CASE STUDY: Five-week Cross-Mentoring Adventure

As a small organisation, partnerships help us to increase our reach, broaden our vision, and deliver innovative new outputs beyond our core skillset. This summer we hit the jackpot, collaborating with two incredible organisations to deliver a cross-mentoring ‘adventure’ to sustainability practitioners.

Over five-weeks, we worked alongside events-led climate facilitators, First Hand, and youth engagement experts, We Rise. Together we hosted 12 sustainability advocates. They all wanted to further their professional goals and systemic skillset through listening, challenging and exploring.

It was an adventure because it was something new, we were testing new concepts and the participants were in on it as we followed two key threads of systemic competency and trust. Given its roaring success, we wanted to share our insights, so read on to find out what cross-mentoring is, how we managed it and, importantly, our key learnings so you can take them for yourself!

Why did we do it?

We designed the program loosely, trusting our experience and group to lead somewhere great (good news: it did!). It wasn’t teaching, it wasn’t assessed, it wasn’t even owned by trainers. Instead, we as facilitators were simply there to guide and unlock the wisdom of the participants and nurture trust so they could share that with each other.

Why be exploratory? Because this is the nature of sustainability, and often the best ideas come off the agenda. Exploratory thinking, collective action and adaptability are all key skills in the GreenComp European sustainability competence framework, and this adventure helped them emerge.

Why systems thinking?

System thinking comes up in most sustainability skills frameworks, whether by GreenComp, UNESCO, or the Inner Development Goals, and for good reason. Our context is constantly shifting often at macro- and micro-levels. We need the capabilities to respond and to thrive: skills for navigating complexity, to collaborate and work systemically, and to imagine possible futures in uncertainty so that we can move towards them.

Why cross-mentor?

Cross-mentoring flips the typical power dynamics of a mentoring relationship, where the mentor is assumed to have more experience and insight than the mentee. Instead, cross-mentoring assumes both experienced and early career participants have equal amounts to offer – they may just need space and skills to help each other.

Early careerists can feel unqualified in a room, their power is taken away. The impact of this model?

• Sustainability practitioners of all experience levels recognising their ability to guide others, regardless of work experience;

• A broadening of advice and wisdom received by participants facing holistic challenges that cross the professional-personal boundaries (don’t they all with sustainability!);

• A sense of empowerment and safety as everyone is equally valued and appreciated for their unique contributions.

Cross-mentoring unlocks wisdom and nurtures the sense of community that so many of our participants deeply value within our existing programmes. Especially with these ‘transformational skills’, they don’t emerge directly from years in service. As practitioners sailing a time of uncertainty, it’s time to question norms and who’s guiding who, and how to capture the true wisdom that comes from multiple stakeholders.

How did we do it?

A shared vision & trust to be flexible

First Hand had a vision and swiftly recognised the contributions that we and We Rise could add to it. After initial partnership admin and time dedicated to connection-building, we all had a shared, clear but flexible vision with a lot of trust.

We each would facilitate one module of the course, utilising our strengths: We Rise led on personal growth, First Hand held the in-person experience, and we at Change Agents finished the programme on systems change and agency. We could adapt after each week our journey, respond to the needs, and share our expertise to support sections. The partnership meant we reflected the cross-mentoring within our own facilitator style, as power was shared and trust was nurtured.

Facilitate ≠ teach

We had clear aims, a target audience and the vision and we also recognised our role wasn’t to teach. It was to facilitate the cross-mentoring and the participants own empowerment. Stepping back allowed participants to step up. Instead of us sharing case studies, they shared their own. Instead of us creating top tips, they used their experience to list. We gave seemingly simple prompts that could create impactful outcomes as participants found answers themselves and the insight useful for them, where they’re at.

Hybrid with maximum impact

We mixed four online workshops with one in-person half-day experience. The online sessions hosted activities, guided discussions and group exploration in an accessible way. Then halfway through, we headed to the heart of London to apply the insights to real places, sites and processes. This model deepened relationships and enabled us to keep the programme person-based, connective, and ‘grounded’ in the complex world, exactly as we experience it in sustainability.

Our top insights

Safety allows us to explore

Though we were exploratory, we made sure that our participants were part of that, and felt safe within it. This meant sharing clearly our model, and giving them the space to be exactly as they need to be. The first two sessions trusted their systems insight with personal sharing invited in until week 3 could host a 40 minute activity where they shared their problems and received open questioning from peers. Each week, their inputs became more poignant as they felt safer to explore, to question, to be as we need to create the future.

Align professional & personal growth

Oftentimes, those of us working in sustainability do so because of a clear personal connection, and all careers are affected by our lives whether that be where we choose to live or prioritising a new family. To grow means to harness both strands. It shouldn’t be out of scope to recognise how personal changes can affect career uncertainty, or how our passion for yoga can contribute greatly to our energy levels and productivity. Even if our goals are professional, we need space to welcome our full selves to the table, and those goals.

It doesn’t need to be complicated

Dealing with complexity is a skill, but not everything needs to be complicated. With this adventure, we were clear on our aims. We were ultimately laying paths for participants to navigate; to explore systems; and to build their careers. Yes, we organised to curate a group that synergises; yes, we coordinated our materials to design content; and yes, we needed to plan our partnership. But as the adage goes, less is often more. 90-minutes can fly with two well-guided discussions. Again, trust the participants to co-create, and find what they need to in it; and nurture trust in your partners so you can be flexible. After all, what is scheduled is not always right, and the magic comes in what is not always scheduled.  

Want to explore further?

Our partners First Hand, We Rise and ourselves saw this as a first step. We’re keen to re-create it in other locations, offer it within organisations as a development opportunity, and support others to launch it themselves. Whichever of these fits, we’d be happy to chat. After all, collaborating, trust, and place-based? That’s what sustainability is about.