Our careers are defined by those around us – their past experiences inform our body of knowledge, which we then use to inform our decision making. This is as true for architects as it is for any other profession, but for the most part Australia’s professional architects have to rely on their immediate (mostly limited) network for help and advice. The NSW Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects, though, is hoping to change all this with the introduction of a formal mentoring program.
The mentoring scheme aims to help not just emerging and graduate architects, but architects at all stages of the profession and the Institute is currently seeking both mentors and mentees to participate in the program.
“The collected knowledge of the members of the Institute is an incredible resource, with experiences across every possible facet of a complex profession,” says Tom Chan, who sits on the DARCH committee (Emerging Architects and Graduate Network Committee NSW) helping to develop the program. “By utilizing this, we can help and nurture the next generation of architects, while also providing support for established architects looking to get to the next stage of their careers.”
Callantha Brigham.
Callantha Brigham, an architect and past winner of the Byera Hadley Travelling Scholarship, experienced these benefits firsthand in 2008 through a mentoring program for women run by the NSW Government Architects Office, where she was working at the time. The program focussed on pairing mentees with senior women within the organization. At her request, Brigham was matched with Helen Lochhead, deputy NSW Government Architect.
“There were probably two main reasons I applied for the mentoring program; I felt like my career wasn’t travelling where I wanted it to and I couldn’t really conceive of how to make this happen while working part time and juggling a toddler,” says Brigham. “I saw Helen as someone who had managed to have both an interesting career and a family and I think I jumped on the program as an opportunity for some positive inspiration and guidance.”
As Brigham describes it, the mentoring program had a profound impact on her career’s direction, helping her form professional connections that have have endured to this day. “Through the course of the mentoring program I was able to articulate some clear interests and goals and Helen helped me find an initial path for pursuing these,” says Brigham. “Without the mentoring experience I know I wouldn’t have had the confidence or clarity to do this, particularly not at that stage of my life, when I also planning to expand our family. I formed relationships both with Helen and the course coordinator who is a strong advocate for women in the workplace. They have both given me advice on and off over the years. I guess you never know where mentoring will take you!”
Matthew Pullinger.
The benefits of mentoring, though, do not just flow to the mentee. As Matthew Pullinger of Hassell explains, he learnt a lot from his experience as a mentor.
“It’s important to realise the mentoring experience is a shared one. Both the mentee and mentor benefit from the process – each learning through the experiences of the other,” says Pullinger. “Adapting your own experience to suit new situations and different personal styles can be challenging but is ultimately very rewarding. Because both parties learn so much from the mentoring relationship, I find the most rewarding part to be the appreciation I gain for another person’s view on life. Each mentee, in their own way, helps renew and refresh the values that guide and sustain me every day in my professional and private life.”
The closing date for applications is Friday, 6 March 2015.
If you wish to be involved in the Mentoring program, click here for more info, including a document outlining the process and an online form.
