to any feedback given
• Above all, the content you discuss in these meetings will remain confidential

Please find attached our Mentoring Agreement