The Power of Mentorship: My Personal Experience and Why It Matters
What is mentoring to me?
One of the most effective resources I've ever had is mentoring: Someone showing interest in your career and lifestyle and offering to help you along the way by sharing their experiences, advice, and guidance. Mentoring has had enormous benefits for me.
It supported me in changing from someone who felt like they were drifting with the tide to someone who felt like they were moving.
How did I first get presented with my mentor?
In December 2021, I was proud to announce that I was one of the winners of the Princesses Diana Legacy Award.
Taking place every two years, this unique accolade celebrates the achievements of 20 outstanding young leaders, visionaries and role models from across the world, who have demonstrated their ability to inspire and mobilise new generations to service their communities, as Diana, Princess of Wales did herself.
You can read more about my Diana Award here.
As a part of winning this award, I was paired with a mentor from Gilead Science who is one of the sponsors of the Diana Award.
Who is my mentor and why was he the right fit for me?
My mentor is Allan Collins - the Executive Director of International Regulatory Affairs at Gilead Science.
Allan works and lives in England and I am from Northern Ireland. We have never met each other in person but it’s the structured mentoring sessions, defined goals and objectives that make us thrive together.
The reason Allan and I work so well together is because there is such a wide contrast between us in terms of our own experiences in work and life.
I decided against having a mentor who is in the same line of work as me as I have loads of people around me I can talk to and bounce ideas from, but:
I wanted someone who didn’t know me or my work and was not the most familiar with my industry. I knew there would be a more human connection between us if we started from the bottom and learnt about each other and our work.
I wanted my mentorship to be focused more on personal development rather than purely work.
I knew I could get a much stronger diverse range of opinions and better conversation on my development and work from an outsider looking in.
I wanted to hear my mentor’s perspective on topics and how they differentiate from my work and life.
Allan Collins and Aodhán Roberts
Allan Collins and Aodhán Roberts
What did we talk about in the mentoring sessions?
Allan and I met twice per month for mentoring sessions. In each session we would talk about certain topics and as the session was coming to an end, we would decide what topic we wanted to talk about for the next session.
Some of the topics included:
Public speaking
Developing partnerships
Career Planning
Understanding Impact
Campaigning
Feedback
Collaboration
In some of these areas, I may have lacked confidence in them, wanted to learn more, wanted to refresh my skills or simply to hear Allan’s perspective to see what I could learn.
Small clip from mentoring session on zoom.
Was mentoring effective for me?
Without any doubt, mentoring was effective for me because:
I developed a close professional bond with Allan, which has been beneficial to the advancement of life in every way. It almost feels like a fast track.
Through mentoring, I received direction and support. My mentor was able to offer me guidance and suggestions that helped me as I developed both professionally and personally.
Having someone who trusted in me and my skills helped me feel more confident about myself and the choices I made.
When I needed to improve in certain areas, my mentor helped me identify the problems and gave me the tools, opportunities and advice to grow in those areas.
My mentor has great listening skills and can comment on my concepts and plans.
My mentor gave me advice on how to set goals for myself that were clear, attainable, and measurable as well as how to come up with a plan to reach them.
The frequent check-ins and open communication have aided in my ability to maintain my focus and drive. I learned the value of pursuing learning outside of university and the workplace. I am appreciative of the opportunity I received to have Allan behind me.
Thank you Allan Collins and thanks to the Diana Award for providing me with this opportunity.
