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Lastminute.co.uk co-founder Brent Huberman unveiled plans in May 2016 to create 200 new British technology startups over the next five years. He claimed to have rewritten the rulebook for building successful firms, and that current incubators were unfit for purpose.
There are too many accelerators and incubators,” he said. Theres a bubble and everyone has decided to hop on the bandwagon without adding value.
Mentorship of those firms will thus be key if any are to survive in the long-term. But more crucially, those employers in turn will need to use mentoring to tackle human resources challenges increasing employee retention, enabling company succession plans, improving productivity, etc that may spring up during the growing phase.
This is something all SMEs should be looking to do not just those under Hubermans care and Tillison Consulting managing director Mark Tillison can’t help but sing its praises. He said: Mentoring helps us quickly make new recruits part of the team. More importantly, it enables their work to have a valuable, and rapid, impact. Mentoring should go beyond rigid training , and help to embed not just technical skills, but also a firms culture and work ethic.
That being said, Tilliman brings up the old saying, Rome wasnt built in a day . While there may be staff naturally inclined to be quick to pick up the ropes, a dash of patience may be needed for the rest.
“We took many years to hone and refine our mentoring and development programme so as to bring out the best in staff,” he said. Today, the fruits of that investment are a flexible structure that sets clear outcomes and timescales, but also allows mentors and mentees to focus on quick wins early on. That maximises mentees engagement and confidence, as well as returns for the business.
Its a tool to be used for far more than just training staff
More and more, companies are creating mentoring programmes exactly for the reason Tilliman has hinted at: culture. From happier staff to increased productivity, the benefits of a workplace culture that actively supports and organises such mentoring schemes are abundant. In fact, Hannah Duraid, director of epicly-named Great Escape Games, suggested mentoring was one of the biggest parts of creating corporate culture.
The main challenge is ensuring staff provide a fun environment while maintaining a professional air,” she explained. We have brought in appraisal systems and other policies and procedures to give staff direction on that front.
But theres more to creating such culture than asking someone to copy and paste a templated mindset, Duraid said, adding: I have just appointed one of our crew members to a supervisor role. This is quite a drastic change, so we are mentoring him through it. Constant discussion and feedback are key. I have explained how Ive handled my own responsibilities, and how Ive nurtured respect and a positive work ethic among our staff. However, I have also stressed that it’s important for him to develop his own style, rather than copy someone else.
Read on to find out how to prepare the next generation.
Preparing the next generation
As for Simon Schnieders, founder of Blue Array, he mentors young Brits via the National Apprenticeship scheme which found much success given that the former chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, was aiming for 3m apprenticeships by 2020. And his tactic is to give mentees a heavy dose of reality as quickly as possible.
Its a paid, 12-month programme,” he said, like a typical employment arrangement, with a contract and probationary period. That gives both them and us time to assess whether or not it’s the right thing for them to do.
And despite what one might think and he claimed to have come across numerous nay-sayers once you look past the initial six months you gain a return in investment. He explained: I aim to get a return on investment 12 to 18 months down the line. Having young people with little or no commercial experience is great, because I can train them in what works for the business, rather than working with ideas brought in from other firms that may not fit.
There is method to his madness! Schnieders selects mentees from a mental maturity point of view: I carry out Skype interviews where I might go through about ten or 15 people to see if theyre right for us. We use messaging app Slack in the office, which resonates with that particular age group, so we make sure that all our communications flow through it, and that our mentees read them all. That helps them absorb the language and the tone you use to communicate in a business.
He added that one of the biggest benefits of being able to monitor emails was that as he saw mentees gin communication skills, he would slowly but surely introduce them to clients. For example, One young man I mentored couldnt properly look me in the eye at first; now he accompanies me to meetings with C-suite staff and presents with real confidence,” he said.
A quick guide for employers looking to set up a scheme
Joy Maitland, managing director of inemmo Leadership Development Solutions, unveiled a few tips for those looking to mentor staff.
(1) There are numerous reasons why establishing a mentoring programme would be a good idea, from enabling you to recognise and reward staff to encouraging excellence. But at the end of the day, you should have a clear understanding what it is you as a business leader, really want to gain from starting a scheme. This will enable you to better steer your programme towards your companys goals.
(2) Acknowledge that successful schemes can only be built with thorough planning, and can only grow through unanimous commitment,” she said. If time frames, actions and required resources, including cost, are not factored in, the programme could fizzle out.
(3) She further pointed out: Ensure that mentors and mentees understand their roles in the scheme, and that there is a process of continuous feedback. Flexibility should be built in, allowing individuals to determine the best fit and adjust to each others personalities.
(4) To harness ongoing support for your program, measuring mentoring success is key. Conducting a top-down goal analysis should include corporate objectives, key performance indicators, targets and segments.
Maitland also suggested that mentors should be as carefully selected as mentees. Never assume that because someone is experienced in business that they will automatically be great at mentoring,” she explained. Mentors need to understand the plan, the process, what is expected of them and even how to build rapport at the start of the relationship.
Establishing a workplace mentoring scheme can help employees develop their skills and confidence at work. Here are five ways to get it right from the outset.
