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March 24, 2025 15 mins

This episode will demolish everything you thought you knew about mentorship. Our career coaches Michelle Battersby and Soph Hirst will let you in on a fresh approach to professional development, moving away from the traditional "one perfect mentor" model to a more flexible, inclusive strategy - think less marriage proposal, more dating.

Plus you’ll hear the five-sentence email template that's going to help you land that dream mentor conversation.

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HOSTS: Michelle Battersby, Soph Hirst and Em Vernem
EXEC PRODUCER: Kimberly Braddish
AUDIO PRODUCER: Leah Porges

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to I'm Ama mea podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Hello and welcome to biz Your work life Sorted. I'm
m Burnham and today we're demolishing everything you thought you
knew about mentorship. Get it out of your mind. If
you're jealous of those people who have that one perfect
mentor that guided their entire career, guess what, Lucky for you,
you shouldn't be. We are throwing that out of the window.

(00:35):
It's twenty twenty five and we're doing mentorship differently. Now
think less marriage proposal and more dating professional dating that is,
I'm less no professional dating like always. I'm joined by
our wonderful career coaches. Michelle Battisbee, who was an entrepreneur
and launched Bumble in Australia. She now runs her own
startup and so of hers. She's the one who took

(00:57):
a leap from Google to launch her own coaching program
for people in their early career era, just like myself.
They will be talking about the new era of mentorship
and we think you're going to love this one. Plus
Sofa is going to tell you exactly how to secure
that dream mentor.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Michelle, do you have a mentor yourself?

Speaker 3 (01:16):
My initial response to that question is no, But it's
because I haven't put a formal label on the relationships
I have with people I get advice from. I think
having a mentor is really just having someone that you
trust and respect and you can learn from their experiences.
So with that in mind, yes, I do have mentors,

(01:38):
and I do like thinking about mentoring in a more
disarming way where it's not this scary, rigid, formal thing.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah, that's why I'm so excited to get into this episode.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
So this idea of a single mentor or a series
of mentors is really just like being in an open relationship.
You can collect an army of brilliant brains with different
experiences that you can learn from to expand your own career.
I kind of love the open relationship analogy.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And just to continue that further, so,
if you look at the traditional model for mentorship, you'd
have this one person and you'd have this long term
relationship with them. The problem with it is that often
it would just get a bit weird, the vibes would
sort of die. It would often start strong and then
end really awkwardly. And also, like a relationship, you sort

(02:41):
of had all this pressure to find this one perfect person,
and I felt this so much. You know, I grew
up in regional in New South Wales. I went to
UNI and it felt like after UNI everyone got into
the workforce and everyone kind of had a mentor. You know.
I didn't have a business network around it, had no
clue how to find a mentor myself, and I just
felt really intimidated by the whole thing and like I'd
already fails because I didn't have a mentor in my career.

(03:04):
So what we want to have, hell you guys do
is to actually reframe what mentorship is and we want
to explain the new way to do it. Hit us
with it. So for what is the new way to
do mentorship? So instead of having this one single mentor
that you might have ten chats with in the year,
we want you to think about ten different people that

(03:24):
you have one conversation with. So this is a series
of mental chats where you have intentional conversations with specific
people to actually learn something and to figure something out.
So it's much more specific. Michelle. The reason that I
actually think this is a way better approach one you
would be so surprised by who is actually willing to
say yes when it's a once off conversation versus an

(03:46):
ongoing commitment. Two, these conversations are more specific, so you're
going to prep for them. They're more specific and targeted
versus a traditional mentorship relationship, which can often be quite
general and sometimes you just sort of feel like you're
filling the space with questions. So it's more specific and
therefore much more practical. And then three, actually think this
approach is way more inclusive, so anyone can make this

(04:10):
work for them, and you don't have to have sort
of a big existing network of people that you know
or work for a really big company. Anyone can make
this approach work.

Speaker 3 (04:18):
I love this so much because it also sounds like
there won't be any awkward breakups with this sort of process.
I became fascinated by this and went out on my
Instagram stories and I run a poll and eighty three
percent of people came back to me saying that they
did not have a mentor, which blew my mind. And

(04:40):
I then asked a follow up question, which was, if
you don't have a mentor but you want one, what
are the blockers? And my question box responses have never
been more packed and the replies were pretty consistent. So
lots of people want a mentor, but they've got these blockers,
and a big one is cost. People are wondering how

(05:02):
much does it cost? How do you determine that with
a mentor, which we'll get into. They don't know who
to ask, and they don't know how to ask. So
this is your bread and butter. This is what you
do at work.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
Baby.

