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Mentoring Monthly – May 2012

Mentoring Monthly for everyone supporting, signed up for, and interested in Get Mentoring.

Welcome to May’s edition of Mentoring Monthly, the newsletter bringing you news and case studies from the Get Mentoring scheme.

This month we’ve got more great case studies from mentors who have completed the Get Mentoring training, including Laura Howard, winner of the ‘IAB Small Business Mentor of the Year 2012’ Award.

We’ve also, amongst other news, included information about a new finance guide for women business owners and free courses available from the National Careers Service.

As always, if you know of anyone that would make a great mentor, please help us spread the word by forward ing this newsletter to them or by using the ‘Tell a Friend’ tool on the Get Mentoring homepage.

Cyd Smith
Earlier this month, Laura Howard, won the International Association of Bookkeepers (IAB) ‘Small Business Mentor of the year 2012’ Award for making ‘an outstanding contribution as a volunteer business mentor over the past year’. more

CydSmith
A mentor’s story: After leaving her job as a chartered accountant to have children, Cyd Smith was tempted back into part-time employment by a former client. When that position came to an end Cyd was encouraged to start up her own business. Twenty years later it is still going strong and Cyd is able to support others and they start and grow their businesses. more

A Mentor’s Story: Colette Harrison from Durham has already experienced the benefits of mentoring, developing an ongoing business relationship that has lasted over a decade in the process. The Get Mentoring scheme has offered her a great opportunity to do more of the same, and meet a range of interesting people in the process. more

Looking for a mentor? Visit Mentorsme, the UK’s free online gateway aimed at connecting new and growing businesses with mentoring services. The site offers micro, small and medium-sized enterprises access to a list of quality-assured business mentoring organisations across Britain.

A Mentor’s Story: Sheryl Miller has had a high flying career career in blue chip companies for over 20 years. She now has a new venture and is a champion for many other women aiming to achieve their goals. Find out what has inspired Sheryl to add volunteer mentoring to her busy work and personal life. more

A mentor’s story: Paul Etheridge has been impressed by the calibre of mentors coming through the Get Mentoring scheme. The former business planner and management consultant who now runs GoldenTime Toys found a real benefit in being able to tailor the distance learning course to his needs. more

Three young entrepreneurs
Learning for free
If your mentee is under 24 and interested in improving their skills, some courses are offered for free because they are paid for by the Government.
Find out more about the skills and support offered by the National Careers Service.

The Business Show
A big hello to everyone we met at the Business Startup show at the Excel this month. It was great joining the Business in You stand at the show. We’re happy to welcome many new mentors on board and to meet several mentees too, who, as well as being signposted to Mentorsme, will be invited to receive free membership of the IoEE so that they can meet new mentors online. If you have completed the Get Mentoring training activate your free IoEE membership by using your unique certificate number and signing up here.

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If you haven’t completed the free training, sign up for one of 12 workshops running around the UK over the next month or one of the many more workshops being run by our delivery partners.

WomeninBusiness
In response to demand from visitors to the Prowess 2.0 website, the Women’s Business Finance Guide has been produced to help women and their advisers make the most of the funding options available. Download it from the site as an ebook.

Mentoring in a minute – our monthly taster of one of the principles taught through the scheme.
How successfully you are able to understand and support your mentees will depend largely on your questioning skills. Types of questions explored by the course are: Closed (‘Do you feel good today?’), Open (‘How are you feeling?’), Follow up (‘Could you explain that?’), Take a guess (What do you think will happen?’), Hypothetical (If you lost your job tomorrow what would you do?’), Either/or (‘Would you either set up a business or find another job’?), Reflective questions (‘Tell me if I’ve got this right’) and Find the Priority (‘Which area would you like to deal with first?’). Phew!

If you want to develop your questioning skills and haven’t completed the course yet, register for the free training here.

This Month, SFEDI’s Executive Chair, Ruth Lowbridge, wrote a blog piece for Business 2012 about the benefits of mentoring for mentors. Read it here – ‘Take a break, Get Mentoring’

For a major source of information on the support available for businesses in the UK visit Business in You, which has links to the new Start-up Loans, Growth Accelerator and a competition run with The Guardian to win a tailored package of support worth 15k.