Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

HR practice

My Mentor: Helen Dickinson, head of people, Simplyhealth

by Tara Craig 8 Feb 2010
by Tara Craig 8 Feb 2010

My mentor was initially my boss. We both moved on to different roles, but stayed in contact. Since changing from that line manager relationship, she’s mentored me on an informal basis, going back almost 10 years.


The relationship has endured partly because she’s a really supportive person, a fantastic listener, and always willing to take time and share her experiences. But there’s a good balance between that and being quite challenging of me. Getting that balance right is what has made it work for me.


Over the years, we’ve discussed a really varied range of subjects, and she’s worked through some difficult career choices with me. She’s helped me drive clarity around my career aspirations, and helped me recognise what my values and motivations are, and what sort of organisation, culturally, is right for me.


She’s helped me identify the right next steps. She’s challenged me around what sort of roles and organisations will get the best out of me, and are right for me in terms of where I’m going in my career. She asked questions I wouldn’t have asked myself – it’s been about challenging me to really look deeply.


One of her key strengths is that she is an amazing influencer. I will often talk to her when I have something particularly challenging coming up.


For me, the beauty of this relationship is that my mentor has worked with me. She knows my natural management style and preferences, my strengths and development areas, but she is outside this organisation. That gives her objectivity, distance and the ability to ask questions. But she has enough insight into me to remind me how I might have reacted to things in the past and question whether I should react that way again.


My mentor’s background is an interesting mix of general management and HR. That’s been helpful in developing the commerciality I can bring to an HR role.


Sometimes we meet every couple of weeks, but we may go several months between getting together. It depends what’s happening in my career. We generally speak on the phone, but we do meet up – it’s evolved into a social relationship, too, and we chat about non-work subjects.


I have a potential new mentee of my own – a manager in the business, rather than an HR professional. We’re at a very early stage in the process, trying to work out what the mentee is looking for and whether my experience matches that. We’ll go away, reflect on what we’ve discussed, and decide whether this mentoring relationship will work.

Avatar
Tara Craig

previous post
Top job: Lyn Harper, director of learning and development, Morrison
next post
On the move: Kate Tilley, Steve Smith, Annie Paydar, Gail Motton, Sabine Hansen Peck, Sarah Wickenden, Clare Hayler

You may also like

What will it mean to be an HR...

28 Nov 2023

Train driver unfairly dismissed after tarantula prank

28 Nov 2023

CIPD people profession survey: tech advances not having...

26 Oct 2023

Bank holidays: six things employers need to know

26 Oct 2023

ITV to require staff to declare all relationships...

23 Oct 2023

What does it mean to be an HR...

22 Sep 2023

Lloyds of London boss urges greater return to...

7 Sep 2023

Amazon joins Google in demanding more office attendance

11 Aug 2023

Kemi Badenoch: ‘confused HR colleagues’ misunderstand Equality Act

31 Jul 2023

The state of employee engagement 2023 (survey)

5 Jul 2023

  • How to spot and tackle imposter syndrome in the workplace PROMOTED | Half of all UK adults...Read more
  • BetterMe for Business: How to Build Wellness Culture at Work PROMOTED | Ever encountered a...Read more
  • Global growth with simple HR compliance (webinar) WEBINAR | In an increasingly global marketplace...Read more
  • Talent acquisition: How AI can complement a ‘back to basics’ approach PROMOTED | Artificial intelligence is now...Read more
  • What will it mean to be an HR professional in 2024? (webinar) WEBINAR | As we approach 2024...Read more
  • HR Budget Planning for 2024: Preparing your People Strategy PROMOTED | As organisations continue to adapt...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2023

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2023 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+