Mentoring has emerged as a powerful tool to combat modern-day issues like the gender pay gap, leadership inequality, and pervasive gender biases, both conscious and unconscious. It plays a crucial role in personal and professional development, fostering growth, and creating a more supportive and effective workplace and industry culture for everyone. Research shows that 75% of executives credit their success to mentors and that 90% of employees with a career mentor are happy at work.
“Mentoring is a vital responsibility for both mentors and mentees, fostering mutual growth and development. Through mentorship, women can uncover paths they might never have known existed, acquire new skills, explore untapped markets, and discover innovative ways to advance within their organizations. It has the power to unlock hidden talents, inspiring women to give back and cultivate the next generation of female leaders,” says Giorgia Epicoco, Senior EU Affairs Manager and Sustainability Lead at Huawei.
Nevertheless, women and minorities face more barriers to accessing corporate mentoring, with 71% of executives choosing to mentor employees of the same gender or race. These stats highlight the importance of industry mentorship programs for women beyond corporate mentoring. While corporate mentoring is valuable for immediate, company-specific support and integration, industry mentoring offers broader, unbiased, and strategic benefits that can significantly enhance a mentee's long-term career development and adaptability within the industry.
Industry Mentors can provide invaluable knowledge about industry trends, best practices, and unwritten rules as they understand the specific challenges women face in the field and can provide tailored advice on overcoming these challenges, share personal experiences, and offer practical solutions relevant to the sector. This insight and support system is critical to help stay competitive, make informed career decisions, and avoid common pitfalls that might slow their progress.
“The scarcity of women in senior positions results in a limited pool of female mentors who can offer guidance on navigating gender-specific challenges. This scarcity underscores the critical need for industry mentoring, as it could open up more opportunities for finding mentors and thereby enhance the support system for women in the solar industry.
Current renewable energy mentoring programs are old-fashioned, so women still need help finding the right mentors. Overcoming this limitation has been our primary focus when developing the WiSEu Mentoring platform. We have dedicated significant effort and resources to ensure that the platform is a valuable resource for women and minorities. “Having a mentor in the same industry who has successfully navigated similar challenges is an opportunity that can be incredibly inspiring for women to become leaders, so we are making sure that we make those connections happen”, says Carmen Madrid, WiSEu (Women in Solar Europe) Founder.
“Mentoring, supporting, educating women, and helping them build self-confidence and find their voices are key to our industries. The new generation comes with a new set of soft skills and hard skills, so there is also a need for reverse mentoring to understand how young professionals and newcomers work. We are ensuring we provide a mental safety net where everyone can learn from each other, ” says Aga Michalak, Head of Marketing and ESG Europe at Jinko.
Ready to start your mentoring journey, support and be inspired by women in the solar industry? Visit www.wiseu.network for more information.
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