Management Development Programme
Pioneering a unique training experience
Our unique management development programme has been successfully implemented at John Lewis and Legal and General. We train managers to become mentors to individuals in the local community who need support, advice and encouragement to start their own business. These individuals include offenders, ex-offenders, long term unemployed, people with mental and physical disabilities and lone parents.
We train managers to be effective mentors and match them with an individual we see could be supported by them. We then support them to make a real and long-lasting difference to that person and consequently to the local community. This unique and innovative programme provides valuable training for managers in all areas of team management, which results in increased staff retention, higher productivity, enhanced leadership and mentoring skills and provides tangible corporate social responsibility outputs.
We train managers to be effective mentors and match them with an individual we see could be supported by them. We then support them to make a real and long-lasting difference to that person and consequently to the local community. This unique and innovative programme provides valuable training for managers in all areas of team management, which results in increased staff retention, higher productivity, enhanced leadership and mentoring skills and provides tangible corporate social responsibility outputs.
This is not your typical volunteering opportunity and is the first of it's kind in the UK
Our programme is completely unique and opens people to new challenges
and possibilities that they would not normally face in a corporate setting
Our programme is completely unique and opens people to new challenges
and possibilities that they would not normally face in a corporate setting
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How it works
Our programme provides an unfamiliar context of work and the real possibility to make a difference in someone’s life, which increases drive and motivation. We provide expert coaching in communication which includes self-reflection about preconceived beliefs and values, non-verbal communication, active listening, influencing skills, conflict resolution and feedback skills. This leads to greatly enhanced management, supervisory and interpersonal skills. The programme also raises awareness of the abilities and potential of a marginalised population which is shown to improve the attitude of managers.
Managers learn the technical skills to become effective mentors. They are able to use these new skills in the workplace to manage more effectively and improve performance. The aim of the programme is to encourage them to become change orientated and give them the rounded skills to enhance their ability to work flexibly. They will also be challenged to deal with a client group that will be unfamiliar to them. They will be encouraged to build rapport and empathy with their mentee in a different environment than the workplace and if successful, they will make a significant difference to that persons life. If an ex-offender sets up a successful business, they are less likely to re-offend and can contribute to society financially and socially, whilst the manager will discover how powerful it can be to help people who really need it.
Corporate social responsibility with a difference
100% of all the last cohort working with John Lewis are now either in employment or self-employment.
Your organisation could have a significant impact on a new mentee group too
100% of all the last cohort working with John Lewis are now either in employment or self-employment.
Your organisation could have a significant impact on a new mentee group too
The extensive benefits to your company
- Increased staff retention
- Higher productivity of staff
- Enhanced leadership and mentoring skills
- Tangible corporate social responsibility outputs
- Become champions in an area that has received little support from the corporate world
- Improved corporate image
- Potential for positive publicity
"This programme provides high quality training/experiential learning which equips mentors not only for mentoring but also brings those skills back in-house, which adds value and informs their day job. Development opportunity for mid manager level – those with aspirations for next step, and/or for those who’ve been at L&G a while and are looking to enrich their experience and feel they want a new challenge."
FB, Senior Manager, Legal & General, Hove
The empowering benefits to your managers
Due to the different nature of the mentees, extremely heightened communication, rapport building and influencing skills will be required to establish a relationship of mutual respect and trust. This can be picked up specifically within the mentor workshop and include some key material on language patterns, influencing skills and active listening which will also be invaluable back in the workplace. Personal work tailored to specific individuals can be tackled during the follow up one to one.
The mentees will typically have lower confidence and lower self-esteem which can transfer into not expecting too much when setting up and promoting their business ideas. This situation will definitely challenge the mentors in a way they would not normally come across in a corporate environment. They will have to work hard at raising the bar for the individuals they work with, which should have a psychologically beneficial impact on how they perceive and then deal with their team members back in the workplace.
Mentors will have to research, fact find and open themselves up to different situations and problem solving and look further afield to find innovative solutions. We have seen that this broadens their approach to corporate work and that they transfer some of their new approaches back in to the workplace.
