Mentoring, Development & When it's the Right Time to Say Goodbye

In our Human Factors team, we’re passionate about people. It’s why we got into this industry in the first place and it’s what keeps us coming back for more on major engineering projects around the world - a passion for ensuring people are correctly considered in the design of systems, whatever industry they’re in.

But our passion also extends to our own people; to continuing the growth and development of our team, not only in terms of our numbers, but in terms of each individual’s career progression and personal development.

Because of this, we are big on mentoring. It’s something that’s been in the DNA of our team since long before my time, but which was demonstrated perfectly by my mentor, John, who sadly passed away last year. Having recruited me as an undergraduate and worked with me more on than off over the 15 years between then and his untimely passing, he had more influence on my career as a consultant than anyone else. Of course, in his long career, I was just one of the many people he mentored and influenced over the years, but that is something that I have always wanted to emulate and continue. Mentoring excites me, seeing people develop satisfies me and pushing our team to new levels is what gets me to work every morning.

However, being a mentor isn’t always easy; there are inevitable bumps along the way and you have to persevere in finding the best way to bring along those who look to you for guidance and support - not all team members respond to the same motivational techniques, you need to adjust your approach and feel your way through the mentoring process.

The feeling through and learning is time consuming and, at times, tiring. It is something that requires true effort and dedication to do right, and doing it any less than right means short-changing those people who are looking to you for guidance.

Fortunately there are also huge rewards - like those moments when you see members of your team achieving on their own things they didn’t previously think were possible, or that they always looked to you to support them on.

There are also the bigger moments; moments like when you are able to support recommendations for their promotion or put them forwards for a role that you know will both stretch and develop them, or those moments when you realise they’re now finding ways of doing what you did previously, but more efficiently, or more effectively, and you turn to them to ask them to teach you how.

But the biggest and hardest moment must come when you realise they are ready to plough their own furrow, to find their own way in the industry you have helped them develop in. At this point, when an opportunity comes along which you know will be perfect for them, all you can do is congratulate them and wish them well.

This is the situation I found myself in recently, when someone I recruited as an undergraduate and have mentored as they have progressed to the cusp of senior consultant told me of the opportunity presented to them to move to Australia with their partner and start a new life there. The role is so similar to the work we’ve done together over the years that I can’t help but feel pride at them being offered it, knowing they’ll continue to develop the approaches we worked on together and which I developed from my own mentor.

Obviously I will miss them greatly. They're the first person I ever really mentored, we've worked together for a number of years and I have come to rely on their counsel and support in the work our team delivers.

However, it is a bitter-sweet feeling, as although I know that there will soon be a hole in our team which needs to be filled, I am excited to meet the people who will apply to be the next member of our team and buy into our approach; to mentor junior staff and to share their knowledge with all of us, while learning from the huge breadth of experience in the group.

If ours sounds like the type of team you would like to work as a key part of, please take a look at the role advertised in the link below - we genuinely look forward to hearing from you.

https://careers.snclavalin.com/job/senior-human-factors-consultant-in-warrington-jid-12185