Informal Mentoring

Mentoring occurs through conversations and involves self-responsibility.  You need to take responsibility for your mentoring partnership.  The quality of the relationship is the most important consideration as this will have the highest impact on your outcomes.

Tasmanian Women in Agriculture have not established a formal mentoring relationship program as this requires proper planning, agreed structure and long term planning.  We are looking for a more flexible arrangement with our members.

Informal mentoring is a voluntary relationship and spontaneous.  You may have a question that you are seeking guidance on and you can receive many varied ideas from members that may offer discussion points for you to move forward with.

As this is an informal mentoring relationship, you can be free to withdraw from it if it becomes unproductive or onerous.  This means that the mentored individual can enjoy the advantages of the mentor relationship without guilt.

The starting point is to be very clear how a mentor could help you with the question you are asking.

If the informal mentoring will take a number of sessions to move through, then it is important to set time allocation and the frequency of the chat, along with setting some basic ground rules as to:

• Listen generously
• Ensure 100% presence in the discussion
• Value contributions from others as there is no one way or right way
• Be true to yourself
• Commit to action
• Have fun
• Be prepared to change your reality
• See new directions and future

Make sure as a start you build rapport, set the direction you wish to go, make progress along the way and then wind down the relationship once you have achieved your direction.

If you would like more guidelines on mentoring and other business tips from Tasmanian regional women in business, you can seek a copy of the publication "Spirit of Business" (author Jo Eady) by contacting info@twia.org.au (cost $25).

Other sites you can refer to are:  www.youthmentoring.org.au or www.mentoring-australia.org.