We all have friends and colleagues whom we talk to when we are about to make important decisions on our lives. We all have friends who over a call, a cup of coffee, etc, they can advise us on the best action to take if you have been stuck with an important decision about your job, career, leadership positions and even your social life. I always find myself spending time talking to my peers about how they present their applications for schools admissions, scholarships, jobs etc. As well, there are those peers who are always checking on my career status, what new you need to try out, what you need to drop, and even advising on how to balance work and social life.
While I may feel timid to approach my boss, or other senior staff, or even my family members for such advice, there are those peers in the same age group that I have always relied on to give me sober advice- these have been my peer mentors. They have shared with me skills that they have acquired elsewhere, important information in their career growth, and contacts that have assisted me move on the career. They also rely on me for such advice, guidance and support; so there is mutual benefit for both of us in this relationship. What makes my peers unique is that we have a give and take relationship that I can rely on any time of the year; and each person has a unique role to play in my life. However, there is that time we both find ourselves seeking the assistance of a senior professional or more experienced person, who give advice and share the knowledge. We understand they are very busy so they don’t spend a lot of time with us building this kind of mutual mentoring relationship, however we appreciate their regular ‘coaching’ sessions.
We all have friends and colleagues whom we talk to when we are about to make important decisions on our lives. We all have friends who over a call, a cup of coffee, etc, they can advise us on the best action to take if you have been stuck with an important decision about your job, career, leadership positions and even your social life. I always find myself spending time talking to my peers about how they present their applications for schools admissions, scholarships, jobs etc. As well, there are those peers who are always checking on my career status, what new you need to try out, what you need to drop, and even advising on how to balance work and social life.
While I may feel timid to approach my boss, or other senior staff, or even my family members for such advice, there are those peers in the same age group that I have always relied on to give me sober advice- these have been my peer mentors. They have shared with me skills that they have acquired elsewhere, important information in their career growth, and contacts that have assisted me move on the career. They also rely on me for such advice, guidance and support; so there is mutual benefit for both of us in this relationship. What makes my peers unique is that we have a give and take relationship that I can rely on any time of the year; and each person has a unique role to play in my life. However, there is that time we both find ourselves seeking the assistance of a senior professional or more experienced person, who give advice and share the knowledge. We understand they are very busy so they don’t spend a lot of time with us building this kind of mutual mentoring relationship, however we appreciate their regular ‘coaching’ sessions.
This is what drives this unique peer to peer mentoring programme that YPARD is designing. By providing a platform for you, to share your skills with other YPARD members, match with others whom you will learn from, and share experiences with a wider network of members, the programme will also include coaching sessions on specific issues of concern to the clusters of peers that will be involved. We are launching a pilot programme in Ghana and Kenya for a period of three months to see how much each one of us can learn from this organized peer to peer mentoring programme. We shall share a report and call up on you who have a mentoring need to join this exciting programme after the pilot phase.
A MENTOR is all about being a Model, Encouraging, Nurturing, Teaching, Organizing and helping face the Reality!
Read the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), the Basics of Peer to Peer mentoring programme and the role of Senior Professionals/Coaches.and more details about the YPARD mentoring programme.
Related article:
Calling YPARD members in Ghana and Kenya to join the YPARD Mentoring Programme!