On the shortlist: Lisa Ardley-Price

Lisa Ardley-Price has been shortlisted for the Mentor of the Year Award in recognition of her exceptional commitment to mentoring and advancing inclusion across financial services. A Global Co-Chair of the NatWest Gender Network, Lisa is a visible and intentional leader who champions equity, opportunity and authentic leadership. Her mentoring approach blends empathy, empowerment and challenge — guiding others to find their own solutions and build confidence through action. Mentees describe her as a transformative influence who helps them reframe setbacks as opportunities and turn ambition into achievement. Beyond NatWest, Lisa mentors through WIBF and social mobility programmes, supporting individuals from diverse backgrounds to navigate their careers with clarity and courage. Winner of a Judges’ Award at last year’s WIBF Awards, Lisa continues to use her platform to amplify others’ voices, proving that great leaders lift as they climb and inspire others to do the same.

We caught up with Lisa to find out what she has been up to since her award win last year.

You won a Judges’ Award at last year’s WIBF Awards, how did that recognition impact you, and what reflections have you carried forward since the ceremony?

It was such a surprise and honour to win that award, especially alongside Daria Preston who is truly remarkable. The most immediate outcome was connecting the two of us and we’ve been able to support each other and our organisations on various events and initiatives since. It’s also wonderful to be recognised for the work I do to support gender inclusivity within our industry and beyond and the award has provided a valuable platform to share about the pioneering work we are doing at NatWest to create a workplace where everyone can thrive regardless of gender.

You mentor across so many spaces – within NatWest, through WIBF, and externally with organisations focused on social mobility. How do you adapt your mentoring approach for different settings and individuals?

It starts with understanding who your mentee is and what they want out of the mentoring, whether that’s personal, career or business orientated. As I’m also a certified coach I tend to adopt more of a coaching style when mentoring so I’m often asking open, incisive questions and listening rather than giving advice. This approach does make the mentee work a bit harder but its more empowering and sustainable as they come up with their own solutions that align with their goals and values and they learn to cultivate their own growth mindset.

Your mentees describe you as someone who turns rejection into inspiration and challenges into opportunities. How do you help people reframe setbacks in such a constructive way?

Starting my career in a highly competitive profession (Legal) meant that I had to face and become comfortable with rejection early on. It’s taught me not to take it personally but rather to take on any feedback as a valuable opportunity to learn and develop in order to get me closer to what is meant for me. I’m a great believer that if you stay focussed on your north star and keep pushing onwards, what’s meant for you won’t pass you by. This means being brave, taking risks and yes, potentially facing some rejection, but inertia is far more dangerous and staying comfortable won’t help you to reach ambitious goals.

Many people say they don’t feel ‘experienced enough’ to become a mentor. What would you say to encourage them to share what they know, even if they’re earlier in their career?

Everyone gains something through mentoring and everyone can mentor, regardless of what level you are, we all have a unique perspective to share with one another. Mentoring is also a great way to start building leadership skills as you gain a better understanding of others, supporting good listening, empathy and inclusivity. Some of our most successful mentoring programmes at NatWest are reciprocal programmes where both the colleagues have both a mentor and mentee role, exchanging perspectives and ideas and learning from one another to foster understanding and diversity of thought.

Mentoring often benefits both sides. What have you learned from your mentees that has shaped the way you lead or show up in your own career?

We have a reciprocal mentoring programme at NatWest called MentorHer which is also shortlisted and my mentor through that programme is continuously reminding me to step outside my comfort zone and ask for what I want in my career. Too often we stay quiet about our ambitions due to lack of confidence, imposter syndrome or fear of failure but committing out loud to your ambitions drives ownership and accountability and will potentially earn you support and sponsorship that will get you to where you want to be. I also have a number of mentees, including the one who nominated me for this award, whose growth mindset and positive outlook never fail to inspire me and I always come away from our conversations feeling more energised and motivated; we lift each other.

Looking to the future, what role do you think mentoring can play in building more diverse and inclusive leadership in financial services?

The best leaders are ones that are curious and understand their people and mentoring is a fantastic way to learn about others from backgrounds and experiences different to your own as well as supporting new pathways to leadership. We need a variety of voices at the table; exchanging ideas with people who are different to you drives diversity of thought and creativity and ultimately supports effective problem solving, innovation and business success. In a world that is becoming increasingly more technological and digitised it’s essential to innovate to keep pace with change but more importantly, we need to keep the human at the heart of everything we do.

To find out more about mentoring for WIBF, click here.