Speaker 3 (05:17):
Let's start with what actually is a mentor.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yeah, let's bust some myths. So a mentor is anyone
where you learn from their experiences and then you apply
that knowledge to your own situation. So by asking them questions,
am I listening? I think it's helpful to know the
difference between a mentor and a coach. So a mentor
is someone where the conversation is mostly about that other person,
so you're listening to them and you're applying that to

(05:42):
your own situation. And a mentor conversation is unpaid, they
should really be unpaid, versus a coach, where in a
coaching conversation, the focus of that conversation is typically on you,
so they're gonna ask you questions and guide you and
give you frameworks. But it's really fully customized to you
and your situation. Because of that, these conversations are typically paid.

(06:05):
You know, I was pretty shocked actually to see in
some of those dms, Michelle, that people were saying, you know,
how much should I actually pay a mentor? Or I
can't afford to pay a mentor? Well, the answer to
how much should I pay mentor is actually zero because
a true mental relationship should be unpaid because there is
this mutual value exchange, so the mentor gets something out

(06:26):
of it too. So I actually do both free mentorship
and also paid coaching. You know, I've got five different
people that I mentor right now, and I get so
much out of these conversations with them. I think, you know,
the way that they emailed me, the vibe that we
had in that first chat meant that, hey, I actually
do want to stay in touch with these people, these young, smart,

(06:46):
ambitious people. I get so much out of it. So yeah,
it's a mutual value exchange. But typically a mentorship should
be unpaid.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
Honestly, I think that will surprise so many people that definition,
and as you're walking through it, it also, on the
flip side, expands the kinds of people that you could
work with like for example, I do meturing as well.
I don't do coaching. I don't believe I could do coaching.
So I think there are a lot of people out
there that are willing to share their experiences in more
of a mentoring capacity.

Speaker 1 (07:16):
So I honestly feel.

Speaker 3 (07:17):
Like most people would be down to accept, you know,
mentoring someone who is looking to propel themselves forward. And
on your point as well, like from the mentor, you're
sitting there thinking just take from me, extract from me,
like you want them to ask the kinds of questions
that are going to benefit them and unlock nuggets of
your gold free of charge, and it feels really.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
Good to do. I think it's about asking it the
right way.

Speaker 3 (07:43):
So after the break the five sentences to land you
a mentorship, so we love to give you practical steps
and advice here. So soph is about to give us
the three steps to develop your mentor series. And then

(08:07):
so if I want to ask you what we all
should not be doing?

Speaker 1 (08:11):
So how do we start? Okay? Step one is to
really ask yourself why am I doing this? So what
am I trying to get out of it? And I
thought it might be helpful to give you a live example.
So let's use the example of someone who they currently
work in sales and maybe they want to go and
work in marketing, and they're kind of thinking like, do
I do that now or should I just say in
sales a bit longer and work my way out? So

(08:32):
Step maumble one is asking yourself, what am I trying
to get out of it? And why do I want
to have these chats? Step number two is to actually
build yourself a short list of people. So to do that,
you're going to be looking at, Okay, I'm trying to
pivot my career from sales to marketing. Let me maybe
try and find some people that have done that. So
you can first look at your internal network. There might

(08:52):
be people within your company that have done it. You
can then go and do a bunch of LinkedIn stalking.
So people have so much information about their careers. It's
actually so easy to find people who have done something
similar to what you're trying to do, and also just
ask you around. You want to try and land on
three to five people who have done something similar to
what you're trying to do. Now on too. Step three,

(09:13):
which is the very simple five line email that you
were going to send them, so I wouldn't normally read
out an email live, but because it's so simple, actually
just wanted to share that with you. Now, if you're
up for it, love it, let's go the five lines.
Line one is high person's name. I know you're busy
and you get a lot of emails. Part two, you're

(09:35):
going to start with them. This is very important. So
you want to show I have spent time researching you,
I know something about you, and you're going to start
with them. So an example of that might be I
admired the way you pivoted your career from X to Y.
Or it might be I've been following your career for
a while now and I love the way you talk
about topic X. Part three you're going to link to

(09:57):
you and why you actually want to have that conversation.
So an example might be the reason I'm interested in
this is because I'm all so trying to pivot my
career from sales to marketing, and you know, I'm currently
working in this role at this company and it would
really help me to understand your process. Line four. It
would have a huge impact on my career. If you're

(10:18):
able to give me twenty minutes on the phone or
zoom for a career chat so I can learn from
your experiences and five give them an out. So you say,
I know this is a long shot, and I understand
you might need to say no due to bandwidth. Even
getting a reply from you would make my day.

