Spotlight On…Jill Ingham
(8 December 2017)
Dr Jill Ingham, Business Development Manager, Open Programmes, in Alliance Manchester Business School
What prompted you to apply to the Manchester Gold Staff mentoring programme?
It was recommended to me a few years ago by an academic friend whose opinion I really trust, so I knew it must be good. Having worked for a previous public sector organisation employing only 50 people, and after two years working for the University, I was at a point where I felt I needed to know more about the wider activities of the University, not just Alliance Manchester Business School where I work. I have a ‘client facing’ role, meaning that I respond to external enquiries from potential customers and I also proactively reach out to Heads of Learning and Development in all sorts of organisations, locally, nationally and overseas. Working on our exhibition stand twice a year I can be asked about research and activities in other faculties and institutes. I also wanted to understand more about career development within the university and to learn from someone who had worked at the university for considerably longer than myself.
How has participating in the programme benefitted you, both as a mentee and a mentor?
I started as a mentee and was fortunate to be matched with a mentor who precisely fitted the bill as per my request. She had worked here for a long time and is from a different faculty, but still within the learning and development area. We started by describing my situation and some past work experiences, before setting out a few key areas for discussion over the following four sessions. The great thing about the sessions is that you continue to mull over your thoughts in the weeks in between, and I’d strongly advise setting time aside to sit and work on these issues in a quiet place, providing some reflective time out for yourself. My mentor went so far as to recommend that I speak with a couple of other people across campus whose experience has been similar to my own. This was literally worth its weight in gold! My mentor has become a good friend and we still meet occasionally for a very rewarding conversation over a coffee.
In my second year of the scheme I put myself forward as a mentor, and was very suitably matched with a mentee. This also proved to be a great experience, and not just for the mentee. We should not overlook the value of mentoring to the mentor; you learn about someone else’s field of work, and the wider activities of that department or school, and you also learn about yourself because it is a reflective two way process.
What advice would you give to someone who was thinking about applying, whether as a mentor or mentee?
I would recommend it to everyone, you stand to gain lessons for life as I did. There are introductory sessions for both mentees and mentors, with clear guidelines as to how to conduct the sessions and fall back strategies if these are needed. You can ask for advice from the team running the scheme if you need it. It provides a welcome break from your daily work activities, does not overly encroach on your time, and it makes you a better worker. It is wonderfully non age-related: I was a mentee at 60! We are incredibly lucky to have the Gold mentoring scheme at our disposal, there is no such scheme in most places of work.
If you could invite anyone to dinner (either alive or a person from history), who would you invite?
I would choose Emmeline Pankhurst. I admire her for her ability to triumph over adversity and trauma. I read the biography of Mrs Pankhurst, whose three daughters were educated in the building I work in (Dover Street building), and was amazed at how widely she travelled to give talks on women’s suffrage, to the USA and Russia, enduring the hardships of travel conditions at the time.
Next year will be the centenary of the first votes for women in Britain, as long as you were 30 or over! We owe a lot to those determined Suffragettes.
- You can find out more about the Manchester Gold Staff programme on Staffnet.