Date Added: 13.11.19

Mentoring and the transfer of knowledge is a subject that’s very close to our hearts as a business, so much so that we’re sponsoring Future Leaders – The Utilities Mentoring Network. With our MD Richard Bartlett coming on board as a founding mentor, we hope that getting involved in this fantastic programme will help the future of our beloved sector shine brightly.

However, Future Leaders as we know it quite simply wouldn’t be here without founder and utilities sector veteran, Ian Parry. Ian’s worked in the energy and utilities space for 25 years across energy powerhouses like British Gas and Shell as well as supporting the likes of EDF, SSE and Scottish Power as a consultant – all the way through to bright and bustling start-ups like Pure Planet, Social Energy and Orbit Energy.

Ian’s passion for learning and, in turn, enabling others to learn eventually led to setting up Future Leaders in tandem with Consult Energy. We couldn’t be more thrilled to be sponsoring Future Leaders – The Utilities Mentoring Network alongside Ian, so we thought we’d help you get to know him a little better by finding out more about his background and his unique standpoint on mentoring in the utilities space.

Hi Ian, could you tell us about your background in the energy sector?

I started off at British Gas back in the early 90s, I ended up working in many different roles from credit risk, collections and customer service to senior leadership. Having spent 13 years there, I found it to be a really good place for developing talent and it was actually here that I got my first taste for mentoring.

From there I went into consultancy work for several years, which was great for gaining exposure to some of the other energy companies like EDF, Eon and N-power. After that, I went across to Experian (who were building up their utilities consultancy team at the time), where I helped to develop their propositions and build out their links to new clients.

As much as I loved consultancy, I hankered after working back in the utilities industry. Helping people as a consultant and spending time coaching people was really satisfying but I wanted to get back to my roots. It was a really exciting time in the market with lots of new companies popping up, so I went back into the energy sector with a new, fresh perspective. This led to me to work with some fantastic start-ups – which brings me to my current position at Orbit Energy.

How do you think you’ve managed to gain such a breadth of experience within the sector?

Mostly it’s the relationships that I’ve built along the way, I guess I’ve always worked on helping people out knowing that at some point in the future they would help me in return. I will say, I’ve been incredibly lucky to have the pleasure of working in some really great businesses that value hard work and truly want people to develop and better themselves – so that’s certainly helped me in that respect.

You’ve certainly experienced every facet of the energy industry by the sounds of things. So, what was it about mentoring that struck a chord with you?

I’ve enjoyed coaching and mentoring people throughout my career, and that’s when I really noticed the need for cross-industry training and knowledge sharing. Having worked in Big Six energy companies as well as start-ups, I could clearly see the high-calibre of talent that was coming through the industry.

I’ve always loved managing talent and working with people, and at certain points in my career when I was consulting it meant that I wasn’t always managing people directly. So, when I had no line manager responsibilities, I bridged that gap through mentoring. When I was working with start-ups, I realised that there were so many people landing in the industry who just needed some help and support to exceed their potential.

During the course of your career, have you ever been mentored?

During one of my first senior management positions at British Gas, they were in the midst of starting up a mentoring programme. I had someone who was part of the leadership team mentor me and it was an incredibly valuable experience for me.  A mentor has your back and will support you through good times and bad – while giving you a different perspective on things.

What makes future leaders different?

For starters, we don’t charge people to be a part of our mentoring programme, that sets us aside. It’s built on a reciprocal respect for people’s time, you rely on each other as mentors and mentees to build your relationship and achieve your goals. We’ve got a range of seniority within the programme, from managing directors and chief execs to consultants and senior managers.

We can offer mentees a fresh perspective on their careers and because you’re unlikely to be mentored by someone within your business we can present some diversity as they’re not approaching it with any prior knowledge or bias of how that business is run.

What would you say to someone considering becoming a mentor?

I would start with asking why they think they’d like to become a mentor. The reason being that some people can come into it for the wrong reasons, whether it’s because of pressures of other leadership level professionals, or perhaps just because it looks good on their CV. It’s important to ask how much time they can commit too. It’s too easy to enter into a mentoring partnership and end up with a poor relationship with your mentee by not establishing clear goals and commitments to one another. There’s a certain level of dedication you need to have.

There’s also a lot to be said for ‘reverse mentoring’, it’s not all about imparting knowledge on your mentee, they can teach you a lot as well. For example, listening to how someone I’d mentored had grown and developed, I feel like experiencing that has led to my own personal growth. The feeling you get from nurturing a strong mentoring relationship is honestly like walking on air – to truly experience the positive changes in that person is just so rewarding.

And how do you think mentees can benefit from Future Leaders?

In my own experience of being a mentee, it’s about having a person in your corner who’s been through what you’re going through – not someone who’s just been trained in coaching. They’re coming at it armed with knowledge gained from experience.

It’s important to have that person who isn’t your line manager or someone within your organisation because being a leader can be quite a lonely experience. Not having someone to talk to can take its toll and be isolating, from a mentee’s point of view, there are so many benefits to speeding up your learning – often it actually ends up that you learn from your mentor’s mistakes.

What are some of the wider benefits to the sector?

Being in this industry you have to behave as a leader not just within your business but for the entire utilities sector, if there’s an opportunity to help other people across the industry to ensure the sector gets better as a whole, then you should take it.

If we can raise the standards within the industry and better the experience that our customers have – that’s got to be our aim to improve the environment that everyone works in. With schemes like this, together we can create future leaders of the utilities sector.