We Are The City Magazine - Empowering Women: Why mentoring is the key to inclusive success

By Chelsey Baker

As workplace demands and culture grow increasingly complex, and career opportunities become more competitive, having a mentor can be a massive boost to your confidence and help provide the skills and self-assurance needed to navigate the corporate landscape effectively.

Drawing from my extensive experience mentoring hundreds of female entrepreneurs, CEOs and business owners, I understand the critical role that mentors play in guiding women on their journey to success.

Throughout my career and when I worked in financial services, few women held top positions, leaving me without any female role models or mentors. This is one of the reasons why I’m passionate about mentoring women and raising them up to reach their full leadership potential.

Mentorship empowers women to overcome glass ceiling barriers, offering benefits far beyond personal development. By tapping into and leveraging a mentor’s insights and experience, you can better position yourself for career advancement and opportunities. In a world striving for gender equality, securing a mentor can be a real game-changer!

Here are some key insights into the transformative power of mentoring for career growth and financial success.

• Increasing Self-Esteem: Many women face internal barriers such as self-doubt and imposter syndrome. A mentor can help women recognise and leverage their strengths. Through constructive feedback and encouragement, mentors contribute to a positive self-image, empowering women to believe in their own capabilities.
• Career Advancement: Mentors can provide invaluable guidance on career development, helping mentees to identify and pursue opportunities. This can lead to more informed decision making and career choices, promotions, salary increases, and access to higher-paying positions.
• Skill Enhancement: Mentoring facilitates knowledge transfer and skills development. Acquiring new skills and strengthening existing ones helps women to increases their marketability, making them more valuable to employers and potentially opens doors to new roles. This transfer of knowledge can be instrumental in closing gender gaps and equipping women with the skills they need to thrive in diverse professional environments and to propel their career forward.
• Personalised Guidance and Support: The beauty of mentorship is that it can be specifically tailored to the needs of the mentee, where a mentor provides guidance based on their own learning and experiences. Mentoring fosters a sense of camaraderie, where shared experiences help women to feel listened to, seen and supported.
• Overcoming Self-Limiting Beliefs: Mentoring provide a safe space for women to voice their concerns, ask questions and receive non-judgmental feedback on their ideas and aspirations. This enables mentees to confront and overcome any self-limiting beliefs, develop resilience, enhance their communication skills, and gain confidence in their abilities.
• Networking Opportunities: Mentors often have extensive professional networks. This can create pathways for mentees to connect with influential figures and be introduced to professional circles and events where they can gain access to valuable connections and potential opportunities.
• Career Guidance: Mentors can offer valuable insights into business strategies, direction, and potential pitfalls. Their expertise and experience can serve as a compass providing crucial guidance at different stages of your career journey. Mentors can empower mentees to have the confidence to apply or negotiate a pay rise and help identify the necessary skills for future roles.
• Confidence and Leadership Development: A mentor's encouragement and support is not only a confidence boost, but it can also help a mentee to develop strong leadership skills. Self-assured and empowered women are more likely to pursue leadership roles and assert themselves in professional settings.
• Industry Insights: Mentors often provide valuable direction and insights into industry trends, helping mentees stay ahead of the curve. Being well-informed about market shifts and emerging opportunities can lead to strategic career moves.
• Overcoming Gender-Based Challenges: Through mentorship, women gain the confidence to voice their concerns, share experiences, and actively participate in initiatives aimed at fostering diversity and inclusion. Mentors can be an invaluable source of inspiration and support to overcome obstacles and setbacks.

Is it surprising that 89% of those who have been mentored go on to mentor others. We all need help in this world. Mentoring gives a sense of purpose to both parties, it’s not only good for business but it’s also good for the soul!

Creating mentorship opportunities shouldn’t be a strategy but rather a commitment to creating inclusive and diverse workplaces. Mentoring works across all industries and fosters relationships built on connection and trust. This commitment not only nurtures the next generation of leaders but also cultivates a culture of collaboration, knowledge sharing, and innovative solutions for organisations to benefit.

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About the Author

Chelsey Baker is the Chief Executive and Founder of National Mentoring Day; the world's largest celebration of mentoring, with the inauguration ceremoniously taking place in the Houses of Parliament in 2016 with Lord David Young. Chelsey has been instrumental in leading government mentoring projects and her mission is clear: to make mentoring accessible to all. National Mentoring Day has helped to substantially change the landscape in making mentorship more accessible and recognised globally.

The annual celebration takes place on 27th October each year to celebrate mentors and mentees and profile the businesses making an impact through mentoring and amplifying their news and stories year-round.

Regarded as one of the UK’s prominent business mentors with thousands of hours mentoring experience across all sectors, Chelsey has worked with Royalty, celebrities, business leaders and individuals where she is passionate about elevating others through mentorship.

With over two decades as a senior executive in media, television, publishing and PR, Chelsey is known as the UK's top pitching expert. She has trained global CEOs and leaders in public speaking, media, and business pitching, where she is a sought-after speaker on international stages.

Chelsey has received notable awards which include “Excellence in Women’s Enterprise Mentoring” at BAFTA, from the British Bankers’ Association, “Women Appreciating Women” award “Visionary Woman serving humanity” and “Influential Woman of the Year” in recognition of her outstanding contribution to mentorship.

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Chelsey Baker

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