We caught up with Jon to hear more about the journey that led him to a successful career at Morson Projects and an additional role as Mentor:
Hi Jon Why did you choose to become a mentor?
I chose to become a Mentor because I truly believe that Morson Projects have established an industry leading Early Careers Development Programme which puts its mentee’s fully in the driving seat to take control of their careers and learning.
By being a mentor, I am able to support this programme and fully understand the challenges our early career Engineers face within the workplace and ensure they navigate this environment in a positive way.
Please can you tell us a bit about your mentoring experiences so far…
Its fair to say it’s been a real mix of experiences, I recently received a “Highly Commended” Mentor of the Year award at our Early Careers Development Programme annual conference, which has been one of the highlights of my mentoring journey, but it’s equally important to recognise that mentoring can be a very personal relationship and sometimes not all mentor-mentee pairings work out or that not all conversations are positive.
One of the hardest challenges I’ve faced is having difficult conversations with early careers Engineers around expectations as opportunities are earned and not everything is given on a plate.
What motivates you in your work?
This is probably a terrible answer to give anyone starting out but… Pressure! I work at my best under difficult circumstances and being chucked into the deep end; I thrive at reaching the surface again.
I’m fortunate to work in a very dynamic environment across multiple programmes, and it really keeps me on my toes. It’s a real cliche but no two days are the same.
What do you enjoy most about being a mentor?
For me its seeing the progress each mentee makes month on month, its not just about technical progress a lot of the targets we set are around core skills which they don’t necessarily receive on the job. I can really see the change in confidence in my mentee and they are reaching new goals such as presenting company wide which 6 months ago would have been way out of their comfort zone.
I also love getting involved with extra-curricular STEM activities, and as Morson Projects’ STEM Lead I am really passionate about inspiring the future of engineering talent both inside Morson Projects and externally to the wider community.
What kind of growth or changes have you seen in your past mentees?
A growth in confidence is the biggest thing I’ve seen from all of my experiences, be it through technical growth or communication experience I’ve seen a lot of my mentee’s really step up their game and grow into very accomplished Engineers.
What challenges do you often face in mentoring, and how do you suggest dealing with them?
I get asked this quite a lot by other mentor’s who may be afraid or cautious to let a mentee down or offer them advise they don’t want to hear and that is often the most difficult part of the role. Whilst I have a great relationship with my mentee’s, my role is not to act as their friend but to act in their best interests and sometimes that means delivering difficult or realistic advice appropriate to their career stage.
Often that is delivering a reality vs their expectations whilst continuing to encourage them or offer an alternative which is more aligned with their development goals and ensuring that the conversation remains supportive are some of the hardest challenges I face.
What advice would you give someone considering becoming a mentor?
Just do it! Mentoring takes a lot of forms and I’ve seen people who are absolutely brilliant at mentoring but fearful they don’t know enough about their Mentee’s technical area. Mentors aren’t there to teach but to guide and navigate individuals through a challenging stage of there career and often simply offering some friendly advice and encouragement is exactly what they need!
What do you think makes a good mentor? How have you developed these traits over time?
For me it’s keeping an open mind. I mentor individuals from different disciplines, backgrounds and even countries and every mentee is unique and comes with their own perspectives.
Diversity is what makes our teams so strong and why we continue to be at the forefront of engineering. Your journey through engineering is not a single pathway so my biggest strength is keeping an open mind and allowing everybody to develop in their own unique journey.
What books, resources, or people have influenced your career the most?
I admittedly shy away from a lot of work-related management reading and find myself cringing at the self-help section of any bookstore as I find myself saying “well that’s common sense” however I will eat my own words and advise anybody to take a look at “The Chimp Paradox” – This really helped adapt my mindset when working with others as it gave me a much greater insight into other peoples perspectives instead of just my own!
Want to hear more inspiring stories? Follow the link to hear more from our mentoring team>