Women in FCERM - Launching our mentoring offer

Most people find asking for help difficult. Especially at work. And especially when it’s about one of those things we think we ‘ought to know’ or that ‘everybody else can do’. However when you do open up, often you realise that many other people also worry about that very same thing.

As a mentor I’ve had conversations where my mentee has left the room lighter on their feet because they’re no longer carrying the weight of thinking they’re only the person who finds a particular thing tricky. And I’ve certainly experienced that feeling as a mentee too. The sense of not being alone somehow gives you the space to be able to approach it differently. Just talking about it, sharing how you feel or learning someone else’s coping strategies can be incredibly empowering and give you the resolve to change how it makes you feel.

‘It’ doesn’t have to be big or complicated, it can be something as routine (note, not necessarily simple!) as speaking up in a meeting, juggling your work-life balance, returning to work after maternity or paternity leave, or thinking about where you want to go next in your career. Things many of us face multiple times in our working life.

Mentors can be a great help as I’ve already said. But asking someone to mentor you can be tricky in itself. How do you choose the right person? What if they say no? What if you don’t get on? Do you want to talk to someone you already work with or someone who doesn’t know you at all? Sometimes asking a mentor can be a ‘thing’ in itself!

That’s why we’ve spent a lot of time at our Women in FCERM networking events talking to members about mentoring. We wanted to know what’s already available to you, what you’d like to try and what you want to talk about. We have access to a great pool of mentors but we wanted to shape the offer to match what you need. And now we’re ready to try it out!

We’ve got 8 volunteer mentors from across the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Sector offering some time on a given topic. Each Mentor will work with a group of 4 mentees over the course of 4 sessions to talk honestly about their own experiences, share their solutions and help you think through what might work for you. So as well as hearing from the mentor, the group will also act as peer support for one another too. We’ve set the dates for the sessions. They’re a mixture of face-to-face and virtual meetings to reduce travel time and cost. They’re free and the booking for them is open now!

You can find out more about our topics and how to sign up following the links at the end of this article. Places are limited and as soon as a group is full we'll close the session. But this is a trial and if our mentors and mentees find it works, we’ll run it again. So if you can’t get a place and you are interested then please email amy.shaw@environment-agency.gov.uk or kathryn.pettit@environment-agency.gov.uk to be added to the waiting list.

I’d like to say a massive thank you to all those who have volunteered their time to be mentors. And if you’ve volunteered but you’re not involved this time it’s not because we don’t want you, we’ve just limited the offer out for this trial to keep it manageable while we test logistics. So thank you and we hope to be in touch.

However you're involved - as a mentor or a mentee - then I hope you enjoy the experience and find it useful. I look forward to hearing your feedback to shape our future offers.

If you are interested please use the following links to sign up on EventBright:

Personal Presence & Confidence: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/women-in-fcerm-mentoring-pilot-personal-presence-and-confidence-group-tickets-69195976027

 Personal Resilience: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/women-in-fcerm-mentoring-pilot-personal-resilience-group-tickets-73117792285

 Being an older woman in the workplace: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/women-in-fcerm-mentoring-pilot-being-an-older-woman-in-the-workplace-group-tickets-74800160293

 How to get ahead in your career: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/women-in-fcerm-mentoring-pilot-how-to-get-ahead-in-your-career-group-tickets-74122184449

 Talking in Public: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/women-in-fcerm-mentoring-pilot-talking-in-public-group-tickets-74276833007

 Part-time working and career development: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/women-in-fcerm-mentoring-pilot-part-time-working-and-career-development-group-tickets-74282064655

 Work-life balance: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/women-in-fcerm-mentoring-pilot-work-life-balance-group-tickets-74284090715

 Becoming a good leader: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/women-in-fcerm-mentoring-pilot-becoming-a-good-leader-group-tickets-74286804833