Case Studies | Cross Institution Mentoring Scheme for Technical Professionals

What made you apply for CIMS-T to get mentoring support?

I was at a cross roads in my career between a technical manager (looking after a research lab with 70 researchers) and a technical specialist (running the small molecule x-ray crystallography service at University of York). I wanted to reach out to a technical specialist who had these experiences as a mentor and the CIMS-T programme was the only way to do so.

Tell us about your relationship with your mentor and how often did you meet?

We met once every two months for a two hour session and we used the CIMS-T documentation to plan our sessions. 

Tell us your top tips for taking part in CIMS-T.

Think about where you currently you are in your own career and plan what you would like to get out of the mentor/mentee relationship. Complete a SWOT analysis on your role so you can discuss options with your mentor.

What did you learn?

It was great to learn from someone with experience of my role at a different institution so I could learn top tips from an experienced technical member of staff. The professional relationship developed and I applied to ITSS for the knowledge exchange placement funding to visit my mentor and her facility. I benefited from that visit with method development of XRD techniques which would not have happened without the CIMS-T relationship.

What is next for you? What are your plans coming out of CIMS-T?

I have made a lifelong colleague because of CIMS-T and we continue to have zoom calls. I am now focusing on being a technical specialist and have decided to priority that route because of the CIMS-T.

What made you apply for CIMS-T?

I was one of the co-initiators of the scheme. I volunteered as a mentor because I realised I had got to a stage in my career where I was in a position to give back. I had been in plenty of professional situations in the past where I had found it tricky to access the help and advice of others, so it felt like a good opportunity to support the community to help others.

Tell us about your relationship with your mentor and how often did you meet?

We met as a group, with one mentor (myself) and four mentees who all had expressed similar mentoring needs to each other. We first met one-on-one in 30-minute Teams meetings between me and the individual mentees, as an initial step to get to know each other and establish trust.

We then met as a group in a dedicated session to agree how we wanted to structure any future meetings. This would probably not have been necessary had the relationship been a traditional one-on-one pairing, but in this case it was helpful to agree a way most likely to give everyone a bit of what they felt they needed.

We decided, that it would be best if we got one person to volunteer to be in the spotlight for each session. They would give a brief introduction of themselves, their career pathway and their current working situation, and then explain the challenges they were facing and would appreciate help with from the group.

My role in these conversations was as moderator to steer the conversation when needed, and obviously to input as mentor – but there was also a lot of input from the rest of the group, who were all happy to share any tips and relevant experience.

Tell us your top tips for taking part in CIMS-T.

Be specific when describing your mentoring needs. Imagine your profile being read by someone who is trying to match a suitable mentor with you from the profile they submitted.

They need to understand what skillset they are looking for in a mentor to be sure the pairing is productive and won’t be a waste of both parties’ time (e.g. instead of saying “I want help with neurodivergence” it is more helpful to put down “I am neurodivergent and would like to get help with managing my own needs in a work setting” or “I need help with managing several neurodivergent members of my team”).

Take initiative. Once you are matched, reach out to your mentoring partner and make contact. Tell them a bit about yourself and why you signed up, what your challenges are and what you hope to get out of sessions. Don’t wait for the other person to take the first step.

What did you learn?

As a mentor I found it easier to help colleagues with a technical background than I have found mentoring admin colleagues in the past. It helps to have a shared understanding of the common challenges and stressors of the job, which are very different from other types of professional support roles.

What is next for you? What are your plans coming out of CIMS-T?

I will continue to be involved and am excited to be planning the next intake with the CIMS-T team. If we can keep the scheme going in the long term, it’s wonderful to know that there is somewhere to go for help should I be stuck on a challenge myself one day.

What made you apply for CIMS-T?

I thought it would be a great way to expand my external network and learn from relevant people in a similar sector. I also thought it would be a great why to help others in a similar sector, that is why I signed up as a mentor and mentee.

Tell us about your relationship with your mentor and how often did you meet?

As a mentee, I reached out to my mentor to arrange a suitable time to meet over Teams as I am in Belfast and my mentor was in Warwick. Following the first meeting we meet every 4-6 weeks and they were also happy to answer any other questions and give advice any time between out meet ups if required.

What did you learn?

I found the advice very relevant and focused towards my own professional goals, which was very helpful and interesting. With the support and advice from my mentor I managed to secure funded places on two extremely beneficial programmes/workshops offered by ITSS and TSN that have helped me, my organisation and colleagues. Having a mentor helped me mentor my mentee on the CIMS-T and gave me further confidence in doing so.

What is next for you? What are your plans coming out of CIMS-T?

I will to continue to stay in contact with my mentor and mentee to keep the external network progressing and hopefully identify future opportunity for personal development and collaborations. I’ve highlighted the opportunity to our Technician Commitment Steering Group and encouraged them to get involved. 

What made you apply for CIMS-T as a mentor to support others?

I believe it is vital to support and develop individuals, mentoring through CIMS-T provided me the opportunity to offer some of the assistance I received in my career.

Importantly, mentoring is a reciprocal relationship where I also had the chance to understand the challenges faced by those I mentored, which in turn challenged me as a manager.

Tell us your top tips for taking part in CIMS-T.

As a mentor have an initial open discussion with the mentee to understand how you can help, and then define what skills and advice you can help with.

What did you learn?

Unlike most organisational mentoring schemes, mentoring technicians was great; I could draw on my experience to offer relevant and helpful suggestions.

What is next for you?

Hopefully meeting new mentees.