March 2023 – Amanda Rendle

Our successful mentoring programme has been running for many years and we have some fantastic success stories.  To celebrate some of our successful mentoring partnerships we are resuming our Mentor of the Month initiative. If you would like to suggest a mentor who you have met via the WIBF Programme please email us at [email protected].

This month we are awarding Amanda Rendle of Tesco Bank. Amanda is the Bank’s Chair of Remuneration Committee and an Independent Non-Executive Director at Tesco bank.  She has over 30 years of marketing experience in both agencies and clients across numerous sectors including: financial services, professional service and FMCG. Amanda began her career at Barclays Bank before moving to Limbo (Bartle Bogle Hegarty). She also set up a consultancy recognising the opportunity to focus on customer experience. She joined HSBC in the UK in 2000, moving to a European role in 2006 and global role in 2011. Amanda joined the Tesco Bank Board in December 2016.

Amanda mentored Marion Barlow who joined RBC Brewin Dolphin in 2006 as a Trainee Investment Manager and was promoted Divisional Director in the Edinburgh office in January 2023. She manages and constructs portfolios for a range of private clients including individuals, trusts and SIPPS.

We caught up with both Amanda and Marion to find out more about their experience.

How long have you been involved with WIBF and what prompted you to join the mentoring programme?

Amanda: I have been mentoring with WIBF for the last 2.5 years and thoroughly enjoy the experience. I have always been really willing to help people along their path, as many people helped me throughout my career. And still do. There is undoubtedly a certain amount of pride when you see their success, in whatever form that takes. I still have mentees that I have worked with for over 10 years and will continue to do so if they think I am helping.

Marion: I joined WIBF in 2019 and joined the mentor scheme in 2021. After having had some internal mentors at work, I wanted someone external to bounce ideas off and I lacked some confidence which I wanted to deal with. I also wanted help with preparation for potentially going for promotion in October 2021.

I also wanted someone experienced and in a senior role to run my ideas past and to chat through work ambitions. Amanda was great, honest in her opinions, giving me ideas on how to promote myself, gain confidence and aim to remove the self-doubt I had. When it came to my interview in 2021 for promotion, she gave me good and honest opinions on my application and interview presentation.

I did not get promotion in 2021 but went through the process in 2022 and achieved it this time round and I felt having Amanda there in the process helped me become a director before actually getting the title. Amanda and I met online once a month and we extended over 6 months until my interview.

As a mentor what do you get out of the process?

Amanda: You get the satisfaction of seeing someone achieve their goal. That can be work related or personal. But also, in just sometimes giving the individual confidence or belief. Helping individuals to realise they all have something unique to offer is important to me. Diversity at its core is about the way you think and how that is a strength. If organisations just have the same faces and DNA around the table poor decisions are made.

Helping people to realise they are fabulous the way they are and they have huge amounts to offer because of that is hopefully what I can bring. So often organisations forget to look at the individual. Being a sounding board for someone and a safe space is important to me. I hope this helped Marion to get her well-deserved promotion.

Have you been mentored yourself and what was that experience like?

Amanda: I have been mentored many times. By the way I sometimes ignored my mentors, as they are not always right, but what they did was give me a point of view to work from to form my own view. Some of my mentors have been pivotal in my career especially in terms of giving me belief in myself.

What advice do you have for anyone considering joining the WIBF mentoring programme?

Marion: It is a great scheme to meet people and to help each other. There are lots of mentors and if you feel from the first meeting it is not right, do not be scared to say so, it must be the right match for you both to get something from it. As I mentor too, I always say this when meeting mentees for the first time.

Amanda: Being a mentor is a joy. Not every mentee will want to follow your thought process, but it doesn’t matter. If you can be a good listener, be trusted, gently honest, be generous with insights and experience and tell stories to help, then I think you could be a perfect mentor.

Congratulations to Amanda for being a great mentor- if this has inspired you to join our mentoring programme, you can become a mentor whether you are a WIBF member or not. Find out more here.

And, congratulations to Marion on her promotion and thank you for sharing your experiences If you are a WIBF member and would like a mentor to help guide you , you can find out more and sign up here.