Accelerate: Mentoring Female and Non-binary F&B Leaders

We are always happy to answer any questions about how our Accelerate mentoring programme pairs female and non-binary leaders with compatible mentors, but many potential applicants have a much bigger question…What is mentoring?

To showcase how mentoring can help women and non-binary leaders succeed, we brought together people who can share their experiences of building productive relationships with mentors, women and men, who have helped them understand and realise their goals.

The event started with a brilliant speech by Roisin Donnelly, a hugely experienced and respected executive and non-executive director in the food and beverage industry. Roisin shared her experiences working with three different mentors who all offered her valuable advice at different times in her career and life.

Roisin Donnelly: "Sometimes you just don’t know what to do".

“For the first ten years of my career I was unaware of mentoring. I assumed if you over-performed and over-delivered you would move up. But, when I did reach Board level, there was nobody else like me on it. I had to ask myself ‘is this right for me? Is this right for my life?’.

I needed guidance from a successful woman who was also a married mother. The early conversations with my first mentor were great: she said “if your boss knows your job they’ll tell you what to do. If they don’t, you can have fun!”

“Who’s telling you you’re failing?”

I started working with my next mentor when I went to a new company in California. I was excited to join a Board that was 90% female. It was completely dysfunctional, and the business was spiraling.

I had a lot of self-doubt about my ability to do the job and I just needed some perspective on how to succeed. So, I went to my mentor. He asked me a really good question: “who’s telling you you’re failing?”

Well, not my boss, or my boss’s boss. He explained that if you’re your own biggest critic there’s no hope, but you can coach yourself.

By the time we moved back to the UK, my daughters were five, three, and one, and, surprisingly, still not completely self-sufficient. I needed another mentor. She told me, ‘you can do it all, but not at the same time. Make a decision about what you’re going to do and do it brilliantly. Make a decision about what you’re not going to do and don’t feel guilty.’

When I was younger I thought of careers as ladders where you just climbed up. All three of my mentors helped me understand that it’s actually a map, where you can explore lots of different destinations, to find somewhere broader and richer than what’s directly above you.

What makes a great mentoring relationship?

A great mentor is a critical friend. I’ve mentored many people myself and I know what they need to bring to our conversations: understand what they want, be completely transparent, and open to new perspectives. Sometimes you just don’t know what to do. A mentor is someone it’s okay to share that with. It’s a very different relationship to the one with your boss. Both of you can be honest about what is and isn’t working. And another good thing about speaking to a mentor, no matter how experienced or senior, is that you don’t have to do what they say.”

Find out here about the experience of one of last year's mentor/mentee pairs, Ruth and Claire, and of the Q&A's that came from the event.  

For more information and guidance on how Accelerate works for mentees and mentors, get in touch with the Accelerate Mentoring team.

Stay up to date: Sign up here for our global magazine OBSERVE, and receive the latest news in leadership and top talent, industry insights, and events directly to your inbox. 

Find us on Twitter and LinkedIn @OdgersBerndtson