Introduction
Article by Anne Caldwell
June 2007
As part of my training and professional development work for NALD, I did a consultation with NALD members in 2005, and visited groups of people throughout the country. Naomi Wilds had just started a post as coordinator of the East Midlands literature development officer network, and subsequently this network and posts in that region have gone through a period of upheaval and change.
In response to this, I set up a pilot mentoring programme to be offered to literature development officers who work in the East Midlands. If these people were going through a period of change, I thought it would be an ideal opportunity to test out the benefits of mentoring when having to make decisions about work and future directions. Also, the network was in place, with Naomi coordinating it, so it felt like a good opportunity to set up a partnership.
I had run mentoring schemes in the past, but this scheme was a chance to try a number of new approaches:
• I sent mentees a questionnaire and interviewed them on a one to one basis before searching for a mentor to match their needs.
• I cast a wide net in terms of mentors, and looked outside the usual literature development areas so the mentors who finally worked for NALD included someone who used to be based at the BBC, another person who was a writer who also worked in academia and a life coach who had worked a lot with people in literature.
• This scheme was limited to one geographical area rather than a wider national approach
and set up in response to a request from the network following on from the consultations.
• I offered a short induction training session on a one to one basis for mentors new to this process; other mentors had undertaken training with NALD in the past or worked for us on professional development programmes as a coach or mentor.
