Wasim Khan MBE
When I was asked, “Would you consider becoming a mentor for a Women in Tech leadership mentoring programme I am running”, my instant daunted response was “but I don’t know a great deal about technology”. Having been persuaded to do it, the first lesson I learnt over the course of the following year was that the subject matter had little relevance; this was about people and the value that I could add to their self-learning, development and ultimate progression.
Whilst the first meeting with the cohort in 2016 brought together women who were all at different stages and levels of their careers and self-confidence, they were all united through a common goal of wanting to be the very best that they could be.
As we got to know each other, I was truly inspired by the emotion and passion behind each story. However, what intrigued me was that whilst describing their remarkable journeys, very few spent any time on reflecting on the successes that each had experienced whilst getting to where they were today. Bringing that element out was my first goal!
By the end of the second session, I deliberately formed an early judgement about who within the group had the potential ability and characteristics to take on a future leadership role. I viewed this as not only an opportunity to establish a benchmark for each, but also a chance to be proved wrong at the end of the programme.
Embarking on a mentoring programme as a mentee is only as good as the commitment to follow through on actions away from the sessions. The sessions themselves provided a sense check on progress, provided further challenge, and gave the mentees an opportunity to discuss their learnings. We discussed an individual plan on how each mentee would tackle the challenges once they left the room and entered their own personal worlds again.
Discussions around how we view ourselves and the challenges in the work places were fascinating. In my sporting world context, practice doesn’t make perfect, it only makes permanent. The mentees discussed and debated the power and also the debilitating effect of our internal narrative and what we practiced on a daily basis.
Session-by-session, confidence continued to grow amongst the mentees as they became more familiar with one another, with me and more importantly with themselves. In later sessions, watching many of the quiet mentees suddenly taking a lead mentoring role was incredible. It made me realise the value of these sessions and what can be achieved if you make a personal commitment to them.
Was my early judgement wrong? Absolutely and I was delighted to have been proven so.
I entered the mentoring programme fascinated by how I too might grow as a person. The feedback I received from mentees made me realise the impact a mentor can have on helping changes someone’s life. If that is not enough to want you to continue mentoring, then nothing ever will be!
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