FAQs

If your question is not addressed here please email us at mentorlinklounge@otausvic.com.au.

What is mentoring?

Mentoring is the forming of supportive relationships between people to provide personalised training, personal and professional development. Typically mentoring occurs between two individuals – a mentor and a mentee. The personalised nature of mentoring means you can decide to learn about the topics and issues of most relevance to you. You can arrange contact with your mentor at a time that fits in with both of your schedules, family and friends. When you “meet” your mentor by your agreed method, perhaps in one of our private chat rooms, you can talk about alternative approaches, refine your ideas and practice them until you are confident of putting your plan into action. As a result, you get your work done more easily. Your performance and prospects improve.

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What does a mentor do?

Mentors who are registered with MentorLink agree to:

  • Respect their mentees by listening and accepting their mentee’s views of their personal experiences.
  • Act with integrity by keeping promises, or letting mentees know at the earliest opportunity if a promise has to be broken.
  • Assist their mentees to gain a clearer understanding of their current competencies.
  • Encourage their mentees to identify the competencies and outcomes they want to achieve in the future.
  • Agree to a plan regarding the type and process of mentoring most effective for the mentee’s circumstances and goals.
  • Provide balanced specific feedback with the genuine intention of contributing to the mentee’s development and performance.
  • Seek feedback on the mentee’s progress and satisfaction with the mentoring services being provided, both informally, and through the MentorLink Mentee Satisfaction Surveys.

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What happens in a mentoring “meeting”?

At typical mentoring “meeting” will involve you and your mentor:

  • Discussing what has happened since the last mentoring meeting.
  • Reviewing the previous meeting commitments to take actions.
  • Confirming the relevance of the current meeting’s agenda.
  • Discussing any recent incidents and more effective approaches to handling similar situations in the future.
  • Practising and refining more effective approaches.
  • Instruction and practice in agreed topics e.g. trying a different approach, reading an article
  • Discussing current work projects and people.
  • Exchanging feedback on actions taken.
  • Agreeing Action Commitments and Discussion Topics for the next meeting.
  • Scheduling the next mentoring “meeting”.

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Is mentoring time consuming?

A mentoring partnership is not time consuming. It can be conducted via email or over the phone at times which are convenient to you. Many employers recognise the benefits of mentoring and allow employees to schedule a block of time in their diary for this purpose. Other partnerships are conducted out of hours via a phone call or email. Experience has shown that contact is more frequent initially, then once issues have been discussed contact is once every month or so.

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What services does MentorLink provide?

The MentorLink program provides profession-trained staff to oversee the partnership matching process then keep in touch to discuss partnership progress, answer queries and facilitate contact.

Self Assessment Survey which can be used by mentees to determine their areas that need work or development and for the mentors to determine the areas they are suitable to mentor in.

Find A Mentor: the self-matching software on the website allows mentees to Find a Mentor with the competencies and background (occupation and specialty) you want, and make contact by sending an e-mail. This can be assisted by MentorLink staff if required.

Mentoring Tools: maintain the momentum of your mentoring partnership by downloading our Development Plan, Mentoring Meetings Agenda, Partners’ Details, Record of Contacts and a Mentoring Agreement. Alternatively consult your free MentorLink DVD.

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What do I have to pay?

MentorLink is a free benefit to current financial members of OT AUSTRALIA Victoria. OTs who are members of their State Association pay a one-off fee of $200. Non-members are welcome to participate at a fee of $600.00. Mentors contribute on an honorary basis and do not have to be members of their State Association to participate. Invoices for payment are forwarded initially for $100 following registration and prior to the dispatch of education material relating to the program. A second invoice for the balance of $100 will be forwarded following a match.

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How do I find the right mentor for me?

  • Try to identify the competencies, strengths or skills you would like to develop. You can use the self-assessment survey to help you with this. The next issue is to find a mentor who actually has the competencies you want to develop. All Mentors must complete a self-assessment survey to identify their mentoring strengths. To assist you in finding a mentor you can choose the most appropriate professional areas and specialties to suit your needs. Depending on your specific needs, electing a mentor with a similar background e.g. public sector/private practice may be an appropriate choice. A mentor from a very different background may find it difficult to relate to your issues and aims. If you are looking for a mentor in a particular area e.g. neurological assessment background then work place may not be important.
  • MentorLink enables to the mentee to choose their mentor, if after initial contact the mentee is not happy about their choice they are free to not continue the partnership.
  • Finally, there’s the personal chemistry between mentor and mentee. At best, this can mean the mentor and mentee actually like each other. For others, it’s the knowledge that they respect and trust each other. This is why the MentorLink values of Respect, Integrity, Contribution and Learning are used in selecting all our mentors.

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My mentor is interstate, will that be a problem?

Keep in mind that a mentoring relationship is a ‘partnership’. If both parties are comfortable with the idea of mentoring via email and/or phone, there is no reason why partnerships have to be state-based. Historically most mentoring partnerships are conducted very successfully via email and/or phone and there is always support from the MentorLink staff.

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How do I become a mentor with MentorLink?

Fill in the registration details on the website http://www.mentorlinklounge.com and complete the self-assessment survey. A rating of 5.8 and above is required for mentoring in selected competencies. Once you have received your survey results you are registered with MentorLink as a mentor.

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Do I have enough experience to be a mentor?

If you graduated 4-5 years ago, have worked in the same workplace for more than 2 years and feel confident and competent to nurture a mentee by all means register as a mentor. Mentoring another occupational therapist will assist you to examine and reflect on your own practice. It provides an opportunity to reassess your own career goals and offers the opportunity of greater visibility, recognition and a sense of being professionally productive. There is training and support available for mentors through the MentorLink program.

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How will MentorLink use my individual details?

MentorLink and your Professional Association undertake not to on-sell your details to any third parties for promotion and marketing. The primary purpose of requesting details from individuals is to ensure information and evaluation of the program can be accurately processed.

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