Category Archives: Mentoring

To tweet or not to tweet

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By Tennie Videler

I missed the last WiSE Up workshop but know online presence was part of it.

Here is my take on using twitter, which I use in a pretty low level way for my job. I’ve not used twitter to find out what celebrities have for breakfast but rather for finding out what is happening in my work sphere, build a presence and ask questions. I really think you need to start using it to find it useful….. Key is finding the right people to ‘follow’, by searching, for example using hashtags (#word). Once you’ve found a group of people to follow, look at who they follow too. Some people make recommendations, especially on Fridays (follow Friday or FF in twitter speak). These days twitter recommends people for you to follow too based on your searches and ‘tweets’.

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Does the way scientists think lend itself to entrepreneurialism?

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Cambridge is famous for its many innovators, some of whom have gone on to be very, very successful in the business world.

What kind of mind do you need to be a successful business person? Clever, innovative and resourceful all help. Visionary, maybe? Process-oriented? Organised? With plenty of the “soft” or people skills?

It’s a rare bird who combines all of these so no need to despair if you think you’re missing some. We can all benefit from adopting a different type of thinking.

For example, you might think that, if being a woman in science or engineering isn’t as rewarding as you’d hoped, you’d like to try something else and maybe being your own boss has an attractive sound. Do you then immediately think “Well, what could I do – I don’t have any ideas.”?

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Do you have a “sod all” box?

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A meeting report for the Peer Mentoring Workshop…

Most of the Cambridge AWiSE AGM was devoted to a workshop on peer mentoring. We defined peer mentoring as providing mentoring in a group of peers. In such a group everyone mentors each other.

We brainstormed rules for our peer mentoring session and came up with the following:
• Professionalism and respect to each other and regarding others
• Listening to what each has to say as well as talk, giving each roughly equal airtime
• One conversation at a time
• Conversations should be cooperative, constructive and solution focused
• Conversations should be challenging rather than pedestrian
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Peer Mentoring Workshop and CamAWiSE AGM

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After the success of last year’s format, we will again feature a workshop on peer mentoring at the Cambridge AWiSE AGM on Tuesday 21st February.

Peer mentoring is the idea of providing mentoring in a group of peers. In such a group everyone mentors each other. It works on the assumption that we all gain different experiences and in a group of committed and intelligent women there will be useful experiences relating to your current situation.

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“Mentoring for Success” – a great success!

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Our ‘Mentoring for Success’ Meeting on Tuesday 11th October was itself a great success. About 35 women attended from diverse backgrounds in academia, industry and enterprise. The Workshop was led superbly by Jacqui Hogan, the current MentorSET manager. Jacqui discussed the mechanism of the mentoring partnership between mentor and mentee. This led to a practical mentoring exercise for everyone to play the role of mentor then mentee and work through their own specific career issues. It produced a very interactive evening and encouraged many to think about a mentoring partnership so it was particularly pleasing that the workshop resulted in the beginnings of several mentoring pairs. The evening highlighted clearly the role CamAWiSE can play in facilitating access to the MentorSET mentoring scheme and the benefits of the networking at Cambridge AWiSE meetings.

Jenny Brookman

Workshop - exploring the mentor-mentee partnership

Jacqui Hogan, MentorSET manager

Coming soon…”Mentoring for Success”

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“Mentoring for Success”
with Jacqui Hogan, MentorSET
Tuesday 11th October, 8pm-10pm, at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge

Cambridge AWiSE and MentorSET are running a joint workshop to explore mentoring and provide practical advice on how mentoring can benefit your career and personal development.

Mentoring is a powerful personal development tool.  Having a mentor can help you achieve your career goals or navigate your way through complex situations successfully.  Perhaps consider becoming a mentor yourself.  It is rewarding and enjoyable, as well as an excellent way to develop key leadership skills. 
Download a flyer Mentoring for Success 11Oct11.

About our workshop leader:
Jacqui Hogan is the current manager of the MentorSET scheme.   She has, for the last 30 or so years, worked in a variety of technical and managerial roles in the IT industry and has experience with a wide variety of sectors in industry and enterprise. Jacqui is an experienced mentor and workshop leader, and has worked as an independent consultant for the past 8 years.

For more information on the value of mentoring and case studies go to http://www.mentorset.org.uk

Event details:
“Mentoring for Success” with Jacqui Hogan
Tuesday 11th October, 8pm-10pm
Reception Rooms, Warburton Hall, Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge
Tea, coffee and superb cakes plus time to network and meet new people
£5 for members, £10 for non-members.  Includes workshop materials and refreshments.  
Online registration.
Our events are open to everyone, both women and men.