Mentoring for growth – learning through collaboration
The benefits of mentoring to the individuals being mentored (mentees) are well-chronicled. Being able to learn from the wisdom of more experienced peers, for free, and apply that wisdom to our own organisations, is an opportunity few of us would turn down. But mentors too derive considerable individual and business benefits from mentoring – though this side of the equation is rarely discussed.
The benefits to mentors are equally significant, and include personal development, particularly around soft skills; a wider network; greater confidence; satisfaction from ‘giving something back’; and contributing to their employers’ reputation with stakeholders. They are also more aware of the ecosystem in which they and SMEs operate: the health of big companies depends on the health of their smaller suppliers.
Read this People Management Insight expert report, produced in partnership with be the business, to learn more about one of the UK's most ambitious mentoring programme for the leaders of small and medium-sized businesses.
It’s in everyone’s interest to see UK businesses thriving. A thriving business economy takes high performance, strong profits and profitability. But behind every business success story of tomorrow, lies an SME of today. Government figures show the UK lagging behind its peers in productivity. Our ambitious mentoring programme was established to bring successful, accomplished business leaders like yours, together with SMEs to share, inspire and listen, to provide best in class practice and insight, and ultimately enable SME leaders to successfully grow their businesses. Since April 2018, we’ve been running mentoring programmes with leading firms on board including GSK, Accenture and KPMG. Having seen the positive impact they have already made, we now plan to establish a further 1000 mentor relationships by March 2020.
