Making a Positive Difference as a Mentor | National Mentoring Month

Mentoring - Making a Positive Difference 

We hear from our Head of Workforce Inclusion Elizabeth Neathey during National Mentoring Month

At Culture Syndicates, our focus is on employability and giving new entrants in the cultural sector the opportunities to experience, explore, enjoy and grow. As January 2022 is National Mentoring Month, we want to celebrate the fantastic work you all bring to career development both as a mentor and a mentee.

Being a mentor 


The role of the mentor is to share experience and knowledge, guide and listen to their mentee to enable them to identify, plan and achieve their goals. Mentoring is an open relationship between two people, one who has experience and knowledge and the other keen to understand to enable them to learn and grow. Mentoring is universal; it is learning about anything from gardening, drumming, painting to personal and professional development. Culture Syndicates has a small dedicated team who are finding ways in which new sector entrants can get onto their career ladder. 

Our ethos is to provide paid experience and work directly with the sector on live projects. We have a dedicated team of Heritage Assistants who engage in delivering projects with clients including the Museum of Cambridge, The Spirit of Wartime Sherwood in Nottingham, and Mrs Smith's Cottage in Lincolnshire. They are evolving their skills and knowledge working with clients to deliver the outcomes. Since starting as Head of Workforce Inclusion in September 2021, I have been exploring how we can embed mentoring in all aspects of work. I am an experienced museum mentor. Since 2003 I have mentored on the Museums Association Associateship (AMA) programme. 

I have and continue to work with incredible people who, through focusing on themselves, have been able to evolve their careers by creating space and time to consider their next steps, discuss ideas, and get contacts within the sector. Fundamentally, the most important element of this relationship is to be able to reflect on the experiences; what has happened, was it expected, what did you enjoy, what were the challenges, and what would you do differently next time? We live in a world which is busy, so giving mentees the space for themselves is essential. 

Discussing our social enterprise model with students at Nottingham Trent University, 9 November 2021 


My experience in mentorship 


As I move forward in my job with Culture Syndicates I am putting mentoring at the heart of all we do. I have had the privilege of having one-to-one and group conversations with our Heritage Assistants, providing dedicated time and resources on areas for development. This included thinking about next steps as well as making time to look at job opportunities and CVs. From these conversations, I have introduced fortnightly sessions which give space to share experiences and to talk about professional development. For one session in November 2021, I invited two freelancers to talk about their professional journeys. This gave the Heritage Assistants first-hand insights into setting up and running their own culturally focused consultancies. 

Looking forward, the focus is on embedding mentoring in all areas of our work and building on a sustainable cultural sector through providing meaning career opportunities for young people and new sector entrants. I am working closely with a range of partners on ‘young routes into cultural careers’. Working with partners and young people, we will work together to shape how information on cultural careers is shared. We want all young people to have the space to explore and share how they will make cultural careers viable options by understanding the depth and breath of jobs, both public facing and behind the scenes. I believe at the heart will be mentoring and learning together, as there are incredible opportunities for new sector entrants and a wealth of experience which colleagues are happy to impart.

Equally, our Graduate Pathways will work collaboratively with partners to explore how we can support the journey into cultural careers post University. This pathway will see the sector entrants exploring opportunities through our model of delivering sector projects. 

Keep a lookout for more posts from us via Twitter discussing mentorship throughout January.

Get in touch


As you can see, mentoring is the building block for all aspects of Culture Syndicate’s delivery. The difference is incredible and there is so much learning to share which will support a sustainable and resilient cultural sector. If you are interested in opportunities with Culture Syndicates, to see how you can grow a cultural career, or as a graduate or postgraduate looking to embed your academic journey into the sector, and / or someone with skills and knowledge of working in and for cultural organisations, and would be willing to share this with emerging professionals please do get in touch. I would be delighted to talk with you to see how we can add value and make a difference. 


Elizabeth Neathey 
Head of Workforce Inclusion

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