Renee Hunt, Director Sky Group Digital: 3 Golden Tips on Developing a Successful Mentoring Relationship

Renee Hunt, Director Sky Group Digital: 3 Golden Tips on Developing a Successful Mentoring Relationship

Renee Hunt, Director Sky Group Digital

Renee has over 30 years of experience in technology, starting her career in the US Army Signal Corps, then moving into the private sector after getting her MBA from the University of Texas, with a specialism in IT.

She is very active in Sky’s Women in Tech initiative and is committed to helping to bring more women ‘back into tech’ and making the industry more inclusive overall. An active developer of people, Renee prides herself on having led and mentored some of the finest people in the business.

Griselda Togobo from FL sat down with Renee for an open discussion; here is the advice Renee has for developing a successful mentoring relationship.

What are your personal requirements for working with mentees?

My first requirement is you read my favourite book – Shonda Rhimes, The Year Of Yes. What I love about the book is that it is a memoir of one year of her life, which was already at the top of her career, already at the top of everything. And then she did one change the previous year, and it changed her whole life. Wow. And it’s a phenomenal book. I read it in two days, and I’m not a fast reader, but I just could not put it down.

How to seek the right mentor?

It is important to have mentors. However, sometimes they do not know you are their mentee, but that’s okay! You can learn from somebody and have a mentoring relationship, without having the awkward “can you be my mentor?” conversation. Or you can ask them in a casual way. I do not think it needs to be that formal.

What is the difference between Mentoring and Sponsorship?

Sponsoring happens inside your organisation. And mentoring can happen inside and outside. I highly recommend seeking mentorship outside of your organisation, as you should be able to tell your mentor anything without putting them in a weird conflict position.

If you are in an organisation, I highly recommend you get yourself a sponsor. And a sponsor should be one to two grades higher than you maximum. Because if they are too high in the organisation, they are not in the right rooms to actually have some influence. You want a sponsor who is influential, who is in the right rooms, to speak your name and to be looking out for an opportunity for you. And to hear the feedback about you to be able to fill in for what your line manager may or may not be telling you.

ABOUT RENEE HUNT:

Renee Hunt is the Director of Group Digital Platforms for Sky. The senior leader for Sky in Leeds, directly responsible for 200 digital engineers based at Sky Leeds Dock, building and supporting mobile, web and other digital products for all of Sky’s territories in Europe and beyond.

Renee has over 30 years of experience in technology, starting her career in the US Army Signal Corps, then moving into the private sector after getting her MBA from the University of Texas, with a specialism in IT.

She has delivered technology programmes all over the world in a variety of industries, including: Media, Telecoms, Finance, Defence and the Public Sector. She is mad for: Fashion, Boston Terriers, ballet, cinema, code-breaking & WWII, memorising song lyrics and world travel.

She is very active in Sky’s Women in Tech initiative and is committed to helping to bring more women ‘back into tech’ and making the industry to more inclusive overall. An active developer of people, prides herself having led and/or mentored some of the finest people in the business.

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