Perhaps you recall taking on a role for which you felt inadequately prepared: singing with a band, running for class president, auditioning for a pageant, representing your school at a state or national conference, interviewing for a first post-college career, contributing to a graduate school group project—or advising your first student-client.
In the moment, you reign in your uncertainty and tap into your skills, demonstrating your continuous growth. You advise more and more clients, honing your skills as an independent education consultant, and then join IECA, demonstrating your commitment to the highest standards of the profession.
You have arrived. As a member of IECA, you attend your first conference in a city you do not know, interacting with people from diverse backgrounds and experiences you seek to exchange stories with, hoping others will see your potential for contributing and engaging collegially.
Then you hear about IECA’s Mentor Match. If you can find a great mentor among this mammoth organization of outspoken professionals, it will be worth the price of admission! More importantly, this connection will facilitate your entre into unfamiliar waters filled with learned academicians, gifted creators, inspiring speakers, and innovative entrepreneurs.
Now, how to find a mentor. Perhaps you benefited from the investment of a mentor teacher in your first year as an educator or were assigned to a coworker to show you the ropes. In your role within an international corporation, you were selected for a pairing that changed the trajectory of your career. Intentional interaction with a senior manager elevated you among your peers to advance and gain an audience with company leaders who encouraged your exploration of innovative strategies for improving processes and maximizing the potential of their resources.
Similarly, IECA’s Mentor Match was created to provide valuable support to members through networking and career development, promoting best practices through insights from expert colleagues. As a mentee, you learn the nuances of our organization, develop your network, and find leadership roles through which you can contribute uniquely to IECA.
If you’ve been advising for 5+ years, it’s your turn to give back! I encourage you to sign up as a mentor.
Mentorship is a novel opportunity for a leader a few paces ahead to invest strategically in the cultivation of a future leader. Establish expectations collaboratively, demonstrate interest in the mentee as a human and developing professional, and build trust to sustain the relationship, meeting at predictable intervals. Share your lessons learned and recommend resources to encourage your mentee’s growth through exploration. Communicate confidentially and build trust by listening and coaching, sharing insight generously when you have it and challenging the inquirer to locate answers when you don’t. Celebrate as they progress toward accomplishing their goals, not just pulling them alongside you but pushing them ahead of you to reach their own potential and give back to the community. You can do it!
Sherri Maxman, an IECA member based in Manhattan, serves on the IECA Board of Directors and previously chaired the LD/ND Committee, and is expert at guiding students with LD/ADHD to well-matched college programs. She suggests that mentees find a niche and pursue it. When asked to serve as a mentor, she saw the opportunity to invest in the future of our association while paying it forward in the careers of newer IECs. She comments, “You always learn from your mentee; sometimes a mentee is a sounding board for your ideas,” affirming your ideas with feedback or constructive reflection.
Katie Gaebler, who supports neurodiverse students primarily in Colorado, described a desire to know people and be known; knowing herself meant she recognized a good match when a mentor offered to connect. Katie advises would-be mentees, “Put yourself in the spaces where you can connect according to your interests and make yourself speak up; it will help you get over imposter syndrome!” Dinky Hammam, whose focus is supporting refugees both in the US and abroad, reflected that she had followed her mentor’s advice, “Go to as many events as you can,” and attended 50+ webinars in eight months!
Teo Salgado, who serves students in Toronto, Canada, reiterates that mentorship is a two-way relationship. “Mentors need to know that mentees can contribute—that they can learn from their mentees’ experience through collegial exchange.” He observes that the number of IECs seeking a mentor far exceeds the number signed up to pair. Informing experienced IECs about their ability to contribute effective mentorship can instigate commitment to serve in this integral capacity.|
Mark Bechtold, a leader with the monthly Business Practices Roundtable and co-chair of the California Bay Area Regional Group, was recruited with the assurance that he had much to offer as a mentor after viewing a panel presentation by mentors and mentees at a 2022 IECA conference. Since then, he has added a new mentee every six months and was recognized with the IECA Mentorship Excellence Award at the 2024 Annual Conference.
Susie Valencia shares that as she was still figuring things out, she wondered what she could contribute as mentor. She advises that anyone considering this opportunity should dive in! Though it can be intimidating to serve as a mentor, her commitment to lifelong learning meant she did not have to know everything to offer something. Mutually investing in one another is a win for all!
I was honored when Sherri Maxman agreed to serve as my IECA mentor based on our common support for students with LD/ADHD. Early in our relationship, Sherri respected my perspective and asked for my insight, recognizing that I brought an informed view to our conversation and needed to develop consulting skills. While I also partner with typical applicants to graduate and professional programs, one-fourth of my clients have an LD/ADHD diagnosis while another fourth are first-gen students who similarly need time to process or hear instructions repeated. I encourage IECA members to initiate mentorship with newer IECs, sharing your network and teaching your tricks just as Sherri did with me. Sherri’s generosity inspired me to mentor others.
Keys to successful mentorship include defining expectations and maintaining communication. Mentors are a resource, not a mentee’s sole source of training. They commit to exchange collegially, encouraging while listening, advising when asked, and interacting supportively when together at conferences and other events. Mentors do not formulate business plans on behalf of mentees, but can share from lessons learned, giving mentees an advantage through wisdom.
When each party’s expectations are met, the relationship is a success! What does that look like? Check the Discovery Call Guidelines on the IECA Member Network.
This past year, I facilitated a pod of four mentors and four mentees. At its conclusion, all the mentors asked to participate a second year. Perhaps this model could be expanded to encourage investment by new and returning mentors, or maybe we establish an Affinity Group where we share effective tools for mentorship. We could call it Mentor Match Mentors: a community for mentors and anyone who wants to become one. Hey, there’s already a venue to “participate” via the Member Network! Will you join me?
By Julie McNair, EdD, IECA (FL)