Mentoring schemes participation

In 1995, BT s Consumer Division underwent an internal change program called. . for a better life. One aspect of the change program involved working with four charities that already had mentoring schemes to provide opportunities for BT employees to participate as mentors in business-to-community schemes. These four schemes were ... 

The scheme is run in conjunction with the Advancement of Women Task Force (AWTF), a group dedicated to the progress of female managers. It is co-ordinated by Kristen Nostrand, P G Marketing Director, and a small team of mentors. As in most traditional mentoring schemes, mentors and mentees are matched on the basis of compatibility in terms of expectations, needs, personality and locations. The structure of the scheme is highly flexible so that the participants can respond to their own individual needs. A central coordination team ensures that the Mentor Up pairs are monitored and changed if the relationships do not prove to be successful. 

At the heart of every mentoring scheme are the mentoring relationships and, given the groundwork we have done so far, we are now ready to examine these on a deeper level. This chapter is the first of three that wiU consider the mentoring relationship in greater detail. Aspects such as the dynamics, the participants and the mentoring process will be examined over the course of these. 

If possible, assessing the evaluation data of previous mentoring schemes/mentoring relationships what did participants want more of and less of What specific skill and knowledge gaps did the majority of mentors/mentees/relationship supervisors display ... 

Initially there were different workshops for mentors and mentees, but they were soon asked to attend joint ones, although certain aspects were still discussed separately. Running joint workshops proved much more successful and popular with participants, because they felt that they better understood how the scheme actually worked. Furthermore, once mentors and mentees started to attend the same workshops, it was possible to commence with the first step of matching during these sessions. This involved providing mentees with a pen picture of each mentor as well as a preferences form, and asking them, at the end of the workshop, to indicate both their top three favourites and those mentors they would not perceive as suitable at all. 

There is at present no formal evaluation of the mentoring, but anecdotal evidence repeatedly confirms that the scheme has been highly successful - a statement that one is prepared to accept simply by considering the sheer number of volunteer participants since its start several years ago globally, there are hundreds of mentors and thousands of mentees. So attraction has never been a problem, and management support continues to grow. Furthermore, Lindy points out that ... 

Potential mentors are selected from the ranks of female junior and middle management. The mentees were initially those in upper management, but the scheme has been extended to include male managers at middle and junior management level with equally positive results. In the first instance mentoring participation was voluntary, but it is now expected that all eligible male senior level and female junior level managers will take part. 

The program was championed by Lars Akeson, the HR Director of the Division, and its global implementation was co-ordinated by Malin Boultwood, Manager of Competence and Culture. Boultwood is still responsible for managing the scheme, which means that she matches mentors and mentees, organizes the training, and carries out evaluations. The scheme is funded partially by the participants departments and partially from the central HR budget. 

Training mentors and mentees jointly on some aspects enables them to get to know each other, and this enhanced familiarity will aid the matching process. As the participants in Megginson and Stokes scheme said, it helps them to understand much better what the scheme is all about. 

The scope of the scheme - how many people are involved in running the scheme Who are these people and what roles do they occupy How many participants (mentors and mentees) will be involved in the scheme Who else will have an impact on the scheme (e.g. line managers and sponsors) ... 

All in all, evaluation is necessary in the same way that health check-ups are useful. They prevent small issues from becoming life threatening to the whole scheme, and serve to motivate participants to maintain healthy mentoring relationships. 

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