Sabrina Bals is a Strategy Consultant at Accenture and was a mentor on the Routes Mentoring Programme 2019/20. In this interview, she shares some of her experiences and lessons learned.
Sabrina joined the Routes Mentoring Programme for two reasons, ‘I wanted to practise my mentoring and coaching skills and gain another perspective. The Programme provides a chance to learn about other people’s experiences firsthand and to challenge your own assumptions. I also wanted to learn how to approach a mentoring conversation.’
Sabrina was paired with Yasmin, who wanted to work on her communication skills. ‘During the very first session, we talked through Yasmin’s ambitions and goals. That first session was about getting to know each other and understanding what we wanted to get out of the sessions. What does it mean to improve your communication skills? What situations are we thinking of? From there on, the sessions developed organically, with different areas that we had identified to focus on.’
Sabrina looks back at the experience with joy. ‘We got along really well.’ Their cooperation was what Sabrina describes as a ‘peer mentoring situation.’ ‘I would share stories and experiences from my career and she has all these experiences and the challenges that she has overcome.’
The two of them worked on communication in different ways, making use of Sabrina’s expertise and online resources. ‘I found some good videos on communication skills on YouTube. We looked at them together and would then discuss.’ The sessions would flow from such exercises. ‘Yasmin is very intelligent and extremely reflective. That has been brilliant!’
There were two meetings that stood out for Sabrina. ‘We went to a workshop called ‘Big Speeches’ [by actor Jessica Regan and The Guilty Feminist]. That was a special thing to do together. During the last session, we worked on presentation skills. Each of us came prepared with a little presentation and we gave each other feedback. Yasmin did one on Human Resources Management and I did a presentation on my degree.’
While Yasmin learned about communication skills, Sabrina learned about mentoring. ‘At first, I wanted to provide a full curriculum, to make sure Yasmin would get the most out of our time together. I learned that that is not always what is needed and it sometimes is more valuable to explore topics and learn together. Meeting with other mentors was also really useful, to learn from their experiences on the Programme.’
What helped during the mentoring journey of Sabrina and Yasmin, was their personal connection. ‘We have similar character types. Routes had matched us well with our mentees.’ And so the end of the Programme has not meant the end of their relationship. ‘I have been staying in touch with Yasmin. It is not the easiest for her to be locked in [because of COVID-19].’
Working with Yasmin has been a valuable experience for Sabrina. ‘She is an example of amazing resilience - making the best of what is available to her. That is an attitude that everyone could learn from.’
