spotLITE workshop: Using insights from reverse mentoring

LITE Fellow Rachael O’Connor hosted a spotLITE workshop about techniques for building relationships between staff and students from the very first meeting.

The aim of the workshop was to put staff in the shoes of students joining a new staff-student partnership, to explore how we can make these partnerships safer and more meaningful. Rachael gave workshop participants the chance to experience activities inspired by reverse mentoring and its impact on partnerships development first-hand, with activities designed to mimic the journey of building staff-student relationships, and encouraged participants to try out the things students are often asked to do. She first invited us to set an intention for how we wanted to engage with the workshop, and what we wanted to take away from the session.

Rachael also provided some useful definitions of reverse mentoring, and what it means to her personally: reciprocal conversations across perceived divides, a space for mentors and mentees to gain insights into experiences different to their own, and an intentional disruption of traditional hierarchies and ways of being and doing. Rachael gave an overview of how she’s using reverse mentoring principles in her LITE Fellowship – you can read more about that here.

Rachael identified four key phases of building partnerships in the first meeting: (i) loosening up, (ii) expectation setting, (iii) connecting more deeply, and (iv) debriefing and committing. All four combine in an attempt to create safety and meaningful connections from the outset. Rachael led the workshop participants through each of these stages in turn.

In the first stage, loosening up, participants engaged in ‘speed chatting’, with three minutes to talk about a topic then switching to a new partner and a new topic. After a few rounds of this, we were certainly starting to feel more relaxed and sociable. Next, participants did a gratitude practice in randomly assigned pairs. After both activities, participants reflected on how the exercises felt, and whether they had helped to generate safety and meaningful connections, as well as how they could be improved or developed in their own practice. The group agreed that having small conversations about low-risk topics meant that everyone could get involved, and helped to start building connection.

Phase two is all about setting expectations, which starts with discussing the relationship and establishing boundaries. Rather than using assertive ‘ground rules’ which suggest a right or wrong way or doing things, Rachael advocated for using a statement of care, developed from her work with the Equality Inclusion Unit at Leeds. Participants then completed an exercise which involved speaking to each other about impactful relationships in their lives, and what made these either transactional or meaningful and safe, as well as the foundations and principles the relationships were built on.

Common themes were trust, support, the freedom to be yourself, feeling seen, heard, and valued, and how making mistakes was all part of the journey to partnership. These factors all contribute towards a commitment of care – committing to what you both want and need from the partnership. This sought to support participants to see that we are already experts in developing positive relationships, even if new to partnership work, and that these reflections can form an important foundation for new staff-student partnerships.

Next, we moved onto building deeper connections in phase three. Working in pairs, workshop participants used some prompts from Rachael to roleplay initiating potentially difficult or emotive conversations. We discussed belonging and representation, and how these elements impact our experiences at the University and in wider life. We reflected on negative experiences that can arise from under-representation or lack of belonging, and the importance of talking about these experiences – even if it’s uncomfortable – in order to learn how to help and support each other.

The workshop concluded with the fourth phase, debriefing and committing. We were invited to check back in with ourselves, our feelings, what we’re looking forward to, and whether we stuck with the intention we set at the beginning of the workshop. We also set goals and pledges to take away from the session, which Rachael encouraged us to consider sharing with students and staff that we work with in the future.

Finally, Rachael shared some principles for designing staff-student partnerships for equity:

• Don’t force people into partnership work – call them in, rather than calling them out
• Consider individuals’ workload and pay, and make sure this is balanced with reward
• Empower students and colleagues, and make sure your communications are authentic
• Provide guidance, but make sure that this builds in space for individuality
• Create community through arranging social events that aren’t connected to the process or
• delivering outputs
• Recognise and name emotional labour
• Consider purpose – why are you doing this? What next steps are you planning?
• Extend relationships beyond the project
• Work through the four phases with circularity – it’s intentional, continuous work
• Find connecting factors between students and staff and allow time (or create time, where this doesn’t already exist) for these to grow
• Involve students in the design of your partnerships work, not just in delivery

 The attendee perspective: Laura Conroy, Student Partnerships Advisor (OD&PL)

Participating in the spotLITE workshop, led by Rachael O’Connor, was a fantastic experience. As a Student Partnerships Advisor, I am always seeking new approaches to make our staff-student partnerships safer and more meaningful. This workshop introduced a range of conversation-based activities that can be adapted for various partnership projects, moving from awkwardness to deeper connections. Experiencing the activities first-hand enhanced my thinking and helped me put myself in the students’ shoes.

I enjoyed connecting with staff from across the university and reflecting on our practices together. Taking time out of my working day to immerse myself in the workshop without distractions was refreshing and left me energised with new ideas. Moving forward, I plan to share these brilliant approaches with staff looking to enhance partnerships with their students, and explore how they might integrate into our toolkit and training.