The Rules of a Mentor (Created by David Clutterbuck in 2004)

• Manage the relationship

• Encourage

• Nurture

• Teach

• Offer mutual respect

• Respond to the learner’s needs

 

For me, mentoring is an entirely personal experience, it is an honest dialogue between me and the person with whom I am working. A space is opened between mentor and mentee where thoughts and ideas can be shared in an unfettered and unjudgmental way, where failure is accepted, and possibilities embraced. For the mentee it is fundamentally about “What could I do” and not about ‘What should I do”. Mentoring is two minds engaged in one purpose, to help the mentee achieve their potential.

 

The mentoring process is fascinating, invigorating, positive and inspiring. It can focus on any aspect of your discipline, to eliminate what is not useful to your progression and to drill down into specificity and authenticity in all areas of your practice.

 

With a mentor as a sounding board, a guide and a support, a maker can explore their craft and what lies beneath it, working always towards expressing themselves in the most honest way possible. This is a journey to specificity and authenticity in all things, and in this spirit, makers can thrive, but just as importantly be heard.

 

I have worked with makers on many aspects of their businesses:

 

• Why do I make?

• For whom do I make?

• How do I communicate better with customers?

• “Telling my story”

• Presenting myself in public

• The importance of photography

• The power of authenticity

• The power of specificity

• The power of the written word:

  • How to write effectively

  • Writing for websites and online marketplaces

  • Writing promotional materials

  • Editing and proofreading

• Website overhauling

• Range planning

• Presentation planning for events

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And finally:

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• The ‘Maker Brand Key’: a process of drilling down into the essence of why you do what you do, and for whom*

(*This is a much more detailed process to follow, taking a maker, step by step, to a deeper understanding of their reasons for making.)