Own your future - Creative Mentoring for Women

Image credit: Jing Xi Lau from Unsplash

The concept of mentoring is not a new one. In fact, the idea dates back 2000 years to Homer's epic poem, The Iliad. If your knowledge of ancient Greek poetry is a little dusty, here's a brief recap:

Athena, the goddess of wisdom, disguises herself as Mentor to act as both a teacher and guardian to Odysseus' son, Telemachus. Under Mentor's (Athena's) guidance and wisdom, Odysseus and with his son by his side, slaughter the enemy and make a triumphant return back home to Ithaca. Now the question remains, how much of a role did Mentor play in Odysseus' success?

"The key to being a good mentor is to help people become more of who they already are--not make them more like you."

Suze Orman

Mentoring: the low-down

A mentors central role is to facilitate safe and inspiring learning by instilling their skills, expertise and experience upon their mentees. Consider them as your personal Greek goddess here to lead and guide you through what may be unfamiliar territory for you, but is very much a well-trodden track for them. Your mentor shares precious knowledge and unearths hidden information and knowledge gained through years of experience.

Studies have shown that mentoring is a proven tool to help individuals reach career milestones, feel more confident in making career and business choices, and create a more harmonious work-life balance. Essentially, your mentor is your sounding board, providing you with the opportunity to reflect, assess and plan your next move. Sounds like a heavenly match!

Who makes a good mentor?

Think you have some Athena traits in you? In addition to holding an abundance of experience and knowledge in your relevant professional field, you must also be able to:

• Create a safe and non-judgemental space: You want your mentee to feel relaxed and comfortable enough to openly share and carry out honest discourse around their goals and objectives.

• Listen and question: Help your mentee get to the heart of the problem/topic/goal at hand.

• Provide valuable feedback: This is where your knowledge and experience comes into play!

• Compassionate and empathetic: You're not in the business of shattering someone's dreams and aspirations; be kind and understanding to their quest for development.

This isn't a one-sided party either, with the mentor/mentee relationship being very much mutually-beneficial. The mentor gains:

• The satisfaction of helping another.

• Interpersonal skills.

• Passing down of valuable and experiential knowledge.

• Grow a personal and professional network.

"Just start. Don't worry that you don't have all the answers yet."

Alli Webb

Who is mentoring for?

If you're looking to achieve personal and professional goals of any kind, mentoring is a valuable avenue worth pursuing. It can help you navigate areas such as:

• Planning a career change

• Accelerate career progression

• Launching a business

• How to self-promote/market oneself

• Develop new ways of working/work-flow systems

• Improve performance at work

• Seeking out leadership opportunities

• Managing additional workload/multiple professional endeavours

• Broaden your professional network

• Learn how to set goals and objectives

Now that we have a more rounded understanding of a mentor and mentee relationship, let's jump back into our Athena and Odysseus analogy...

Would Odysseus have survived without the help of Athena? There is no doubt that Athena comes to Odysseus' aid many times, providing him with the tools and strategies to protect him from his opposers. But one can also not overlook Odysseus' own bravery, which is present throughout all his adventures.

In the end, it all comes down to the individual's actions; you steer the ship, and your mentor will be your compass.

If you've been looking for a mentor, or to be a mentor, applications are now open for Series Two of our CWC Member Mentoring Program: a member-to-member mentorship program for creative women. Find out more here.

What’s in a reflection? The beauty in looking back

Photo by nine koepher from Unsplash

My foray into the practice of self-reflection was during my first year of teaching. As a central activity in a novice teacher's professional process —and one that I initially met with great resistance—after habitual practice, I began to see tangible benefits. I quickly discovered that self-reflection is a powerful tool and one that should be part of the arsenal of any creative professional women. And what better time to look back on oneself than on the dawning of a new year.

Self-reflection is a process where you look back on yourself and the world from the point of introspection—observing your ideas, thoughts, actions and aspirations. Not only does the practice enrich your personal life, but it can deepen your awareness around how you wish for your life to evolve. 

"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards" - Steve Jobs.

Failures are our biggest teachers.

It can be easy to label 2020 as a failure in its entirety. Many of us were forced to pivot and change the way we conducted business. Here at CWC, we had to find a way to bring all our planned in-person events to a virtual setting, whilst still creating engaging experiences for our members. With forced change, also comes great learnings. For CWC, we discovered that virtual events opened up our message to those outside of the Melbourne area, allowing women world-wide to join in on the conversation; adding a richer dimension to our connection and community values.

The magic lies in self-awareness.

Dr Tasha Eurich, an organisational psychologist and Keynote speaker, explains that self-awareness results in being able to see ourselves more clearly, be more confident and creative. Eurich also argues that introspection (i.e. the practice of self-reflection) does not make someone self-aware. So how do self-awareness and self-reflection come together?

"The problem with introspection isn't that it is ineffective—it's that most people are doing it incorrectly." - Dr Tasha Eurich.

The reason for this is because many begin the practice of reflection with the question "why?". "Why did I not perform well at my last interview?" "Why did my product not take off as planned?", "Why do I always experience writer's block when I have an impending deadline?" "Why can I never stay on top of my content planning?" (These last two I am particularly familiar.)

When we ask "why" we are providing the ideal breeding conditions for negative thoughts, full of fears, insecurities and shortcomings. Instead, we must approach self-reflection through an activity of self-assessment; analysing one's strengths and weaknesses. As Eurich puts it, we should be asking "what" instead of "why". With "what" questions helping us to stay future-focussed, objective and more empowered to take action on our new insights.

Self-reflection how-to:

As you begin the practice of self-reflection this year, try asking yourself:

"What are some of my successes from the last 12 months?"

"What were some areas that I fell short?

"What has been my strengths/where have I grown?"

"What are my goals for the upcoming year?"

"What has been my biggest lesson in life or business?"

Your self-reflective practice can be as informal or formal as you like. You can journal or complete a writing exercise, meditate or take a contemplative walk amongst nature.

Insight into Action:

"The key to success is to start before you're ready." - Marie Forleo.

Any self-reflective exercise is the ideal primer for goal-setting. After all, you're in the perfect mindset to create intentional goals! Ask yourself where you want to be in the next 3, 6, 12 months and beyond? Can you identify any values present in your goals? Then use these values to steer your goals, objectives and decision making in the future.