The mentees will typically have lower confidence and lower self-esteem which can transfer into not expecting too much when setting up and promoting their business ideas. This situation will definitely challenge the mentors in a way they would not normally come across in a corporate environment. They will have to work hard at raising the bar for the individuals they work with, which should have a psychologically beneficial impact on how they perceive and then deal with their team members back in the workplace.
Mentors will have to research, fact find and open themselves up to different situations and problem solving and look further afield to find innovative solutions. We have seen that this broadens their approach to corporate work and that they transfer some of their new approaches back in to the workplace.
"I think the training was a real eye opener, it gave me a whole different perspective on mentoring/coaching. I have also become a bit more confident when dealing with day to day situations. I have done a Train the Trainer course which was based on general corporate training, but I think the detail you provided in your course and presentation about non corporate mentoring/training will greatly improve my skills, there is a big difference between the two.
I think your presentation style was really good, you kept us all engaged over the two days, you brought out the best in us from day 1. I think the real life examples you gave helped us to build a better picture in our minds of what we are about to undertake. You made us see things about ourselves that otherwise we may not have or just took for granted."
QR, John Lewis, Milton Keynes
What is included
Self-employment training for mentees (4-5 per session) including:
An introduction to self-employment
An introduction to self-employment
- Introductions
- Pros and cons of self-employment
- Legal status for your company
- How to plan for success
- Introduction to marketing and sales
- Start-up funding for your business
- Resources and tips
- Self-employment questions and answers
- Action plans and wrap up
Business planning
- Introductions
- Why you need a business plan
- How to structure a business plan
- What needs to be in a business plan
- Resources and tips
- Business planning questions and answers
- Action plans and wrap up
Sales and marketing
- Introductions
- Difference between sales and marketing
- Why is market research important
- How to do market research
- Unique selling point and elevator pitch
- Marketing tactics
- Introduction to digital marketing
- Resources and tips
- Marketing and sales questions and answers
- Action plans and wrap up
Mentoring training (4-5 per session)
A two day programme which will fully train all volunteer mentors on
the following:
Psychometric testing
A two day programme which will fully train all volunteer mentors on
the following:
- Why mentor?
- What is mentoring AND what it isn’t!
- Benefits of mentoring
- Roles and responsibilities of a mentor
- Getting started – context, vision and reality
- Building trust and rapport
- The mentor process – what to do and when
- How the relationship develops
- Questioning and listening techniques
- Giving feedback
- Ethics and when to refer issues
- Enterprise coaching
- 2 trainers on the day
Psychometric testing
- Thomas Kilman Conflict Handling Tool
- Online assessment (includes online questionnaire and downloadable report)
Facilitation
Evaluation
- Inductions
- Overview of current cohort and business ideas
- Nominated mentor manager per mentee
- Mentor pack
- Dedicated time upfront for mentor and mentee
- Access to mentor manager during process (phone, email etc)
- Support to include any tools and techniques tailored to the mentor (business coaching, conflict handling, challenging situations, giving and receiving feedback, listening skills, exquisite questioning)
- Matching of mentors and mentees
- Target setting
Evaluation
- Final evaluation review meeting with the mentor manager at the end of the 3 months and feedback from the mentee
- Project implementation review after the 3 month period
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"Benna and Phil have been a bedrock of support and encouragement well beyond the call of duty in my cunning plan to start up my own business. I am indebted to them and thank them from the bottom of my heart and any aspiring entrepreneur would be fortunate indeed to have them in their corner." PL, Mentee Legal & General Brighton |
"For everyone out there still thinking about becoming a part of this (both mentor and mentees), I highly recommend that you give it a try as words alone cannot communicate the benefits to be gained from this programme. You will get accurate feedback from Benna, and feel both in control during the sessions and supported when it is needed from Benna. Thumbs up Enterprise Exchange and thank you Legal & General." VO, Mentor Legal & General Hove |
"Speaking for myself, everything is working out great, and even better than I had anticipated. I have been given a tremendous amount of useful advice from Enterprise Exchange and the John Lewis Mentoring Team. In terms of acting on the advice given going forward, I am confident that I will get back on track in no time at all." AH, Mentee John Lewis Milton Keynes |
