The Graduate School of Management of St. Petersburg University (GSOM SPbU) held the first Mentors' Tea meeting of the TalentUp season! 2021/2022. Olga Beglova, Director of the EY Academy of Business in St. Petersburg, spoke to the alumni participating in the program about the value of mentoring.

Together with the coach, the meeting participants were looking for answers to various questions, among them:

• how often to meet with the mentee;
• who should initiate communication;
• how to estimate the effectiveness and usefulness of meetings;
• what are the first steps of a mentor and a student;
• how others do it;
• what meetings can be devoted to.

“I am very grateful for the invitation to the TalentUP! mentor tea. For more than five years now, I have followed with interest how this remarkable initiative strengthens the GSOM Family and connects different generations of alumni and students of the Business School. I am sure that everyone benefits from this union. Mentors have a great opportunity to conduct their own career retrospective, share their experience with students, find out how the younger generation lives, and stay young and catch the trends. Students will learn the stories of mentors who have built successful careers in the corporate world or created their own business projects, can discuss their professional goals with them and feel the support that is so needed in an ever-changing world. It's great that GSOM SPbU not only connects pairs of mentors and students, but also organizes informal meetings where mentors can discuss with each other how interaction with students is built, exchange experiences, share their first successes," Olga Beglova noted.

The speaker shared her experience in organizing the work of mentors and mentees in business and gave to alumni tools for effective work. Thus, she demonstrated two models: GROW, which helps to give structure to each meeting and keep the desired result in focus, and CLOSING, for holding the closing meeting of the program. At the end of the event, O. Beglova offered the participants a list of useful materials and resources for study.

Books:

• Coaching for Performance: GROWing Human Potential and Purpose - The Principles and Practice of Coaching and Leadership, John Whitmore 
• Brilliant Coaching: How to be a brilliant coach in your workplace (Brilliant Business) 3rd Edition by Julie Starr
• Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink 
• Now, Discover Your Strengths: The revolutionary Gallup program that shows you how to develop your unique talents and strengths by Marcus Buckingham

TEDx on mentoring:

• 5 1/2 Mentors that will change your life | Doug Stewart | TEDxRaleigh
• Why the Power of Mentoring can Change the World | Shirley LIU | TEDxEDHECBusinessSchool
• Failure and the Importance of mentors | Patrick Boland | TEDxYouth @ TheSpire