{"id":11465,"date":"2024-04-26T12:35:39","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T19:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/intuitblog.com\/?p=11465"},"modified":"2024-04-30T11:26:51","modified_gmt":"2024-04-30T18:26:51","slug":"growing-a-mentoring-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intuit.com\/blog\/life-at-intuit\/people-culture\/growing-a-mentoring-network\/","title":{"rendered":"Growing a mentoring network\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mentorship isn\u2019t about zeroing in on a single advisor for the entire scope and duration of your career. You can benefit from many different types of support over time, and often at the same time. Working with multiple, diverse mentors will expand the range of perspective and guidance available to you. That\u2019s one reason the Tech Women @ Intuit (TWI)<\/a> mentorship program is designed around six-month terms, with mentees and mentors encouraged to rotate to new pairs regularly. \u201cIt\u2019s not that you should have one mentor, you should have many,\u201d says Crystal Robinson-Pipersburgh,\u00a0group manager for data engineering at Intuit. \u201cThere is no one person that is great at everything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over time, your growing network of current and past mentors can yield compounding benefits. \u201cMentorship is a critical part of building your personal board of directors, a group of trusted people that can help you on your path of self discovery,\u201d says Alex Balazs, executive vice president and chief technology officer at Intuit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In previous blogs, we talked about why mentorship matters<\/a>, how to make it productive<\/a>, and how to get started<\/a>. Now, we\u2019ll look at how to build out your mentoring network\u2014the people you can turn to anytime a new career challenge or opportunity arises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going broad as well as deep<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Kimbra Brookstein, global leader, Tech Women @ Intuit and staff program leader, DEI in Tech, recommends seeking mentors from a variety of backgrounds to broaden the value of your network: \u201cMake sure you have folks representing different industries, genders, functions, and career levels. When you think about building out what you want to learn, always try to be conscious of making sure that folks who aren\u2019t like you are part of that feedback circle. When you collect feedback from a diverse group, it can open your eyes to areas of opportunity you didn\u2019t know you had or even superpowers that you were unaware of.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The diversity of your personal board of directors can and should extend beyond your current organization. Past managers, colleagues, and instructors, industry connections made through peer networking, user groups, or hackathons; and even authors or speakers whose work you admire can all make valuable mentors.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At any given time, some mentor relationships will be very active, while others may lay dormant, with the potential to be activated at key moments. \u201cYou want to have an array of people who can help you with a particular situation at a particular point in your career. You may not talk to them all the time, but they\u2019re available to you when you need them,\u201d says Denise McInerney, director of development at Intuit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making connections where connections are made<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Industry organizations and events can be an excellent place to find a mentor, whether through a formal program or through the networking opportunities they offer. For example: <\/p>\n\n\n\n