GOOD

DESIGN
PRACTICE
Mentoring
TOMORROW’S
DESIGN
LEADERS

The

UK Design
Skills Alliance
WRITTEN By Kevin McCullagh, Plan Strategic

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 3
TOP MENTORING TIPS 6
HOW TO FIND A MENTOR 9
RESOURCES 13

MENTORING TOMORROW’S DESIGN LEADERS 

INTRODUCTION
So what is mentoring all
about? Can it really nurture
design leaders? How can
young designers find a
mentor? And, how can senior
designers become better
mentors?

From October 2007 to April 2008 the Design This booklet shares what we learned about
Council ran a pilot leadership development mentoring for designers. It may be useful
scheme for designers called NextNet. if you are interested in becoming a future
design leader, or nurturing someone to
As part of it, we tested a mentoring become one.
programme which paired 13 mid-level
designers with different senior designer.
In this booklet
For the mid-level designers this was an you will find:
opportunity to develop skills and leadership
qualities through regular, confidential Tips on finding a mentor
meetings with a more experienced designer.
For the mentors – many of whom had no Helpful pointers on maintaining an
previous experience of formal mentoring effective mentoring relationship
– it was also a chance to develop new skills,
helped by training sessions and meetings A list of resources if you’d like
where they could share their experience of more information.
being a mentor.

MENTORING TOMORROW’S DESIGN LEADERS 

As the industry
undergoes
seismic shifts,
designers are
looking for
leaders to steer
them through
challenges and
uncertainty
towards new
opportunities.

MENTORING TOMORROW’S DESIGN LEADERS 

What is mentoring? ‘Designers become
Leadership skills take years to develop leaders when they
– and true leaders never stop developing grow-up and start
them. Mentoring is an increasingly popular to take responsibility
way of doing that. for others.’
Les Wynn, Design manager
Mentors are senior and trusted confidants Xerox Europe

who help more junior professionals with

their career direction. They help their
protégés work out where they want to
‘Only designers can
go, and how to get there. The approach
be design leaders.’
Dick Powell, Founder
emphasises questioning, listening and Seymour Powell
feedback, rather than instruction. It also
involves mentors sharing insights into how
they got to their position and opening up ‘Put aside the idea that
their own networks. design is for designers…
it is infinitely more
important than that!’
How is mentoring different Raymond Turner, Founder
Raymond Turner Associates
from coaching?
As mentoring and coaching both usually
involve one-to-one development sessions, ‘Leaders realise that
it is easy to confuse the two. In fact, the it’s not about them
two approaches have different goals, any more.’
relationships and time frames. Mentors Rod Petrie, design mentor
are friendly long-term career advisors with
experience of the mentee’s industry or
company. Coaches, on the other hand, are
impartial guides to improved performance
– they help clients move towards solutions
to specific issues, often within a set
timeframe, and then leave.

MENTORING TOMORROW’S DESIGN LEADERS 

How to find a mentor

A mentor is traditionally someone with Look inside your company

more experience than you, with whom Some firms help new recruits find their feet
you can develop a good rapport. You may in their new role by pairing them with an
already have someone in mind – if not, start experienced colleague. Indeed, participants
making a list of possible people. Perhaps on our leadership pilot (including IDEO,
there’s someone you admire and respect, Xerox and Engine) have established internal
who may have encouraged you in the past. mentoring schemes.
Or there could be someone who impresses
you. Or maybe there’s someone you have Even if your company does not have
encountered earlier in your career who anything in place formally, it’s worth
you would like to reconnect with. Much of approaching your HR department if you
the success of a mentoring relationship have one, or asking colleagues if they could
depends on the personalities of the two recommend someone.
people involved, so if you’re a particularly
outgoing person, say, it may be harder to In this workplace context the mentoring
work with someone who is very reserved, often takes the form of an apprenticeship,
and vice versa. where an inexperienced newcomer learns
the tricks of the trade and the political and
People often find social ways of the firm. An old hand can
mentors through their also help a newbie fit into their internal
company networks.
existing professional
networks, so consider
the following:
Look inside your discipline
Some designers seek out experienced
mentors outside their firm, but within

MENTORING TOMORROW’S DESIGN LEADERS 

their design discipline, to get an external
perspective free from internal politics and
conflicts of interest. An external mentor
can also share valuable expertise that is not
held within the firm.

Look outside your discipline

Our mentoring pilot took place across
design disciplines: we felt that designers
would have much to learn from senior
figures in parallel design industries,
especially as the industry as a whole is
becoming more inter-disciplinary.

