A new peer support initiative designed to connect women across the mortgage industry for one-off conversations about career, business and workplace challenges has launched, headed by Mortgage Advice Bureau’s Kate Fuller (pictured).
The Sounding Board will give women the opportunity to speak confidentially with someone who has relevant experience when they need an outside perspective, without committing to a formal mentoring programme.
The initiative is based around a deliberately simple format, where those taking part bring one situation to a conversation, lasting up to one hour.
Rather than matching participants with long-term mentors, The Sounding Board will draw on a network of volunteers from across the mortgage industry who are willing to make themselves available for individual conversations.
Those seeking support could use the service to discuss issues such as becoming self-employed, changing employer, moving into a different part of the mortgage market, starting a brokerage or dealing with the challenges of leadership.
Fuller launched the initiative via her Women in Mortgages UK Facebook group, which has over 2,700 members, and is now recruiting the founding group of women who will make up The Sounding Board, with volunteers sought from across broking, lending, networks, leadership, business ownership and self-employment.
Volunteers will be able to specify the subjects they are comfortable discussing and how frequently they are willing to take part, whether that is once a month, every few months or only a couple of times each year.
There will be no requirement to maintain contact following the initial conversation and volunteers will be able to pause their involvement at any time.
Explaining the thinking behind the initiative, Fuller said that while structured mentoring and development programmes have an important role to play, there are situations where people need something much more immediate and informal.
In an introductory post, Fuller commented: “Sometimes you don’t need a mentor. […] Sometimes you just need to say: ‘Can I talk this through with someone who actually gets it?’. Sometimes the person you need to speak to isn’t ‘an expert’. It’s just someone who’s been there before.”
Fuller commented: “I just see so many women struggling with decisions - some of them reach out to me, but honestly, I can’t help them all, and often I don’t have the experience to help them with their question. I wanted to create a place where they can get this support without judgement or fear, but make it as low time-consuming for the volunteer as possible, as I know how precious all our time is. I am extremely proud of this, but I do need to thank ChatGPT, as I couldn’t have built the background without it!”
