Helping you navigate your AMA journey
After completing your self review, the next step is to choose a mentor.
Your AMA mentor will help you navigate your AMA journey and support your development. The relationship lasts for the duration of your AMA and you will meet with your mentor four times a year.
To have an effective mentoring relationship, mentors and mentees must have a clear understanding of the mentoring process and have shared expectations of the relationship. This is developed through the first mentor conversation where you will discuss your mentoring agreement (pdf) and sign it off.
Your mentor is one of the most important elements of your AMA, so you should think about what you want or need in a mentor:
- What characteristics or skills?
- What experience?
- What specialism?
- Where are they located?
- What type of museum do they work in?
- Who else do they know?
You could choose someone similar to yourself or someone very different – it depends on your aspirations. If you are the only person working in learning in your organisation, you may wish to choose a specialist in learning. If you feel your career to date has been too narrow, you may want to select a mentor from a different discipline or museum type.
The Museums Association will send you a list of current mentors and a mentoring agreement form. We have more than 150 AMA mentors so there will be one that is right for you.
Look through your nation or region and create a longlist based on what you’re looking for in a mentor. You may wish to Google potential mentors, look them up on LinkedIn or perhaps follow them on their public-facing social media accounts to get a better idea of their approach and recent work. Let us know your longlist and we can then send you detailed mentor profiles.
Once you have looked through the detailed mentor profiles, you should be able to create a shortlist. We recommend that you prioritise and then contact your preferred mentor first and work your way down the list. Don’t worry about losing time – while you find a mentor, you can begin to think about your CPD plan in preparation for your first mentoring session.
Email your mentor outlining briefly who you are and your experience, what attracted you to choose them and why you think they’d be a good fit. You could attach your completed self review or CV to give them insights into your current experience. They will email you back either to say they are not available or to arrange next steps.
In the majority of cases, this first contact will start your mentoring relationship. In the event that your chosen mentor doesn’t think the relationship would be a good fit, they may suggest you contact another mentor on your shortlist.
If you want more information about any of the mentors on the list or any other guidance, please contact cpd@museumsassociation.org. We are happy to give you some suggestions and advice about a mentor to meet your needs.