And of course getting a mentor means

plucking up the courage to ask them.
This can be easy to put off. Don’t! Outline
why you chose them, and what you think
you can learn from them. Even if your
prospective mentor can’t help you, they will
almost be certainly be flattered to be asked.

‘Leaders ask
exploratory
questions
and think
abstractly.’ Dena Michelli, management development coach

MENTORING TOMORROW’S DESIGN LEADERS 

‘Design leadership
envisions the future,
manifests strategy,
directs corporate
investment and shapes
experiences.’
Raymond Turner, Founder
Raymond Turner Associates

MENTORING TOMORROW’S DESIGN LEADERS 

Top mentoring tips

Mentoring is pretty straightforward, but Discussing what each of

it is different from just chatting sagely you expects
about design. In some ways it requires
Deciding how you are going to
more formality, and in others it calls for the
focus the discussions
mentor to suppress some of their natural
instincts and even, at times, their ego. Making sure a private space
is arranged.
Here are ten top tips we
learned from the pilot:
2. Mum’s the word
What goes on in a mentoring session
1. Set the right tone should stay between the two people
It’s tempting to treat a mentoring involved. It’s vital that mentoring
relationship casually and agree simply conversations rest on a clear understanding
to have an informal chat from time to of trust and confidentiality.
time. Unfortunately, this ad hoc approach
can allow things to drift and can lead to Even with the best intentions, this can
misunderstandings or disappointments. be hard to maintain. In our pilot, for
example, a number of the mentors
It’s wise to keep the relationship suggested that it would be beneficial for
semi-formal by: them to meet with their mentees’ line
managers – particularly at the start and end
Agreeing when and where to meet of the programme – as a form of briefing
and how often and de-briefing.

MENTORING TOMORROW’S DESIGN LEADERS 

Dena Michelli, a management development Mentors should
consultant who worked with us on the pilot, concentrate on
had to stress that confidentiality and trust listening actively by:
were key to mentoring, and that briefing a
mentor would tarnish the relationship with Being fully present and focused
the mentee by possibly putting the mentor
on the side of the boss. Not interrupting or finishing mentees’
sentences for them
Summarising what they have heard
3. Keep it up close and personal to make sure they understand the
It’s best to do all your mentoring face other’s message
to face. With telephone calls and email
Using silence to allow people to
– communications where there are no visual
think and respond thoughtfully
channels available – misunderstandings can
easily occur. Being conscious of body language:
reflecting the other person’s
Of course, emails and phone calls are body position nodding to demonstrate
sometimes unavoidable, so if you’re using that you are ‘tuned in’ and holding good
them the usual rules apply – read through eye contact, for example.
your emails twice before sending them, for
example. Mentors can also ask mentees to
repeat what they’ve heard over the phone to 5. Ask open questions
reduce the chance of miscommunication. Senior designers tend to have plenty of
opinions on how things should be – which
The physical distance between mentor and can mean they ask directional or rhetorical
mentee also matters. Busy professionals questions. Mentors need to check that
find it difficult to meet if a lot of travelling is they are not jumping to what they think the
involved: this was an issue that got in the issue or solution is. Instead, asking open,
way of some the mentoring relationships in exploratory and ‘tell me more’ questions is
our pilot. better. These usually boil down to:

 ho?
W
4. Ears wide open When?
It’s tempting for mentors to tell war Where?
stories and treat their protégés simply What?
as an audience, rather than focusing Why?
on them and their needs. Mentoring How?
conversations shouldn’t be focused on
the mentor – unless they are sharing their
thoughts, experiences or opinions for the 6. Accentuate the positive
mentee’s benefit. To build self-belief, mentors shouldn’t to
be too harsh or negative in their feedback.

MENTORING TOMORROW’S DESIGN LEADERS 10

Constructive comments are vital. 8. Deal with ‘the fog’
For example, it’s best to focus comments Mat Hunter, Partner at IDEO and a mentor
on the mentees’ behaviour (which can in our pilot, shared a useful perspective
be changed), not their personality. on dealing with, and being comfortable
Asking them to describe how they with, ambiguity for the first few mentoring
acted in a particular situation, and what sessions, which is when some mentees
happened as a result, is better than are still working out what they want to
directing the conversation towards achieve. He talked about two key mentoring
character traits. dimensions: ‘Where do you want to go?’
and ‘How are you going to get there?’ When
It’s also a good idea to check that the people do not know the answer to either
mentee has understood the feedback by question, they feel as if they are ‘in the fog’.
asking them to reiterate what they did well Other mentors found Mat’s 2x2 matrix a
and explore how they might improve their useful way of thinking about positioning
approach next time. their mentees’ career situation.

