Development:
The idea to implement a mentoring program
originated from a BPW workshop with the
topic “Experience Meets Idealism“
in the late 90ies. The workshop took place
during a national congress and was led by
Christine Heinze, a first discussion about
sharing experience and mentoring within
the network took place between BPW and Young
BPW members. As a result of this discussion
Christine Heinze founded the mentoring-program
of BPW-Germany.
The
BPW Germany Mentoring Program started as
and continues to run as a Young BPW initiative.
Some of the Young BPW Germany activities
were the promotion of the mentoring-program
during national congresses and helping find
new mentors. Young BPW Germany also provided
money to print flyers that are given to
the clubs to generate new members.
Objectives:
Since
its foundation the mentoring initiative
has grown into a nation-wide program, connecting
women from different cities, backgrounds
and generations. The main goals are:
- |
to
make the rich and diversified know-how
and experiences, which are available
in our BPW (Germany) network, available
to all women |
- |
in a way directly
targeted to their needs |
- |
independent
of their direct personal contacts,
home town or profession |
- |
to showcase
our BPW network as a “university
of knowledge”- internally as
well as to the public |
- |
to actively
connect the different generations
of women in our network |
Target
Group:
- Students and young professionals
- Women who have climbed a new step on
the “career ladder”
- Women searching new career opportunities
- Women irrespective of their age
Structure:
- nationwide
- across cities or regions
- for members only
- members of our BPW network are experts
and therefore potential mentors in many
fields
Matching:
1. |
Mentees
are asked to fill out a questionnaire,
which is used in two ways. First,
to help the mentee define her goal
and the questions as well as the expectations
she has. Second, to provide the team
of the mentoring program with the
necessary information to find a suitable
mentor. E.g. the questionnaire contains
information about the following: |
|
- |
The goal the mentee has set for herself
and for which she is seeking support
through mentoring |
|
- |
Questions about
professional and personal strengths
and weaknesses |
|
- |
The expectations
of the mentee concerning mentor and
the mentoring partnership |
2. |
Mentors
are also asked to fill out a questionnaire,
including questions about fields of
expertise, profession, professional
/ methodical skills. |
3. |
Based
on these two sets of questionnaires,
adequate partners for a mentoring
partnership are selected. |
4. |
When
a matching couple has been identified,
the mentee is introduced to the mentor
and vice versa. If both partners agree
to enter the mentoring relationship,
phone numbers and/or email addresses
are exchanged. |
5. |
Usually
now a first personal contact between
mentee and mentor is made and afterwards
they both decide, if they would like
to cooperate. A formal mentoring agreement
can be used to define the mutual relationship
and expectations (e.g. regarding means
and frequency of contact, duration
of the mentoring partnership etc.) |
ACTIVITIES
DURING 2001 - 2004
- |
Facilitation
of 50 successful mentoring partnerships |
- |
Response
to 300 inquiries |
- |
Organization
of Experience Exchange Workshops with
approx. 20 to 25 attendees during
national congress twice a year in
order to: |
|
• |
Promote
the concept of the mentoring program
to BPW members |
|
• |
Provide information
on mentoring to potential mentors
and mentees |
|
• |
Exchange experiences
and share best practices between participants
of the programme |
- |
Presentation
in approx. 30 local BPW clubs, to
inform about the program and to recruit
potential mentors and mentees |
- |
Launch
of mentoring website in 2002, which
can be directly accessed by women
searching the internet for women networks
and mentoring. (www.bpw-germany.de/index.php?topic=Aktivitäten_Ment&menu=Aktivitäten_Ment).
|
- |
Helped
to enlist new BPW members through
the opportunity to participate in
the mentoring program as a BPW member
only. |
Results:
Examples
for professional development of mentees:
| Through
the mentoring program mentees received
support for the following questions
or tasks: |
| |
- |
“I
was supported in preparing for a new
job application and interview.”
|
| |
- |
“My
mentor helped me to improve my own
work style and organization of tasks.” |
| |
- |
“I was
not sure, if I should start my own
business. Finding out about the pros
and cons and getting first-hand support
from my mentor helped me make the
right decision.” |
| |
- |
“I felt
I could not meet my own demands anymore.
Through my mentoring relationship
I saw more clearly where I needed
to increase my productivity and where
I needed to relax, because I was overdoing
my perfectionism.” |
| |
- |
“Mentoring
helped me to regain composure and
rebuild self-assurance. My great mentor
helped me to calm down and grow in
the process.” |
| |
- |
“I got
the invaluable opportunity to observe
an experienced manager at work, see
someone else’s management techniques,
especially in a very formal process,
where this experience would have been
very difficult to make otherwise.” |
| |
- |
“From
my mentor I received valuable tips
on how to refine my management techniques,
improve my skills and be better able
to anticipate and thereby avoid potential
problems.” |
| |
- |
My mentor was
an enormous help during the first
weeks in my new responsibility: How
to manage all the information, get
to know the new system and people,
their strengths and needs and the
different work flows. It was great
to have this kind of informal support
when I took over my new role.”
|
Examples
for personal development of mentees:
- |
“I
observed an increase in self-confidence.
Through the discussions with my mentor
I was able to expand my horizon, explore
new ways of thinking and this gave
me a very good feeling about myself.” |
- |
“I learned
a lot about communication and feel
this has helped me in many ways since.” |
- |
“The feedback,
which I received from my mentor, was
very helpful, because I was able to
put how I am perceived by the outside
in relation to my self-perception.” |
Number
of women being help: 50
The impact on these women over time.
- women got help to
advance their career
- mentees received encouragement to find
jobs or help identify job opportunities
OUTLOOK
- |
Since
spring 2004 five women are working
for the BPW Germany mentoring program,
so that the workload of this honorary
project can be distributed among more
people. |
- |
Since September
2004 Heidi Groß is the new coordinator
of project. |
- |
New workshops
around mentoring are planned. |
Project
Team:
Since
2000, the project team include:
Heike Pehling-Negro
(President)
Young-BPW
Participation:
- Dr. Claudia Windfuhr
- Julia Polski (Coordinator)
Contact:
-
Dr. Claudia Windfuhr
Email: claudia.windfuhr@gmx.de
- Julia Polski (Coordinator)
Email: juliapolski@gmx.de
|
