1. WOMENTOR
International Conference
Mentoring- UK experience
Marina Larios MA MSc FRSA
WiTEC President /
Director Inova Consultancy
Graz, Austria 15th – 18th October 2008

2. UK snapshot – Pay Gap
Agriculture, hunting & forestry =10.7%
Electricity, gas and water supply = 18.5%
Hotels & restaurants = 16.1%
Transport, storage, communication =5.0%
Financial (Banking, insurance & pensions) = 39.7%
Real estate, renting & business activities = 23.9%
Public administration, defence, social security = 18.6%
Education = 11.3%
Health & social work = 32.8%
Other community, social & personal activities = 20.7%
Source: Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2006, Table 4.6a.

3. Snapshot UK
Each year across the UK 3 million women
experience violence, and there are many more living
with the legacies of abuse experienced in the past.
The conviction rate for rape has fallen for three
decades, and now stands at 5.7% of reported rapes
in England and Wales, and just 4.3% in Scotland
It is estimated that violence against women costs
society £40 billion each year (New Philanthropy
Capital).

4. Snapshot UK- Women
Just 20 per cent of our MPs are women.
The UK ranks 41st out of 184 countries around the world in
terms of the percentage of women in parliament
Women working full-time earn, on average, 17% less an hour
than men working full-time. For women working part-time the
gap is 36% an hour.
Two-fifths of women in employment in Britain work part-time,
compared with 11% of men
11% of directors of the UK's top 100 companies are women
Employees in Britain work the longest hours of developed
nations (more than 25% work more than 45 hours a week), with
men working much longer hours on average than women,
mainly due to women’s caring responsibilities

5. Mentoring Workshop (July 08)
Mentoring Research Centre- Sheffield
Hallam University www.shu.ac.uk
Open Space Methodology
Participants: private sector, public
bodies, academics, coaches, recent
graduates, project managers, trainers,
mentees

6. Emerging Themes
1. Mentoring Approaches in the UK
2. Getting started in Mentoring/Skills
for Mentors
3. A European Federation for
Mentors/Funding Issues

7. Emerging Themes.. cont
4. Mentoring Girls/Women in SET
5. Do mentors need to be more
‘educated’ or ‘experienced’ than
Mentees?
6. Mentoring for Women Returners

8. Mentoring Approaches in the UK
Variety of approaches
Mentee commitment- what does this
mean?
Paid mentoring versus free mentoring
Voluntary mentoring programmes
versus organisation’s programmes

9. Getting started in Mentoring/Skills
for Mentors
Importance of training for mentors
Development of skills for mentors and
supervision
Matching: Strategies for successful
matching (using psychometric testing,
learning styles, etc)
Management of expectations

10. Mentoring Girls/Women in SET
Need to support girls and women in non
traditional fields
Teacher’s development via mentoring
Mentoring as a way of tackling
stereotypes
Examples of successful mentoring
programmes for women in SET

11. Do mentors need to be more
‘educated’ or ‘experienced’ than
Mentees?
Expectations of relationship
Definition of mentoring will in turn define
mentor – mentee relationship
Evaluation of programmes- key
component for monitoring mentor-
mentee relationship

12. Mentoring for Women Returners
Stages of transition: how to support
clients during these changes?
Successful mentoring programmes in
the UK for women returners have
proved the business case for mentoring
eg. Equalitec www.equalitec.org.uk

13. Mentoring outcomes
Learning about the self
Learning about helping relationships
Introduction to action learning
Developing creative thinking techniques
Establishment of a support / networking group
Empowerment to succeed

14. Results
Increased self-confidence
Empowerment
Shift in paradigms
Self- belief
Increased motivation
= R E T U R N or T R A I N I N G

15. More feedback…
‘It has made me feel more positive’
‘I enjoyed the way we explored different
aspects of moving forwards’
‘It has made me think about my goals
and what is important’
Gained ‘inspiration and confidence’
from involvement in the group

16. Feedback
‘The mentoring circle is an independent
forum to discuss ideas and plans for
business, where everyone is focused
on support and encouragement’
‘the mentoring circle has helped me to
make new connections with businesses
I can work with’
‘The support of the other women in the
group was the best motivation to keep
going’

17. More feedback…
‘ The mentoring circle provided great
help and encouragement at a time
when a lot of decisions had to be made’
‘This experience has had a positive
impact on both my business and
personal development’
‘My mentor was very inspirational..I am
now moving forward with confidence.’

20. Conclusions
Mentoring is about transformational
change
Mentoring methodology= self reflection
+ action learning + strategy
Change: multilayer impact

21. Contact details
Marina Larios
www.inovaconsult.com
mlarios@inovaconsult.com