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ECIS Mentoring

Cultivating deep & intentional relationships

For ECIS members and affiliated organisations only

Please apply using your school or affiliated organisation email address. Interested in becoming an ECIS Member School? Learn more.

Being mentored can be life-changing – everyone can benefit from having the support of a mentor at different stages in their lives and careers. Perhaps you already have some experience of the value of mentoring or of being mentored? Alternatively, this may be new to you.

Our new Mentoring platform was launched at our annual Leadership Conference 2021. The theme was Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging, and our overarching aim is to provide equal access to opportunities for everyone. We believe our easily accessible mentoring platform is an important step towards achieving this goal.

Our community belief is that little actions create big impacts. Our purpose here is to open doors and look for and provide opportunities for all. Please do take time to watch our two very short videos and read the articles below. We believe that we all have a responsibility to make the world a better place, and do what we can with what we have, and do as much of it as we can.

Gift Nisanart Dharmageisirattana, Director, American School Bangkok

Kathryn Miner, Director, American International School Vienna

Objectives of this project

The objective of the ECIS Mentorship platform is to cultivate deep, intentional relationships on a global scale. A virtual mentoring programme enables ECIS membership schools to engage and promote mentoring relationships with global participants. This programme will encourage schools to foster a creatively diverse and inclusive culture among students and employees.

ECIS aspires to enable both informal and formal connections by tapping into the existing skills, experience, and knowledge of an extensive network of teachers and professionals from other disciplines to support and develop others. This mentoring programme will be available to all members of ECIS. The objectives of the programme are to:

  • Diversify the talent within schools and organisations
  • Support and empower minority employees and students to develop skills and network to help achieve their goals and provide equal access to opportunities for all
  • Foster knowledge sharing and development of skills amongst students and employees, which will contribute to a diverse and healthy organisation
  • Provide a structured one-on-one mentoring programme to foster a culture of development and learning with focus on diversity and inclusivity
  • Create a safe and inviting mentoring platform to engage all members of our international learning community
  • Assist ECIS members in meeting their career goals by honing new capabilities
  • Promote reciprocal learning relationships between the mentee and mentor
  • Act to develop mentoring capability. Acquire the perspective and develop the skills required to perform this professional activity. (Training is available for ECIS members)
Our mentoring pillars
  • Mentors and mentees are informed prior to engaging in a mentorship relationship
  • Systems and processes are in place to ensure the integrity of the mentorship relationship
  • Matching is based on the data provided by the mentee and mentor
  • Matching is focused on building and maintaining a culture of diversity and inclusivity within schools
  • Engagement protocols have been designed to create a common understanding of mentee/mentorship behaviour and expectations
Categories
  • Providing opportunities for students to develop. Best hopes; the sharing of behavioural and mindset habits for success; developing self-awareness and a positive self-identity. Providing equal access to opportunities
  • Diversity, inclusion, and belonging. Why we need it and how we embrace it
  • Well-being – developing balance and working through uncertain times. Providing emotional and social connection and support to those who feel vulnerable or isolated. (video link provided by Gift)
  • Learning to Learn. Sharpening my skills
  • Improving Productivity
  • Job hunting, CV creation, interview training and positive communication skills
  • Career Progression and planning the route ahead
  • Women Supporting Women, ways that women can champion each other. https://leanin.org/tips/workplace-ally
  • Middle Leader Skills, for all delegates who attend our Middle Leader Courses
  • We hope that this programme will help to address the needs and aims of our members. We welcome and value any ideas for additional areas where mentoring could be of benefit to you and your school

Objectives of this project

CHANGE AND INFLUENCE SOMEONE’S WORLD

Do you remember a teacher, a coach or a former boss who did something that changed the trajectory of your life? This is your chance to do that for someone else. Not every mentoring partnership has to be life changing to be beneficial, but every mentor can have the potential to instigate surprising change.

PUT YOUR FINGER ON THE PULSE OF A YOUNGER GENERATION

Usually, though not always, mentors end up working with younger mentees. Different generations think and act differently. If you are to be an effective leader, you need to understand how younger generations see things and where they can make a difference to the organisation. The intimacy of a mentoring relationship offers a unique insight into these generational differences.

IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY BY BOOSTING INCLUSIVITY

Sharing your insights, learning and networks with younger colleagues, and those of many different backgrounds, can help to grease the organisational wheel. Stepping up the pace and increasing productivity helps everyone within the organisation – including you.

TO BECOME A BETTER LEADER

Learning how to work with people with whom you do not have a natural connection, demonstrating patience with those in need of guidance and support, helping people figure out the best path forward: all trademarks of a great leader AND skills honed through mentoring. The more you work at leadership on a one-to-one basis, the more you will improve in larger group settings.

BOOST REPRESENTATION WITHIN YOUR SCHOOL OR ORGANISATION

Studies have shown that focusing on diversity and inclusion can have a positive impact on both innovation and success. When it comes to decision making, diverse groups are more likely to outperform non-diverse groups and individuals. Concentrating on building cultures of diversity and inclusion within schools will support and empower minority students and employees as well as build their network and increase leadership succession. The benefits of mentoring are endless, but when mentoring is utilised for the purpose of improving diversity and inclusion, it can truly make an impact.

ACHIEVE MORE PERSONAL CAREER GAINS

Just in case you are thinking that all this talk of leadership and learning is a soft sell, let’s dish up some hard facts. Between 2010 and 2015 Sun Microsystems studied the career progress of over 1,000 employees. People who had acted as mentors were SIX TIMES more likely to be promoted than those who did not, and 20% more likely to get a raise. These results show the benefits of mentoring, should you decide to enrol in our mentorship programme.

SHAPE THE LEADERS OF TOMORROW

Becoming a mentor can have beneficial effects on not only you as the mentor but your mentee as well. Mentoring has been shown to improve leadership success within the workplace, this is done by broadening networks and enhancing skill sets. Mentoring with a focus on diversity and inclusivity works to support not only minority students and employees but the entire organisation. By becoming a mentor with ECIS, you can take part in encouraging more minority individuals to take on leadership roles. Many organisations are using mentoring to increase gender and ethnic diversity in leadership roles.

GAIN NEW PERSPECTIVES & FRESH IDEAS

Mentoring is a unique opportunity to step outside your normal circle of friends and social media’s echo chamber to gain an intimate understanding of how the world looks through someone else’s eyes. As everyone comes from a different background and therefore each has a unique view of the world, it is most beneficial to include as many of these perspectives as possible, including those coming from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, all ages and all genders. New perspectives lead to fresh ideas, and who knows where fresh ideas could lead you?

HIGHER SELF AWARENESS

While the benefits of mentorship are immense, working towards your own goals by mentoring someone from a younger generation or of a different cultural background than you requires self-analysis of strengths, weaknesses, and values. Both mentors and mentees are more self-aware as a result, than those who are not. Self-awareness was shown to be highly beneficial when it comes to career development.

Supporting Documents

How to join

Registration is only for ECIS members and affiliated organisations. Simply visit our bespoke Mentoring platform to set up an account. Then, you’ll be asked to complete your profile. If you have any questions or issues, please contact mentoring@ecis.org.

FOR ECIS MEMBERS AND AFFILIATED ORGANISATIONS ONLY