Who can be a mentor?
If you are a member of the RTPI, you can register to become a mentor in areas where you feel confident supporting other planning professionals with their career development. Mentorship requires a commitment of time and dedication. As part of the registration process, you will be asked to confirm that you have read and understood the mentoring agreement between mentor and mentee.
An outline of key skills for mentors can be found on the mentoring platform.
Benefits of being a mentor
- Reflect and give back: Reflect on your own career journey while making a positive impact by sharing your knowledge and experience.
- Leadership development: Develop and refine your leadership skills to guide and support others effectively.
- Professional legacy: Contribute to the development of planning professionals.
- Gain new perspectives: Learn from the experiences and viewpoints of professionals at various stages of their careers.
- Improve communication: Strengthen your communication and active listening abilities through meaningful interactions.
- Expand your network: Build connections with other professionals and broaden your industry relationships.
- Contribute to your CPD: Depending on your own learning and development goals, mentoring can contribute to your CPD hours.
Number of mentoring relationships
A mentor can mentor up to three mentees at a time. You have the flexibility to choose how many individuals you wish to support and determine when you are available to be a mentor.
Find a mentee to connect with
Simply log in to the RTPI mentoring platform and create your profile. Once completed, the details in your profile will be used when mentees are searching for a mentor, if there is a suitable match then mentees will submit a request for a mentoring match.
Mentors role
A mentor plays a crucial role in guiding and supporting a mentee's personal and professional development. Here are the key roles of a mentor:
- Provide direction and advice to help the mentee(s) navigate challenges and opportunities.
- Share knowledge, insights, and experiences to facilitate learning.
- Help the mentee(s) develop specific skills or competencies.
- Offer constructive feedback to improve performance.
- Demonstrate professionalism, integrity, and best practices in the field.
- Help the mentee(s) expand their professional network.
- Guide your mentee(s) towards becoming more critically reflective of their own practice and progress.
- Give your mentee(s) support and advice on professional matters.
We hope that the mentoring experience at the RTPI is a positive one, however there may be occasions when you wish to raise a concern. Please see the information available to support mentors and mentees.
Registration for mentors is now open. Registration for mentees opens on 2 April.
Ready to get started?
The programme will commence in February with the first phase being an invitation to members to registered as mentors. Following this we will welcome members to register as mentees.
Once launched the platform will have features including:
- Introductory videos and guidance to help you make the most of your mentoring experience.
- Help to identify your goals: Consider the areas you’d like to focus on- whether you're seeking support as a mentee or offering guidance as a mentor.
- Creating your profile: When ready, create your mentor or mentee profile. This information will be used to match mentors and mentees based on shared interests and expertise.
- Editing anytime: You can update your profile as often as you like. Tools are available within the system to help mentees refine their goals along the way.
