Mentoring

Mentoring is a tried and tested instrument for effective academic and professional career advancement and sustainable personnel development.

Mentoring means support, consulting and coaching through the exchange of private and work-related experiences. The mentor is a professionally experienced specialist or manager; the mentee is a woman with the wish to foster her academic, professional or personal development.

Mentoring is a process. Ideally it means growth, mutuality and, ultimately, a win-win result for both members of the relationship. This result is not of a material nature, however. The personal support provided by the mentor enables the mentee to discover her talents, fulfill her potential and develop new skills. Mentoring allows the women to define their own goals and find the best ways and means to reach them.

The mentors profit from the opportunity to reflect on their past career (and other) decisions, view their own knowledge from a different perspective, develop their leadership skills and network with their co-mentors. Mentors in executive positions can contribute their experience and strategies in regard to conflict resolution, problem solving and leadership.

The Hildegardis Association is a member in the Forum Mentoring, the federal association for mentoring in science.