Let’s talk about mentoring

With all the uncertainty in the world at present, mentoring is more important than ever.

To support mentors, Edinburgh Area Committee hosted a webinar in December to share best practice and tips from experienced mentors with a wider audience. This formed part of a series of webinars arranged by Sandra Mulligan for the Scottish Region Committee, which started in September with an explanation of the 'Routes to registration' , followed in October with Essentials for early years graduates. In November, Preparing for the professional review interview was covered while in December the topic was Let’s talk about mentoring. Recordings of these events may be viewed on the IMechE’s YouTube channel.

At the event last month, Professor Jonathan Corney welcomed three speakers to share their thoughts with the audience of almost 100 attendees, a mix of existing and aspiring mentors and scheme administrators from both SME’s and global employers.

The speakers on the night included Sandra Mulligan, IMechE Business Development Manager, Scotland, Graham Robinson CEng FIMechE, Principal Engineer, Well & Flow Control, Technip FMC and Kirsty Kapusciak CEng FIMechE Senior Conformance Engineer, Network Certification Body, part of Network Rail.

Sandra has guided numerous companies through the process of gaining MPDS accreditation and delivers mentor training regularly. At this event, she provided attendees with a brief overview of the skills, qualities and responsibilities required to mentor effectively and an overview of some of the resources available to IMechE mentors. 

Kirsty Kapusciak has been mentoring graduates at her organisation for the past seven years; she also acts as an IMechE Professional Review Interview assessor. Kirsty’s own mentor has supported her over the past 20 years, from an initial graduate role through to Fellowship; the help, guidance and support she received from her mentor inspired her in turn to become a mentor. Kirsty enjoys seeing her mentees grow in competence, confidence and industry ‘know-how’ and finds it very rewarding.

Her top three pieces of advice to mentors are:

• Challenging your mentee to describe and explain the role they are fulfilling and the autonomy they have will stand them in good stead for interview
• Listen and don’t judge, lecture or problem solve on behalf of your mentee – even when it’s tempting!
• Perseverance is key for both you and your mentee.

The third speaker at this event was Graham Robinson, who runs the very successful MPD scheme at Technip FMC in Dunfermline which has been accredited by IMechE for many years. Graham shared lots of tips and advice including the importance of assessing competence through a mixture of evidence, mutually respectful conversation, the use of probing questions and genuine interest in what the developing engineer has done.

His top three pieces of advice are:

• Stay timely – keep the quarter in the quarter!
• Talk about and review evidence as it happens, write up the quarterly report as you go along and get it signed off at the end of the quarter
• Mentor relationships where the Developing Engineer needs to initiate every contact are not supportive and likely to have longer term issues.

A lively Q&A session followed the workshop and feedback from attendees at the event has been really positive. Follow the conversation on the Institution's YouTube channel.

Mentor Forum

Sandra is looking to set up a new Mentor Forum which she envisages will be an online interactive webinar where mentors, both new and experienced, can get updates on topics like relevant IMechE activities for mentors, scoring competence, how to help applicants prepare for the online PRI etc.

If you’re interested in getting involved, as a speaker or as an attendee, please get in touch with her at Sandra.Mulligan@imeche.org or tel: 07887 931690.

Our Business Development Team run a huge variety of webinars and membership to support all grades  of applicants, please see  our Professional Registration Workshops for details. All are free to attend.

Mentor Training

If you would like to expand your knowledge of mentoring, the Institution also offers two training courses you may be interested in:

A great networking opportunity for mentors, HR and training staff alike, this training helps you develop your awareness, reinforce your understanding of the role of MPDS and update your mentoring skills whilst exchanging ideas and developing best practice.
Live virtual: view online
Classroom based: view online