Fiona Westwood and Debbie McNamara
Mentee:
Debbie McNamara, Clyde Gateway
Mentor:
Fiona Westwood, Westwood Associates
Debbie McNamara, Special Advisor to the Chief Executive
at Clyde Gateway, was mentored by Fiona Westwood during a
transitional phase in her professional and personal
life.
"When I first met Fiona, two years ago, I was at a turning point
in my career. I was balancing the demands of returning
to work after having two young children as well as approaching a
natural conclusion with my longstanding employer. Professionally I
knew I wanted to move on which was, in itself, a major step. I was
determined that neither motherhood nor my career needed to diminish
but what I needed was a strong, guiding hand.
"Fiona was previously a partner in a law firm and is now a
management and training consultant. We both believed in being
very open and direct, straight away, so there was no hanging
around! We established a great rapport very quickly and from
the outset created a framework within which I could begin to
explore the opportunities in front of me.
"The first six to nine months were pretty intense but Fiona
helped my transition from my long standing role to the fantastic
position I am in now, effectively mapping the path with me.
What I found most valuable was not only having a structure and
focus but knowing that she understood the various professional and
personal issues I faced. It was a tremendously valuable and
powerful experience."
Fiona Westwood runs Management Consultancy, Westwood
Associates. For her, Mentoring was a natural progression to
the role she played in private practice as a lawyer.
When I worked in private practice, I had responsibility for the
trainee solicitors so mentoring is really formalising what I used
to do informally. Sharing knowledge and experience is very
important to me.
"It was terrific working with Debbie who, although very clear in
what she wanted to achieve, would also value suggestions, enjoy
discussion and then make her own decisions, which is ideal as the
mentee takes ownership.
"If I have any tips for anyone looking at mentoring, it is to be
flexible. You can have your plans at the beginning but you
need to be prepared to change and adapt. And you need to be
very upfront about what you hope to achieve and what you can both
bring to the party. You are drawing on a range of life
experiences, it's not just the professional element."