I know where I I know how to get

7. Don’t tell want to go there
One of the biggest challenges of being a
I don’t know I don’t know how
mentor is avoiding jumping in and telling the where I want to to get there
mentee what do to. Rather than imposing go (The Fog)
opinions, mentoring is about encouraging
mentees to work out for themselves what
they should do next. From the other side of the table some
mentees found the openness of the initial
The emphasis should be on encouraging sessions difficult:
the mentee to explore situations and
guiding their thinking. So if, as a mentor, ‘In the first session it was
you find yourself starting to use words difficult to establish what
like ‘should’ and ‘ought’, stop and think exactly we were meant
about returning to some open questions. to get out of it. once we’d
‘What do you think…?’; ‘What would have started to set goals it
happened if...?’ became easier.’
Andrew Dean, Senior digital media designer, Digit

A number of the mentors in our pilot

mentioned that they had to check their
instinctive urges to direct their mentee. 9. Agree actions
Before the mentoring meeting ends,
‘Designers are natural the mentee should summarise their
problem solvers, so we understanding of the outcomes of the
have to hold back from session and commit to taking some action.
rolling our sleeves up The mentor might ask: ‘So, let’s review what
and trying to solve their you are going to do before we meet again.’
problem for them.’ The mentee would then outline what tasks
Oliver King, Founder
they are going to do, how they will tackle
Engine and NextNet mentor them and when they will be completed.

MENTORING TOMORROW’S DESIGN LEADERS 11

It’s then the responsibility of the mentee to There is no ideal length for a mentoring
get to work, and then arrange and set the relationship: some become lifetime
agenda for the next session. friendships, while others run for only a few
sessions. A number of the mentors and
future leaders in our pilot mentioned that
10. Go with the flow they started to run out of things to discuss
Mentoring relationships find their natural by the second or third session. While in
rhythm and life-cycle. Sessions should be some cases this may have reflected a lack
frequent enough to maintain momentum, of experience on the mentor’s part, it may
but allow adequate time in between also have signalled a natural resolution of
for the mentee to reflect and work on the relationship.
agreed actions.

‘Mentoring
relationships
either click or
they don’t, but
the ones that
do click can

last a lifetime.’
Les Wynn, Design Manager
Xerox Europe and NextNet mentor

MENTORING TOMORROW’S DESIGN LEADERS 12

RESOURCES
Websites has a factsheet on A Practical Guide answers for themselves.
mentoring that makes to Mentoring: How to It’s a good way in.
Coaching, Mentoring and help others achieve
the distinction between
Facilitation for Creative their goals
and Cultural Leadership mentoring and coaching and About our
outlines how to develop a David Kay and Roger Hinds pilot scheme
by Diane Parker mentoring approach. It also How To Books Limited, 2007
proves a simple three-stage NextNet was a pilot
This report from Creative model for conducting a A great reference book programme produced by the
Choices° offers some basic mentoring relationship and that helps you relate to the Design Council, supported
definitions of coaching, a recommended reading list. challenges of mentoring by the Cultural Leadership
mentoring and facilitation, through scenarios and Programme under the
and provides some case studies. You can try to banner of the Good Design
guidance on how you can imagine how you would deal Practice Campaign.
access the leadership The Coaching and with the different situations
development most suited Mentoring Network and what information and
to your needs. The rest of skills you would need to do
the Creative Choices° site www.coaching What happened on
so effectively – forewarned
also contains some useful network.org.uk the NextNet pilot?
is forearmed. This book
professional development The Coaching and will walk you through the NextNet took an innovative
resources aimed at the Mentoring Network is a non- process and leave you approach to mentoring.
creative industries. profit making, UK based educated and practised in Thirteen design companies
portal for coaches seeking the art of mentoring. took part, with a design
information and services leader and mid-level
that relate to all aspects of designer from each
Mentoring good coaching. Although it does
practice The Art of Mentoring volunteering to be part of
not offer personal advice the scheme. Each company
KINGS COLLEGE LONDON or recommendations, it is Mike Pegg Management agreed to give the time
MENTORING GOOD PRACTICE a valuable resource that Books, 2000 Limited, 1998 of one of their leaders to
provides case studies, mentor a future leader from
www.umds.ac.uk/ discussion groups and best Mike Pegg goes beneath
another company, in return
about/structure/admin/ practice information. This the surface of mentoring
for one of their staff being
equal-opps/training/ site also offers a referral and explores what it
involved in the programme.
mentoring/good service for those looking for really takes to establish
These mentoring
a coach or mentor. a successful mentoring
This is a useful site on relationships were set up
relationship. He is keen
mentoring and good across design disciplines,
to link the techniques he
mentoring practice that both to encourage cross-
outlines to the success
has been put together by disciplinary learning.
Books of mentoring and the way
King’s College London. organisations from whatever
It contains a summary of Techniques for Coaching sector can encourage ‘Small design companies
key good practice points and Mentoring and develop mentoring to are notoriously bad at
drawn from a range improve performance and professional development,
of publications on the David Clutterbuck and and the time-bank model of
David Megginson job satisfaction.
subject. As well as advice managers mentoring others
for mentors, there are Butterworth-Heinemann in return for their staff
guidelines for the mentee 2004 being mentored is ‘pure
on how to make best use of Coaching and Mentoring genius’ for consultancies
This is a valuable resource for Dummies
the mentoring relationship. for those acting as a with limited HR budgets.
It’s a straightforward site coach or mentor. It’s easily Marty Brounstein The staff member can see
and gives you the essentials accessible and, apart John Wiley & Sons, 2000 that I’m putting time into
of mentoring. from giving information, it for their benefit, rather
frameworks, techniques As with other ‘Dummies’ than just signing off a
and case studies, focuses books, this is an easy to training budget. Although
on the importance of read, ‘dip in’ resource that Engine already has an
CIPD Mentoring shares lots of ideas on how internal mentoring scheme,
Factsheet self-understanding when
playing the role of a coach to overcome the anxieties it is incredibly valuable to
http://www.cipd.co.uk/ or mentor and the centrality about mentoring, how be able to step outside
subjects/lrnanddev/ of the relationship with to establish an effective the company and ask the
coachmntor/mentor.htm their ’pupil’. mentoring relationship questions that are difficult
and how to develop the to ask inside the company.
The Chartered Institute of questioning approach that The cross-disciplinary
Personnel and Development allows the mentee to find nature of the programme

