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My mentor, my mentee, and me

Posted by Olivia Lyons, 27 days ago

4 min read

Mentoring can be an inspiring and engaging way to learn, develop, and explore different business areas and potential careers, or just feel more confident and capable in your current role. A good mentor provides advice, coaching, challenge, and clarity regarding your career goals while developing your skills and fostering collaboration by building connections.

The mentoring programme at NatWest allows everyone to be both a mentor and mentee. You can be matched with someone based on what you’re looking for and find out more about that person’s career history, skill set, and accomplishments before requesting that they become your mentor.

Amrit Samra is a Journey Developer and has been with the bank for over 22 years. We spoke to Amrit about her experience as both a mentor and mentee throughout her career.

Hi Amrit, can you tell us about your career journey?

‘I started off as a cashier in the Hammersmith branch,’ Amrit remembers, ‘and spent most of the first 16 years in Retail Banking, working my way up through the ranks to Area Manager. At one point I was managing about 13 branches. I then moved into a role transforming branch spaces and then office spaces before moving into HR. I didn’t have direct HR experience, so I completed a Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development qualification and have since moved into my role which looks at streamlining processes in the bank. We look at how we can leverage technology to make a better experience for colleagues and the business.’

At what point did you get involved with the mentoring programme?

‘I’ve had unofficial mentors over the years,’ explains Amrit, ‘but it was when I joined HR that I was officially mentored by an executive which was brilliant. Some of those early conversations I had with my first mentor were when I was studying for my CIPD, and always leaving my assignments until the last minute. So, we had this big session around procrastination, and she asked why I put myself under that pressure. It really helped me make some significant mindset shifts and manage my time better.

‘I got so much out of that relationship and up until then I probably would have been afraid to approach an exec to mentor me, but it gave me the courage to reach out to our function Chief Operating Officer, Matt Harrington, who’s my current mentor and he’s been fantastic. One of the first things he explained was that he wanted to make sure we were a good fit for one another; he wanted to know about my career and see if he could support me. It turned out he’s got a wealth of experience in retail as well and he was happy to mentor me because he thought he could help.

And what did you get out of that mentorship?

‘He made sure I was clear about my goals and made me list three focus areas I wanted to concentrate on. The first was working on strategic thinking because one of my career goals is that I want to be a Journey Manager so that tactical, broader thinking skill is essential. The second was building my confidence when it comes to presentations. He’s a very natural public speaker and one of the first things he lined me up to do was a presentation at one of his leadership meetings. I was allowed to choose the topic and I chose diversity and inclusion. I had brilliant feedback and was told I came across really well. And my third focus area was AI. He’s the sponsor for AI in the bank and I’ve got a very keen interest in Gen AI and how technology can improve our processes, but not take away from that human aspect. I’ve learned where we’re headed and how we’re going to use AI, and he’s also put me in touch with a couple of people and pointed me in the direction of some useful learning. It’s been going well and has made me realise there are so many people out there who can lend their experience to where I want to get to.’

When did you make the move from mentee to mentor?

‘After around two years.’ Amrit smiles, ‘By speaking with Matt and other mentors along the way, I gained the confidence to become a mentor. I think people shy away from it and worry that they might not have enough to offer, but I’ve now mentored three people!

‘I asked my manager if there was anyone in the team that I could help. A couple of girls came forward and said that they’d love to do what I’m doing, and I’ve already had some sessions with them. I’ve been able to point them in the direction of the right learning material and give them an idea of what a day in the life of a Journey Developer looks like, what kind of tools we use, and what kind of challenges we face. It’s been really rewarding.

‘The third person I’ve mentored approached me because he’d seen I’d moved from being a Branch Manager to my current role, which is what he wants to do. I’ve had a couple of sessions with him and told him what the role involves, and helped him polish his CV. I know how difficult it feels to break away from certain functions and because I know how challenging it is to be a Branch Manager, it was more personal for me; I really wanted to help.

‘I’ve tried to use the structure that my mentors used with me because I got so much out of those sessions. I’m really enjoying it and hopefully, I can carry on doing it.’

Do you feel that being a mentor has also helped you develop your own skills?

‘Yeah, I think it’s been so useful with building self-awareness and outlining strengths and weaknesses. I feel so much more confident when leading calls and the feedback I’ve received has been very valuable. I’ve learned I often speed ahead I needed to learn how to slow down and understand that people work at different paces.

‘What’s great is that you can get a mentor from any area in the bank. It could be someone in a function you’d like to work in or just someone you admire that you may have seen in action on a webinar or call. I’d just advise that people not be afraid to ask; the worst that someone can say is “no” if they don’t have capacity but more often than not, I think people are willing to support others, and they respect the proactiveness when you reach out to them.’

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