Mentoring

Narene Skeffington Burns from SEELB winning the Prince's Trust Mentoring award at the National Awards Ceremony

BEST PRACTICE TIP Best Practice approach to Mentoring is where the business manager seeks the expertise and guidance of someone who is an expert in a particular field or is simply a more experienced manager. Someone who has done it, got the tee shirt and has the battle scars to prove it!

Mentoring should deal with two needs at the same time.

Firstly, the experience should be viewed as a learning opportunity. One of the Aid Agencies has great saying which summarises the approach 'is it better to give people fish or teach them how to fish?' From a leadership and Management development perspective, a manager should emerge from this experience with the skills to deal with particular business problems on an ongoing basis.

Secondly, the learning happens at the same time that real business issues are being addressed. Having access to an experienced manager to provide the benefit of their expertise can be invaluable when faced with problems such as, hiring new staff, exporting for the first time, seeking government assistance, dealing with difficult employees etc.

BEST PRACTICE TIP Find out more about the Bursary Funded Mentoring programmes - Unlocking your Potential   and Impact

Some pre requisites to best practice mentoring

• The manager needs to be motivated to seek Mentoring assistance - Sometimes this comes from a crisis situation but it is important that both parties develop a good working relationship - mutual trust and respect.
  
• Both parties should develop a clear understanding of the issues to be dealt with (business and skills) and their expectations as soon as possible. There should be ongoing reviews of progress and direction.
  
• The hallmark of a good mentor is that they will guide and assist not to do!