Developing your career through mentoring

This article has been produced by Gowling WLG (UK) LLP, sponsors of LawCareers.Net’s Diversity hub.

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An important part of creating an inclusive workplace is the sharing of knowledge and experience across teams and departments, with those who have a long-established career in particular helping those at different stages of their own career.

One way of doing this is by mentoring. At Gowling WLG (UK) LLP, mentoring is something we encourage all of our people to take advantage of. We have a mentoring toolkit to help potential mentees and mentors understand more about how mentoring works, and how to get the most out of the relationship.

Having been both a mentee and a mentor himself, Jay Lutwyche, head of Gowling’s learning and development, believes mentoring can be an enormously valuable aid to personal development in addition to traditional training. 

"For a mentee, being mentored is the chance to spend time with someone who you can use as a sounding board and gain insights and benefits from their experience and wisdom and turn to them for advice. You get a different perspective just by talking things through with someone else and asking them questions, and it gives you space to think before you make decisions."

The toolkit explains more about how a mentee can go about getting a mentor and provides some advice on the type of mentor you might need to help you achieve your career aspirations, and what level of mentor you might be best to approach.

"Once a mentee has identified the person that’d be a good fit to help them, we advise that they approach them directly to see if they'd be willing to be a mentor. It might be someone they know or they could speak to someone who knows the person to ask for an introduction."

The toolkit provides details of how mentees and mentors can get the best out of the relationship, as it's not just the mentees who benefit from it.

"Being a mentor is a really rewarding thing to do. You get to give something back, and help someone develop while broadening your perspective and spending time with someone at a different stage of their career and with different experiences. You’re both developing your networks and opening doors, as that person could be from a different team or part of the business and there could be cross-selling opportunities."

Getting a mentor is a great way for you to take the initiative to help develop your career.

This article has been produced by Gowling WLG (UK) LLP, sponsors of LawCareers.Net’s Diversity hub.