Marking National Mentoring Day in the UK
National Mentoring Day provides us with an opportunity to reflect on the benefits of mentoring and the ways that ICAS Members can get involved as mentors or mentees.
Tuesday 27 October marks National Mentoring Day in the UK. The day was founded by Chelsey Baker, an award-winning business mentor to help recognise and celebrate mentoring in all its forms.
Each year, the day places a key focus on recognising excellence and raising awareness on the significant benefits of mentoring – which also include positive impacts upon the economy and society – with an aim of encouraging more people to get involved in mentoring.
Benefits for mentor and mentee
A vital activity for all stages of your professional life, working with a more experienced mentor can help get your career off the ground, take it to a higher level, or assist in the development of a new project.
The mentoring process can also deliver a host of benefits to the mentor themselves, from boosting their leadership and communication skills, to introducing them to new ways of working and expanding their professional networks. Helping a mentor to progress through a career transition or start a new business is also sure to deliver a sense of pride and satisfaction.
Get involved with mentoring through ICAS
These benefits are well known but whilst 93% of small and medium-sized businesses acknowledge that mentoring can help them to succeed, only 25% of them currently make use of business mentors.
At ICAS we’ve long understood the importance of mentoring and the valuable role it can play in an individual’s career success and we promote three ways in which Members can get involved.
Career mentoring
The ICAS career-mentoring process is entirely Member-initiated, with interested CAs required to proactively reach out to potential mentors or mentees through CA Connect, our Member-exclusive online community platform.
Mentoring ICAS Foundation students
The provision of mentoring is just one way in which the ICAS Foundation supports academically talented young people from disadvantaged communities who wish to go to university to study accountancy or a finance-related degree.
Those mentors come from within the ICAS membership, and there’s always a need for experienced CAs willing to volunteer their time, knowledge and expertise and help further the Foundation’s cause.
Business mentoring
Business mentoring enables ICAS Members to help early-stage endeavours grow and thrive, through assessment of business needs and guidance for priorities. It’s an opportunity to give something back and help improve the chances of success for a business.
Professional experience is varied but our current mentors are a mix of senior CAs in business or practice, consultants, investors, directors, non-executive directors or those who have set-up their own businesses.
Now more valuable than ever
In this year of coronavirus lockdowns, social-isolation and career and economic disruption, mentoring may never have been more valuable.
With most of us working from home, separated from colleagues and peers, having a mentor to provide advice, understanding and perspective could provide vital connection and support.
Additionally, as people are forced to find new roles and shift careers, it would be hugely positive to have the input of a peer who has experienced similar degrees of upheaval. At moments of uncertainty or doubt, the perspective of someone who has ‘been there and done that’, navigated change and come out the other side stronger could be what it takes to tip a person or project toward success.
You can learn more about the benefits of mentoring and how to get involved at icas.com.