Mentorship Mondays
By Sue Downey
The Nanny Mentorship committee is excited to roll out some new ways of looking at mentorship. Nanny mentors have been available for years, but even though many nannies expressed interested in the mentoring process, few people actually signed up.
We decided to take a look at what we could do to make mentorship a little different. One thing we know is that being a nanny is very different than many careers. Mentors traditionally help newer members of a chosen career path navigate their way up the ladder. The truth of the matter is that nannies don’t have a ladder. While they may continually become better and better at their jobs, improve their skills and develop as professionals, that doesn’t always lead to higher pay or an advanced title. I mean, really, when was the last time you saw a nanny listed as Chairman of the Home? And no matter how wonderful your resume, certain markets will only bear a certain max pay level.
Instead, nannies have more of a career lattice. They will move in different ways through different markets and job descriptions to find where they need to be at any given moment. They may change up their pathway to become experts at an age range or skill set. They may need support to navigate these changes or even some support in keeping things fresh and up to date with the infinite number of changes to families and children that are always happening.
The other thing we know is that many nannies become experts in the field of nannying. Because outside expertise is tough to find on things like navigating the nanny/family dynamic, caring for children in their own home, or the complexities of the nanny employment laws, the nanny profession has a plethora of amazing professionals who have become well versed in all things nanny.
We decided to explore ways to open up discussions that would be topic driven, inclusive of all levels of experience, and be accessible to all members. Technology is our friend here as we can use our INA Member Group to have a 24 hour long discussion so that no matter where you are, or when you are awake, you can jump in.
Mentorship Mondays will be hosted once a month on the INA Group Facebook page. We also will host it twice a year on the INA Main Facebook Page to encourage nannies to become members and to highlight the level of expertise and professionalism that INA members have. Make sure you are a member of this INA group and watch for the exact date – right now we are aiming for about the 3rd week of the month. These special days will encourage members to share their thoughts on topics that a traditional mentor might discuss with you. We started off in May with Nanny Portfolios. We continue in June talking about Challenging Behaviors.
The idea behind this is not only for a lively discussion. That is certainly wonderful, but the hope is that if you want to dive deeper, you want someone to help you set goals and hold you accountable, you will be able to find them through these discussions. We can share resources and get to know each other. You can join in whenever you have time and you can always search through the hashtag #MentorshipMonday if you missed something or want to refer back.
We hope this is just the beginning of strengthening the mentoring process and updating the way that it works. I hope you will join us on June 17th. This time it will be hosted on the INA Facebook page in a special event so that we can let others know what INA is all about!
Sue Downey is a nanny of more than 20 years and organizer of Nannypalooza, a professional development conference for nannies. She recently joined the INA mentorship committee and looks forward to helping to create meaningful experiences for all members.