|
LES Mentoring Committee
Guidelines for LES Mentors
The LES Mentoring Program provides new LES members with a unique opportunity
to develop professional relationships with experienced LES members and mentors.
Mentors have made a commitment to share their time and expertise with you. There
is no fixed schedule for developing a mentoring relationship with your mentor. Some
mentors and mentees meet or talk on a regular basis; others communicate as
needed. Once you have been assigned a mentor, you should initiate the
relationship by contacting your mentor and providing him or her a short biography
of your LES experience, expectations and needs. The following guidelines
are provided to help you achieve a rewarding mentoring relationship:
- You should talk to your mentor about what you hope to gain from
this mentoring experience. Ask your mentor about his or her experiences
and the path taken to the current position.
- These relationships are not one-sided. Enter the process with thoughts
about what you want to understand about LES and licensing.
- Finding the time and energy for mentoring pairs to get together is
a challenge. Take advantage of email and telephone as ways of staying in touch.
- LES Mentors can help you create your own vision for a future
in licensing and understand how LES can help in developing your fullest potential. They
can talk to you about the field of licensing generally, including advances,
trends and opportunities. However, they are not
personal coaches. Questions about developing your strengths,
addressing your weaknesses, or achieving career goals or balance are
not the focus of the LES Mentoring Program. While a particular
mentor might be comfortable working with you in these areas, an LES Mentor
is only asked to assist you in becoming involved in LES to best develop yourself
and your licensing career.
- Although your mentor is a professional who can help you network in
the corporate world, it is inappropriate to ask for job placement assistance
from your mentor.
Mentoring is an elusive relationship and an individual process. Every mentoring
pair is unique because each person's experience, personality and professional
development track is different. Although both people involved begin the process
with expectations about how the relationship will develop, it is often wise to
consider establishing a discrete time period as a trial basis for you and your
mentor. A specific time frame will enable the two of you to determine whether
the mentoring relationship is working and may help minimize any misunderstandings.
If you decide that your particular mentor pairing is not helping guide you in
your goals for LES, don't give up. Despite the effort we invest in trying
to pair up individuals with common interests, it is very difficult to get a mentor
pairing right the first time. If you determine that this particular relationship
is not achieving the desired purpose, please contact us with some details of
what you have learned and might prefer in a relationship, and we will do our
best to match you up with another LES Mentor that meets those needs.
An LES mentor's responsibility is to help new LES members learn about LES
and its programs and committees. Mentors will provide guidance and encourage
new member involvement with the LES. The mentoring relationship will be flexible
to meet the interests of both mentor and the person being mentored ("protégé.")
Some guidelines are given below.
- Mentors should be members of LES long enough to have knowledge of LES, its programs, meetings, committee structure, etc. (The Mentoring Committee, LES office staff and LES Board Members - past and present - will be available to provide mentors with information on LES and to help them as needed.)
- Mentors will register with the LES their interest to be mentors by filling out the "Volunteer to Mentor" Form. This form can be provided by the LES Office or submitted online. Informal mentoring relationships are also encouraged.
- It is anticipated that each mentor-protégé relationship will last for one year, but this may be extended if both mentor and "protégé" agree. (During this time the LES Mentoring Committee contact person will check with both mentor and protégé on progress.)
- It is the mentor's responsibility to contact his/her protégé, and to introduce himself/herself.
- Mentors may choose to work with one or more protégés at a time.
- A mentor should try to meet with his or her protégé in person, if possible, but this is not a requirement for being a mentor.
- The Mentoring Committee (with input from the LES Office, Industry Sectors
and Local LES Chapters as needed) will pair up mentors and protégés.
LES will inform both mentor and protégé of this pairing, and
will ensure both have received the appropriate Mentoring form. An LES
staff member will be the contact person for the mentor and "protégé" during
the mentoring relationship.
- The LES Office will maintain a database of LES Mentors and well as of those individuals interested in being Mentored.
LES members naturally seek out opportunities to share their wisdom and experience with others to build the level of professional excellence and the highest standards of ethical conduct in licensing and commercial development. Mentoring is supported from the top of the LES leadership team, and engages all levels of LES members. Mentoring access is seen as a significant benefit of membership in the LES.
|
