Curatorial cOMMITTEE: Mentoring Guidelines

It can be helpful to think about mentoring as strategic, personalised, and structured. Being clear about the purpose and plan for mentoring will ensure that both the mentor and mentee have the best experience.

Before seeking mentoring

Identify the specific challenges you would like to discuss and what you hope to achieve. You might be an Assistant Curator lacking the line management experience needed to progress to a Curator role. Perhaps you are at a point in your career where you feel ready to take the next step but do not know how. Or you may feel you need to develop specialist experience or technical expertise but do not know where to begin.  

Write down your challenges, describing succinctly their context, and note how an external perspective might help you move forwards. For example, a mentor might be able to help you by identifying opportunities that would help you develop your management and leadership skills outside of your work role.

Identifying a possible mentor

You may already know a figure in your field, either inside or outside of your institution, whose skills and experience might make them a valuable mentor. If not, consider researching the type of positions you would like to move to, in organisations that you would like to work at, and see who is currently in those roles, or has been. Identify specific individuals and note down what interests you about them, what they have done or are doing that interests you and why you are selecting them.

Approaching a mentor

Based on these reflections, select a potential mentor, and decide whether to speak to him or her in person or to write. You can always note the approach is ‘in confidence’. Say what your challenge is, what you hope to gain from the mentoring, and why you believe he or she would be a good match for you.

Although the details would need to be agreed later, you should also provide an indication of the type of help you are seeking in terms of the nature of the sessions (online or in person), their frequency and length. Sometimes, a single chat over a coffee is all that is needed.

You might also provide your CV so that the potential mentor can get a sense of your career to date.

Structuring your sessions

Once you have found a mentor, you will need to agree ground rules for the relationship. These may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Location – online or in person
• Frequency and length of sessions
• Duration of mentorship – how many sessions over what period
• Desired outcomes – what you would like to learn or come to a decision about
• Boundaries – what you want to focus on and what you would not wish to discuss
• Confidentiality – you might agree to ‘Chatham House Rules’
• Promise of gratitude and no recriminations

Be considerate in your request, and do not ask for too much. For example, you might suggest a monthly 30-minute or one-hour session to be held online or at a place convenient to the mentor, over a period of three months initially, with an option to extend.

Benefits to the mentor

To agree to mentor is an act of kindness and a recognition of the value of ‘paying back’ to the curatorial community. Many mentors find that they enjoy being able to help others, drawing on their own experience and judgement. Mentoring can also develop skills in listening, coaching, reflection and giving advice and feedback.

Ending the mentorship

Mentoring should be a positive experience, both professionally and personally, for both parties.

If, for whatever reason, this proves not to be the case, or if it is simply no longer practical to continue with the sessions, the mentorship can be ended swiftly, by either party, without ill-feeling or repercussion and with a simple expression of thanks for what has been offered and received up to that point. Generally, however, the relationships formed through mentoring prove enriching for both mentors and mentees.