Mentoring

What is mentoring?

In the past, a mentoring relationship traditionally involved a more senior person with the experience and positional power to support the career development of a more junior mentee.
Modern mentoring relationships include:
  • Peer mentoring – peers at similar points in their careers exchange advice and encouragement.
  • Reverse mentoring – the mentor is younger or in a position of less positional power, though has more experience in a specific field relevant to the (senior) mentee's development (e.g. technology)
  • Multi mentoring – the mentee realises that no one mentor can fully meet all their needs, and enlists the support of a number of mentors with different expertise and contacts.
  • e-Mentoring - face-to-face contact is supplemented by or replaced with electronic communication - e-mail, skype, twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
It is becoming increasingly important to have not just one mentor but a small group of people who you can turn to for advice and support, and who are interested in your development. Having a range of people in your developmental network allows you to tap into a range of different areas of expertise and experience. In the changing environment, no one person can meet all your development needs.
 

Is a mentoring program available at UQ?

There is currently no centrally-organised mentoring program offered across the whole University. Local mentoring programs are more effective and sustainable, and some School and Institutes host their own local mentoring programs. Organisational Development staff can provide advice to coordinators of mentoring programs.
The Mentoring Policy and Guidelines describe the responsibilities of Heads and Supervisor in supporting staff to develop mentoring relationships.
(Some of the University's development programs including a mentoring relationship as one aspect of the program e.g. the Career Progression for Women, and the Early-Career Academic Development Programs.)
 

Who can help me find mentors?

Use this Quick Reference “How to find and approach a mentor” - it will step you through the process. Contact Organisational Development if you would like to talk to someone about how you could find mentors.
Also talk to your supervisor, senior managers or the HR Manager in your area.
 

Looking for a peer mentor?

Consider joining networks relevant to your role or discipline, for example:

 

Mentoring section

How to find a mentor - Quick Reference Guide

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