From Mentee to Mentor: The Power of Learning, Trust and Sharing Knowledge
At Stream, we're passionate about developing our people. We believe that when you invest in the team you already have, give them opportunities to grow and encourage them to share their knowledge, everyone benefits.
We might not have a formal mentoring programme, but mentoring is very much part of our culture. Every member of the team experiences it when they join us, whether that's through learning from more experienced colleagues, working collaboratively to solve challenges or simply having someone they can turn to for advice and support. As people grow in their roles, they often find themselves becoming the ones sharing that knowledge with others.
To celebrate International Mentoring Day, we sat down with Jessica Cope to hear about her experience at Stream and how her journey has taken her from mentee to mentor.
Where it all began
Jess's mentoring journey didn't begin with a formal meeting or a structured development plan. It began with curiosity, collaboration and a growing interest in understanding how our loyalty platform, LoyaltyStream®, really works.
Working as an Account Manager, Jess was keen to develop her product knowledge. What started with reviewing documentation created by Melanie, sharing feedback and asking questions gradually developed into a much deeper involvement in the product itself. From supporting testing and refining documentation to providing feedback to developers and eventually signing off work, Jess's responsibilities grew alongside her confidence, with Melanie there to guide her throughout.
"It felt very organic," Jess explains. "It wasn't about sitting in a classroom or being told what to do. It was about learning through doing, having conversations and getting feedback along the way."
Rather than simply providing answers, Melanie encouraged Jess to find them herself. If Jess identified something that could be improved, she was encouraged to make the change. If she spotted an issue during testing, she was given the confidence to raise it directly with the development team. It was a gradual, collaborative process that helped Jess build her knowledge, develop her independence and become increasingly involved in shaping the product.
The importance of giving people room to grow
One of the things Jess values most about Melanie's approach is the balance between guidance and independence. Melanie didn't simply tell Jess how something should be done. She encouraged her to think through different possibilities, consider the wider implications and arrive at solutions herself. When a different approach was needed, the conversation was always collaborative, helping Jess understand not just what needed to change, but why.
"Mel has this incredible ability to guide you towards a solution by getting you to consider things you might not have thought about," Jess explains. "You feel like you've worked it out together."
It's an approach that has had a lasting impact. For Jess, one of the biggest lessons has been that good mentoring isn't about holding someone's hand through every task, but equally, it isn't about leaving them to figure everything out alone. It's about knowing when to step in, when to offer guidance and when to give someone the space to learn. That balance takes patience, trust and a genuine investment in another person's development, but it also creates the opportunity for people to build confidence in their own abilities.
Coming full circle
Over time, Jess became increasingly knowledgeable about LoyaltyStream®, to the point where she was asked to take on a new responsibility: helping new starters understand the platform and how to use it in their roles.
When asked how that opportunity made her feel, her response was immediate: "Believed in. Trusted."
For Jess, being asked to mentor others was also a moment of realisation. When you're learning something gradually, it's easy to overlook just how much progress you've made. Knowledge becomes second nature, and the things that once seemed complicated become part of your everyday working life. Being recognised as someone who could now guide others helped Jess appreciate just how far she'd come.
"I hadn't really realised just how much knowledge I'd built up," Jess admits. "When I started, I didn't really understand LoyaltyStream®. Now I'm someone people come to with questions, and I can answer them."
It's a lovely example of how mentoring can build confidence, not just through the support someone receives, but through recognising their own development and the value they can bring to others. What began as an opportunity to learn had evolved into an opportunity to lead, support and share expertise with colleagues across the business.
Passing on what you've learnt
Today, Jess plays an important role in helping new colleagues find their feet at Stream, and her own mentoring experience has shaped the way she approaches it. Rather than overwhelming someone with everything there is to know about LoyaltyStream®, she focuses on understanding what they need for their particular role. After all, what an Account Manager needs to know about the platform might be very different from someone working in another area of the business.
By tailoring her approach, Jess helps make learning relevant, manageable and practical, giving colleagues the confidence to apply their knowledge rather than simply absorb information. It's an approach that reflects the guidance she received from Melanie, with an emphasis on supporting people to become independent and confident in their own abilities.
"Seeing someone understand the product, recognise what it can do and then have the confidence to go away and use it themselves is really rewarding."
Mentoring others has also given Jess a new appreciation of the knowledge she's developed and the importance of sharing it in a way that works for someone else. As she puts it, "Don't take for granted the information that you have and that they don't have."
It's a simple but valuable reminder that what feels obvious to someone with experience can be completely new to someone else. Taking the time to explain, encourage and support someone through that learning process can make all the difference, particularly when they're finding their feet in a new role or learning a new system.
Mentoring is part of how we grow at Stream
Jess's story is just one example of something we see across the business every day. At Stream, we believe that developing our people isn't just about formal training courses or structured development plans. It's about creating an environment where people feel comfortable asking questions, sharing ideas, learning from one another and taking on new challenges. It's about recognising the knowledge and experience within our team and creating opportunities for that expertise to be passed on, whilst giving people the trust and encouragement to grow into responsibilities they might not initially have imagined taking on.
Mentoring doesn't always need a formal title or programme to make a meaningful difference. Sometimes it starts with someone taking the time to explain something, encouraging a colleague to try something new or simply asking, "Have you thought about doing it this way?" Those everyday conversations, shared experiences and moments of encouragement can have a lasting impact on someone's confidence, development and career.
And sometimes, as Jess has shown, those moments of support can become a journey from being the person asking the questions to being the person others turn to for answers.
This International Mentoring Day, we're thanking Jess, Melanie and everyone across Stream who takes the time to share their knowledge, encourage their colleagues and help one another grow. Because when we invest in our people, we're not just developing individual skills. We're building a stronger, more knowledgeable and more confident team.