Speaker 3 (10:37):
I love this so like it's making me feel warm
and fuzzy inside. It's making me feel warm and fuzzy
if I were to receive something like that, but it's
also making me feel like I want to challenge myself.
Now take your template and I want to report back
by our next episode with like an iconic founder that
I have used this template for to get to mentor

(10:58):
me Because I also think an important point is don't
cut yourself short with who you reach out to. Dream
big when you write that shortlist of people that you
want to hit up.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
Even just a story from my own career. So actually,
one of the best mentor chats I've ever had is
with the CMO of Telstra, Brent Smart, and I was
having this amazing chat with him. I think it was
supposed to be an hour and I got an hour
and a half. And I mentioned in the chat that
one of my very junior reports at Google actually is
a big fan of his and had sent me his
podcast and Brent said, well, I'll have a mentorship chat

(11:32):
with him. I was thinking, like, there's no way even
do that. Anyway, my report emails brand and you know
the next week he's having a full hour with this
very senior marketing leader. He was very junior at the time,
So I think, yeah, exactly what you said, Michelle, don't
hold back, go for your dream list. And the trick
is just really keeping it very short, making it about them,

(11:53):
and explaining why you want to have this conversation, and
make it specific, and you will be so amazed at
who is actually going to say yes.

Speaker 3 (12:00):
Last thing for me on this. I also love that
it wasn't can I take you out for a coffee,
because I do feel like their effort to go out
and meet someone can sometimes just be a hurdle that
you might not have capacity for. But to just jump
on a phone call or zoom is just making someone
else's life easier. So I love that guidance on that,

(12:20):
what are the do's and don'ts, what are the red flags?
What is not going to land you a date?

Speaker 1 (12:25):
So I actually have a lot of people emailing me
to ask for mentorship, and so I just want to
share with you some of the things not to do.
So the first red flag for me is don't just
ask someone can I pick your brain? Don't say that
to them. You really need to show that you've invested
time in understanding who they are and why you're actually
having that conversation, so you want to make it specific.
That's where asking for twenty twenty five minutes on the

(12:47):
phone call or zoom is great. Don't just say can
I pick a brain. The other red flag is never
ask someone to be your mentor. The reason for that
is I just think like a good mentorship chat, it's
quite balanced, right, So, like mentors love talking about their
experience and how they can actually help young up and comers.
So asking someone to be your mentor, it just starts

(13:08):
the vibe off as being really weird, and it also
makes them feel like they're getting into this long term
relationship but maybe they don't want to be in.

Speaker 3 (13:15):
Yes, it's almost like asking someone to become your committed
like boyfriend or girlfriend before you've ever been on a
first date. You might not need the label. Maybe that's
one of the takeaways from this episode, you might not
even need that label on the relationship to have a mentor,
and I think that makes it less scary as well.

Speaker 1 (13:32):
That is exactly it. You're just asking for a career chat,
you are not asking for them to be a mentor.

Speaker 3 (13:38):
Yeah, love it? Okay, So what are the action points?
What do I need to do right now to get
a mentor?

Speaker 1 (13:44):
So step one is to really ask yourself, why am
I actually doing this? What is the decision I'm trying
to make, or what am I trying to get better at?
What am I trying to figure out? Step two is
you want to get your short list of people, so
I think you can even set yourself a goal of like,
I want to do ten of these mentor chats in
the year, whatever it is for you. And then step
three is you want to have this email tenplate this

(14:05):
very short email template, and we have made it super
easy for you. So we've got it in the Biers newsletter.
All you have to do is jump into the show
notes and you can get the subscription link. Subscribe and
we'll send out that email template to you.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
Finding out that eighty three percent of people don't have
a mentor has made me feel so much better about
not having one, and I actually don't even need to
feel bad about it. If you want that five sentence
email template that's going to help you land those dream
mental conversations, it's in our newsletter this week and it's

(14:40):
absolutely free to sign up. There's a link in our
show notes.

Speaker 1 (14:43):
For you to do so.

Speaker 2 (14:44):
Also, if you do end up getting a yes from
your mentor, which I mean of course you will because
this template is working for everyone, do not stress about
what to do next. We are going to cover exactly
how to nail those conversations in a future episode. And
don't forget our beiz Inbox episode drops sis Thursday, where
we answer all of your career dilemmas. Check the show
notes to find out how to submit your work questions.

(15:06):
See you next time. Mamma Mia acknowledges the traditional owners
of land and waters that this podcast is recorded on
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