In this blog post, Catherine Kirchmann (Divisional Director, Investec Wealth and Investment) shares moments and learnings from her mentoring journey so far… through the lens of cake!
“I was nervous about meeting Lili (not her real name) for the first time. I am not new to mentoring. I have been involved in a number of different programmes over the past few years – some formal, others less so. Each had always had either a work or own industry bias and were often quite specific in their focus – for me it felt like mentoring within my comfort zone. But this was different. What attracted me to the Routes mentoring programme was the opportunity to get to meet someone from a different background to my own. If there is one thing I have learned over the last 15 months, it is the importance of connecting with and supporting others. But I wasn’t sure what to expect. What if we didn’t connect or have anything in common? What if our time together didn’t meet Lili’s expectations of the programme? What if we didn’t achieve what she had set out to do?
My nervousness was unfounded. Lili and I hit it off from our first conversation. She is out-going and confident, and I found the conversation came quite easily to both of us. We learned a little about each other’s backgrounds on that first day and I found myself looking forward to finding out more about her and her goals in our second call. Routes ensures that mentors get a lot of support – from the wonderful Routes’ team; from their comprehensive training for mentors; from the extensive resource database; and from your fellow mentors with their shared experiences. I wanted to find out more about Lili and her goals, strengths, skills and passions and reflected back on some of the activities we had looked at on our first training day to get to know each other better. We concentrated on personal values and strengths and it soon became clear that Lili wanted to focus on framing the type of job and role she wants to work towards, and what she needs to do to get there. But before we knew it we were out of time and I was worried that we were making slow progress.
And that is where the cake comes in. Lili had mentioned that she likes to bake and promised to send me some photos of some of her recent cakes. Later that evening a message came through with photos of cakes that looked like they belonged in the window of a bakery. Reflected in those cakes I learned about Lili the wife, the mother, and the artist. There was the intricate tiered cake covered in pink flowers for her daughter’s birthday; the cake adorned with fruit and flowers to celebrate her husband’s birthday; the lovingly decorated cake to mark 20 years of marriage; and my favourite – the carefully crafted dinosaur cake which her young son looked at with sheer delight. By sharing these photos, Lili had given me a glimpse into her life and family and more of who she is and what she is capable of – all through the lens of cake. It made me realise that one of the measures of success of the programme will be the relationship we build and the time we take to get to know each other properly. Something that I don’t think I had always appreciated in my previous mentoring relationships. I am learning to judge progress in a different way and to celebrate the mini successes along the way.”
