Judie Gannon explores creative approaches to mentoring, using a study that helped identify and nurture existing provision and promote good practice
In June 2021, an interdisciplinary team comprising members of the International Centre for Coaching & Mentoring Studies (ICCAMS), and the Creative Industries Research & Innovation Network (CIRIN) at Oxford Brookes University, secured funding from the University’s internal Research Excellence 2021 awards to study mentoring provision in the Creative Industries (CIs).
The team collaborated with Creative UK to extend the reach of engagement with the CIs. As an interdisciplinary, collaborative project with industry partners, this study offers a timely opportunity to identify and nurture existing mentoring provision and promote good practice in a sector particularly adversely affected by the Covid pandemic (Khlystova, Kalyuzhnova, & Belitski, 2022). Part of our rationale for undertaking this investigation was to ascertain the sustainability and resilience of mentoring provision in the CIs and identify long-term scarring in terms of talent caused by recent crises.
The investigation aimed to build on the 2019 report Many Things to Many People: Formal Mentoring schemes and their management (Gannon & Washington, 2019) but with a focus specifically on mentoring across the sectors in the CIs. This is a diverse and fragmented collection of sectors, with success in the CIs dependent on the innovation and development of new businesses, and the entry and professional development of new and existing participants. Mentoring is often at the heart of these developments and innovations (Grugulis & Stoyanova, 2012), however, there is limited understanding of the breadth, depth, quality and availability of mentoring provision in the CIs. Our investigation aimed to understand more about mentoring at different levels (school leavers, graduate entrants, business support, mid-career and executive), across different sectors (fine art, design, film, music), and the purpose of these schemes (widening participation, improving diversity, career development, business development).
The fragmented nature of the CIs indicates that where mentoring programmes exist there may be resource challenges (limited access to sustained economic resources, or social, human capital, and a heavy reliance on volunteers and fundraising activities. In addition, we know the CIs face particular challenges in terms of access and diversity of talent (Social Mobility Commission, 2021). As such, it appears in parts of the CIs mentoring provision may be the critical support factor in business survival or new entrant access and ongoing career development.
Using an industry-wide survey we were able to reach more than 100 mentoring initiatives and generate further insights through follow-up phone calls and engagement with industry network events. Our report, Mapping Mentoring in the Creative Industries: A study of mentoring schemes in the Creative Industries provides the in-depth results. In this research snapshot we highlight that just like most of our day-to-day activities, mentoring was severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, the results also showed that not all individuals, organisations or sectors responded in the same way, initially, or as part of the recovery stages, to this global health, social, and economic crisis (Khlystova, Kalyuzhnova, & Belitski, 2022).
Our survey asked respondents to reflect on how the Covid-19 pandemic may have affected their mentoring schemes and the related activities operated by their organisations. While a small portion of respondents (about 5%) felt minimal to no impact from the pandemic on their mentoring schemes, the majority cited more significant impacts (positive and negative).
One of the major upshots of the pandemic was the transition towards virtual mentoring, becoming fully online in accordance with social distancing legislation. For some initiatives, there was a hiatus in mentoring services while adjustments were made, so new instructions could be offered to mentors and mentees. About 5% of respondents said their mentoring initiatives weren’t revived post-pandemic.
On a positive note, respondents felt this move to online provision helped to remove geographical boundaries, casting doubt on previous assumptions that mentors and mentees needed to have face-to-face interactions for effective relationships. This move to online mentoring also typically allowed mentoring scheme coordinators to increase their participation base and expand their schemes more widely geographically, across the UK and even internationally. Survey respondents also reported that the online format of mentoring became more accessible for mentees, providing an opportunity to tap into a larger pool of mentors. For example, some respondents were now able to match mentor and mentee based more on skills and experience rather than on geographical proximity.
Where online mentoring became standard practice during the pandemic, this form of remote mentoring was favourably received with respondents describing their mentoring services as ‘effective’, ‘inclusive’, ‘more convenient’, and ‘less time-consuming’. In addition, respondents identified that some of the mentees were able to take advantage of government-backed Covid-19 recovery grants, which boosted their engagement. For some schemes, more partnerships were instigated due to increased demand for support, and in some instances there was an upsurge in pro-bono mentoring as there was a sense of coming together for the collective good of the specific sector or the wider CIs.
Contrary to the positive accounts and outcomes for mentoring schemes, in relation to the pandemic, there was also a range of negative post-Covid lockdown consequences for mentoring initiatives. Respondents identified that while the shift to online mentoring had primarily worked for individual partnerships, there were concerns regarding the demise of community, networking and in-person events during social distancing restrictions.
However, even during the recovery phases, attendance at the revived in-person events was drastically reduced. For some professions in the CIs this was particularly damaging. For example, mentoring schemes in the dance and visual arts sectors saw this as an acutely damaging effect. No or fewer networking or community events also gave rise to additional funding challenges, especially for the mentoring schemes who sought to raise funds from sponsors, as they were less able to showcase the impact of their work.
Interestingly, survey respondents identified a paradox where some mentors and mentees lamented missing the previous in-person, one-to-one mentoring contact; but were then reluctant to resume face-to-face meetings or join face-to-face networks or community events. There were also concerns that Covid-19 had meant some mentees had withdrawn from mentoring schemes they had signed up to because their personal priorities had changed. There was also disquiet raised about mental health issues among mentoring scheme participants, specifically in relation to initiatives involving young people.
A significant proportion of respondents also remarked on their mentoring schemes facing greater demand for mentoring services due to the pandemic, which then resulted in more pressure on the already limited time and resources available to deliver mentoring, and for some schemes voluntary mentors, in particular became much harder to recruit.
Overall, the study identifies the high level of flexibility and service improvements that occurred in mentoring schemes across most parts of the CIs, during the pandemic and post lockdown periods. However, the study also emphasises that support for and sustainability of mentoring services is a challenge and reliant on the resourcefulness of mentoring scheme coordinators and encouraging volunteers and sponsors.
- The full report, Mapping Mentoring in the Creative Industries 2022, is available from: https://www.brookes.ac.uk/research/units/obbs/centres/iccams/stamina/
References
- J M Gannon and R Washington, Many things to Many People: Formal Mentoring Schemes and their Management: a report, 2019. Retrieved from Oxford Brookes University:
https://bit.ly/3FxMrBN - I Grugulis and D Stoyanova, ‘Social capital and networks in film and TV: Jobs for the boys?’, in Organization Studies, 33(10), 1311-1331, 2012
- O Khlystova, Y Kalyuzhnova and M Belitski, ‘The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the creative industries: A literature review and future research agenda’, in Journal of Business Research, 139, 1192-1210, 2022: https://doi.org/10.1016/jjbusres.2021.09.062