MENTORING TOMORROW’S DESIGN LEADERS 13

was great – I personally UK Design Skills Alliance Acknowledgements
learned a lot and it would promoting the benefits of
have been awkward developing business and We would like to thank
mentoring a designer from professional skills alongside the following for their time,
a competitor in the the wealth of creativity support and ideas:
same discipline.’ we already have in the Ralph Ardill
design industry. The Brand Experience
Oliver King Consultancy
Co-founder, Engine
By supporting design
teaching and learning John Bates
It also reduced the London Business School
in schools, colleges
likelihood of conflicts of and universities, and by Madelaine Cooper
interest or confidentiality encouraging designers Heroes
issues, and lowered the to develop their business
risk – which had been and professional skills, Nicola Davis
highlighted as a key N-compass
we’ll ensure that the UK
concern by the participants design industry will be David Godber
– of mentors poaching ready for new opportunities Nissan Europe
their mentees. and challenges generated
by the global economy. Rod Petri e
‘The cross-disciplinary
nature of the programme Dick Powell
If you are interested in Seymour Powell
was its key strength, as it finding out more about
brought a lot of richness the Good Design Practice Raymond Turner
and is extremely good for campaign and the UK Raymond Turner Associates
the industry as a whole.’ Design Skills Alliance visit
Julie Verity
www.ukdesignskills.com CASS Business School
Julian Grice, Managing
Director, The Team
The Design Council is the Simon Waterfall
national strategic body Poke
The mid-level designers for design. Our mission
– our future design leaders – is to inspire and enable
also valued the experience. the best use of design
to make the UK a more FOR FURTHER
‘One of the things I found competitive, creative and INFORMATION
most valuable was getting sustainable nation.
time with someone to talk You can contact the
to, getting an ‘outside’ Design Skills Alliance at the
Our current three-year
perspective on things, Design Council by email:
strategy and objectives are
getting the view of someone [email protected]
set out in The Good Design
with experience.’ Plan, which is available Design Skills Alliance
Andrew Dean, Senior digital
at www.designcouncil.org. Design Council
uk/gooddesignplan 34 Bow Street
media designer, Digit, and
London
NextNet mentee
WC2E 7DL

T: 020 7420 5200

Author F: 020 7420 5300
Who we are
Kevin McCullagh is the www.ukdesignskills.com
The Cultural Leadership founder of Plan Strategic,
Programme is a a design strategy
Government-funded consultancy, and acted
initiative to promote as Executive Producer
excellence in leadership of NextNet.
within the cultural and
creative sectors. It runs
a range of activities and
opportunities to nurture Contributor
and develop world class,
dynamic and diverse leaders Dena Michelli is a
for the 21st century. For management development
more information visit consultant who helped
www.culturalleadership. the NextNet mentors
org.uk prepare for, and engage
with, their mentoring role.
Good Design Practice She also wrote the NextNet
is a campaign from the mentoring manual.

MENTORING TOMORROW’S DESIGN LEADERS 14