Orijen mentors and mentees love to share their experiences

Mentee - Joanne

“I've worked in this organisation for 24 years so I was very surprised to be chosen for the mentoring program.

My mentor was Lesley and our intial introduction was over coffee and sandwiches. At our first meeting I thought she seemed very different to me, but we had a wonderful and surprising 12 months.

I found Lesley very experienced and admired her ability to make decisions that had changed her life completely. Lesley is totally professional, wise and energising. She really encouraged and taught me how to look at things in a different way and opened my mind to a variety of opportunities.

Lesley helped me look, not just at my work life, but my whole life and I ended up realising how I could not just deal with situations, but how I could change situations both in and outside of my working life.

I have now opened up my networks in the company and I am looking for opportunities, but also being noticed for opportunities where I wasn't before.

One of the most surprising things I learnt was to look at people in more senior positions and have the confidence to question and not take everything they said as a given, just because they have more power than me.

A lot of people in the organisation didn't know my background, how long I had been here or the different roles I have had. I suppose I had always been under the radar and the networking started to open up opportunities for me – all as a direct result of the mentoring program .

The program really made me look beyond the support organization for growth and really defined the areas that I felt I could add value. In my personal life, it made me develop a 5 year plan, which I have never done before.

The mentoring program has really helped me broaden my perspective on work, my personal life and made me realise how capable I really am .

Mentor – Lesley

“My background is varied having worked in the health industry, education, major corporates and now in executive recruitment.

I decided to mentor as I have always had an interest in developing women, getting more women into senior positions and helping them stay there. I wanted to add value.

My mentee's name was Jo and she had come up through various stages of a large organisation and was at a point where she didn't seem to be able to make the next move in her career. We talked about looking for opportunities for her within the organisation, about having the confidence to take up the opportunities and developing the skills she may need to make the next move.

Our mentoring relationship was a learning environment for both of us and the relationship shifted over the 12 months. I started to notice how much Jo was willing to explore areas she didn't think were part of the program. More about her self image and self belief. Jo really needed to improve her self awareness and to realise how capable she really was.

I questioned Jo a lot to make her think about areas of her life. I asked her if she was aware of her limitations and her strengths, where she thought her gifts were and her potential and what it would take for her to move somewhere else or did she in fact really want to?

Jo definitely changed over the 12 months, she gained a lot of confidence in herself and her abilities. I think the most dominant theme for Jo was being able to see herself as a different person, she ended up seeing the potential she has to be in control of her situations. The fact that she did this whole “inside-outside” thing with a fabulous new haircut and make-up was a really significant factor overall and a reflection of the changes for her in seeing the world differently and her place in it.

For me as a mentor, I learnt I could adjust some of my ways to better match a particular person. I certainly grew and learnt from my mentoring experience and that is important for me to continually grow and learn.

My perspective on the mentoring program is that it is necessary to have a formal structure. It ensures the mentors are of the right level and calibre to mentor which is very important if they are to do a good job. Orijen do a very good job in matching the mentors and mentees and providng the formal structure – that is part of their expertise.”

Mentee - Renee

"At the very early stage of the mentoring program I applied internally for my current position which meant stepping into a managerial role. It was quite a difficult step as some my team members didn't agree of me getting the role. I felt a bit overwhelmed to say the least.

To get access to my mentor at that time was very timely!

In the beginning we focussed on how to handle the difficult situations I was facing and when the dust settled we moved into discussing behaviours and development of people, what drives them, and also leadership from women's point of view.

Throughout these 12 months our discussions changed from 'survival' discussions to looking ahead, planning and developing the team and me.

The most important thing that I take away from this program is the importance to take time out to discuss issues, dissect them and make a plan going forward instead of trying to solve eveything yourself.

To have someone outside the company that doesn't know about people, processes and the history, that is asking questions, making you think, throwing ideas from a different angle, challenging you and breaking the issues into smaller pieces is invaluable.

I can truly say that throughout the year my confidence in my ability to become a good and successful leader has increased beyond any expectations I had. Today I'm leading a successful team which is quite different from a year ago. There are no major events I can point out that made this happen, it is a result of the small steps throughout the process.

I now feel ready to take on new challenges that are coming my way.

I would like to thank my manager, Orijen and my mentor, Margaret for being there, helping every step of the way."