PPC MEETING GUIDELINES FOR MENTORS AND PUBLICISTS
These are guidelines only but we hope they prove useful in the early days when setting up your meetings.
INTRODUCTION
- Publicists and mentors will be introduced to each other by a PPC member before the end of December 2024 via email. Mentor and mentees should work together to set a date for their first meeting.
- The first meeting must take place before the 31st January 2025.
- Mentors and mentees should then arrange to meet once a month until December 2025.
MEETING PREPARATION
- Mentees to email mentors two weeks before the meeting with specific questions and subjects that they would like to address; these must relate to their career and work only. No work related subject is out of bounds.
- Mentors should bring two examples of campaigns or authors they have worked on in the past to the first meeting, as well as their current job description to give the mentor at the first meeting for background.
- Mentors should provide their mentees with clear ‘homework goals’ for the next meeting.
- It is up to the mentees to prepare and think about what they want to discuss in the meetings and how to make the time with their mentor as constructive as possible.
MEETING SET-UP
- It is up to both mentor and mentee to decide on a convenient time, date and method of meeting
- Meetings can take place in person or you can use Zoom, Skype or FaceTime
- Meetings are financially independent. Mentees and mentor should pay for anything at the meeting individually.
- Meetings are completely confidential.
PPC SHORT CODE OF CONDUCT AND ETHICAL GUIDELINES FOR MENTORING PAIRS
The mentoring relationship, acting either as a mentor or a mentee, may present you with a number of issues or dilemmas. Often, there are no easy or obvious solutions and there may be no clear-cut sense of ‘right’ or ‘wrong’.
Here are some general guidelines to help you along the way:
Responsibility
Responsibility lies with both mentor and mentee to be aware that their behaviour has the potential to negatively affect the mentoring relationship.
Confidentiality of the identity of the person being mentored
Confidentiality involves preserving the name of those being mentored unless they have given active assent to disclosing them.
Confidentiality of the mentoring conversation
Both the mentor and the mentee have great responsibility to maintain and respect the confidentiality of all the information imparted during the mentoring relationship as they may hear sensitive and personal information. However, if such information is dangerous or illegal, an appropriate approach for the mentor is to encourage the publicist to take appropriate action themselves.
Boundary management & roles
Those working in a mentoring relationship may develop friendships over time. It is important to have a clear mentoring relationship and not allow personal bias to influence professional actions. Stay mindful of maintaining confidentiality, objectivity and equal partnership.
Competence
Mentors need to be conscious of their own levels of mentoring competence and experience and to never overstate them. An appropriate approach for mentors to foster this consciousness might be to engage in reflective practice using a journal or similar approach. When the mentoring conversation appears to stray away from mentoring (forward-looking, solution focused) towards counselling (typically talk is firmly rooted in problems in the past), an appropriate approach might be to suggest that further conversation of that particular topic might be better with those competent to assist.
Contracting
Examples of clear contracting should include clarity over length and frequency of sessions; agreement on whether it is permissible or not to make email/telephone/text contact concerning mentoring issues between mentoring sessions; responsibility for finding a suitable location for the mentoring session etc.
Dealing with self-distractions
Mentors need to recognise that bias, preconceived ideas, initial impressions, opinions and stereotypes can all influence the ability to pay full attention and be present and focused on those being mentored. If it is not possible to achieve this level of self-management, an appropriate approach might be for the mentor to either absent themselves temporarily or suggest that the mentee work with someone else. If mentors feel they need to ‘advise’ to give value to the publicist, they may need to step back to examine the relationship with those being mentored and their own understanding of mentoring.