“I joined as a mentee to increase my confidence and push myself forward to see if I could get a promotion. It worked.”

Project Team Manager Karen Rosser found the sky was the limit after she joined cross-company mentoring programme

I’ve been with the Environment Agency since 2013 when I joined as an environment officer, and people do tend to stay for many years. So when I read about the ‘cross-company mentoring programme’ in our regular internal newsletter, I jumped at the chance. I decided to join the programme as a mentee to increase my confidence and push myself forward to see if I could get a promotion. It worked: now I'm a Project Team Manager.

It had other benefits too: my networking skills have become so much stronger – I have the confidence to talk to people I wouldn't have previously spoken to. In fact, I rather cheekily asked the executive director of the Environment Agency to be my mentor, which has been such a fabulous opportunity for me.

The cross-company programme runs for nine months – but it still left me wanting more. And eventually, I’d love to become a mentor one day but I think I need to develop certain skills to be really good at that. However, I made some enquiries and was fortunate enough to get the position as a programme partner. This means I’m the point of contact at the Environment Agency, helping to organise our mentors and mentees. It’s a really competitive process to be selected for the programme – it's so popular as people see the positive effect it has had on their colleagues.

The importance of storytelling

One of the key benefits of cross-company mentoring is the fact that it really focuses on the individual. Also, you’re taking yourself out of your work environment and the distractions which come with that. As a mentee, you’re learning not only about how other organisations work, but also new ideas and ways of working from somebody with a wealth of experience – it also makes you realise the value of what you’ve got.

One of the key things the programme has achieved within the Environment Agency is to encourage more women to develop new skills and go for promotions, rather than us having to recruit externally.

Another reason for me remaining part of the programme is that it gives me access to all the amazing events that Moving Ahead organises throughout the year – including the Summit Series. These three annual Summit Series events and its speakers are so inspirational. One that stands out for me was Karl Lokko, who gave a talk at the International Men’s Day event in 2019. Karl is a former gang member who has become a campaigner and entrepreneur and a champion for greater inclusivity in business. His story had me hooked straight away and it taught me the importance of storytelling to inspire others.

Giving it 100%

Another thing I learned was the importance of role models and that we need a diverse set of role models in our society that people from a younger generation can learn from, relate to and aspire to be. We need to encourage those leaders of tomorrow to come from all sections of society and to provide opportunities for them to succeed.

Yes, progress can be slow but the mentoring programme has inspired women like me to step up and go for that promotion that maybe they thought was out of reach. The advice I'd give anyone who is thinking of joining the programme would be to understand what it is you want to get out of it – but also to be open-minded. When you go on that nine-month journey there will be some sharp left turns along the way when you discover something new about yourself.

Ultimately, when I think about cross-company mentoring I think of these three words – inspire, educate and dedication. If you want to take part in this, you’ve got to be dedicated and give it 100%. But if you give it your all, then the sky is the limit.

For more information click here or contact Maria.May@moving-ahead.org