A. Introduction
This project was designed to establish the effectiveness of WCoMC’S Mentoring Scheme over the past four years, including the satisfaction of the charity CEOs with their Mentoring. The report on the project shows that it has performed very well against accepted criteria, as well as identifying some areas for improvement in the future. In addition, as a research report, it has extended our understanding of the Mentoring process and of how Mentoring works. This means that the Charities Committee of WCoMC is now in a position to put in place a Mentoring Strategy for the future – the next four years.

This Project Report is full of positive feedback for the WCoMC Mentoring Scheme, though we attempted to hear every piece of feedback and assess the data we collected as they stood, whether positive or negative. On balance there were few negative comments, though the few that were made give us an opportunity to make improvements to an already strong and effective Scheme.

B. Executive Summary
1. Background to Mentoring Scheme In October 2001, the Worshipful Company of Management Consultants set up its Mentoring Scheme offering the pro bono services of 52 of its members as Mentors to 80 Chief Executives of small charities based in London. Since its inception, the majority of referrals to the Scheme have come through acevo (Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations) and The Centre for Charity Effectiveness.

2. Follow Up Project Sample In order to prepare Mentors for the future and ensure they are meeting the needs of all those receiving Mentoring, a project was set up to obtain systematic feedback on the value of this scheme to individual Chief Executives of small charities. To do this a random sample of 10 Chief Executives who have received Mentoring were selected. The CEOs on average had over 6 years in their current position. Since becoming a CEO, they had received little training/development apart from the Mentoring they received. None of them knew about Mentoring before they started their assignment with their WCoMC Mentor
The random sample of 10 CEOs represents a 13% sample of those CEOs Mentored in the Company Scheme over the past four years, as well as a 22% sample of the 46 members of WCoMC are currently actively engaged in Mentoring :

Active Company Mentors: 46
Mentors in Reserve: 6
Total Company Mentors: 52

The study of this sample is designed to give insight into the overall success of the Scheme for the 80 CEOs who have received Mentoring over the past four years.

3. Charity CEO Satisfaction with Mentoring The bottom line is that the CEOs were very satisfied with the Mentoring they had received. CEOs recorded an astonishing average level of 82% satisfaction with their Mentoring experience as a whole. This is an unusually high level of satisfaction and an excellent result for any scheme. What is particularly significant is that these are AVERAGE satisfaction levels across the whole sample, which means that everyone had a very positive experience and considered their Mentoring as a highly significant and valued experience. When asked if there was anything negative about their experience, none of the CEOs felt there was anything negative about their Mentoring experience.

All the CEOs rated the effectiveness of their Mentoring meetings as high. They quickly established with their Mentor what their overall agenda would be and by all accounts, the CEOs worked on them hard. Outcomes delivered were acknowledged as reinforcing their determination to move on further. All the CEOs said they enjoyed and felt stretched by the Mentoring they received.

The CEOs said the best things that came out of their Mentoring were:

STRATEGIC FOCUS
“Gave me a more strategic and objective perspective.”
“Helped me convert my organisations’ mission.”
“Helped me see the bigger picture.”
“Clarified the way forward for me and the organisation.”

PEOPLE SKILLS
“Helped me improve my people management skills.”
“Help me change my workings with my Board and direct reports for the better.”
“Gave me skill and support to deal with tough staff issues.”

SUPPORT
“Was a huge support and builder of my confidence.”
“Gave me moral support when I needed it.”
“It was really valuable to know my Mentor was there if needed.”

NEUTRAL OBSERVER
“I valued my Mentor as a neutral observer I could talk with.”
“Demonstrated the value of an external, independent thinking observer.”

CHALLENGE
“My Mentor really challenged me.”
“While challenging me, my Mentor was always constructive and non-judgemental.”

INSIGHT
“Gave me flashes of insight.”
“Showed me (helpfully Ed.) the obvious things I hadn’t spotted.”
“Provided me with a series of original and creative ideas that made a difference.”

SKILLS BUILDING
“Helped my problem solving.”
“Encouraged me to engage in learning.”

MOMENTUM
“Encouraged me to go on.”
The CEOs were very satisfied with their Mentoring experience as the satisfaction data and quotations illustrate. The 82% satisfaction levels among CEOs with their Mentoring have a lot to do with both the high quality of their Mentors’ professional skill and their mentoring experience and capability.

3. What Changed for CEOs as the result of Mentoring? Here is what CEOs said had changed as a result of Mentoring, which was concentrated in three areas:

BEHAVIOUR
“It made me more confident in my People Management.”
“I now am more reflective before I act.”
“I have learned the benefits of being more detached.”
“I have learned to take a higher profile and be more visible.”
“I have learnt to fight harder to deliver on strategic issues.”
“I have learned how to open doors to access information networks and professional skills.”

DEALING WITH CHANGE
“I have become successful in changing the direction of the organisation and the roles of people within it.”
“I have improved my whole approach to change.”
“I am now able to be effective as a catalyst for change in the organisation.”

SPECIFIC BENEFITS
“It helped me improve my working relationships with the Board of Trustees.”
“I have identified the critical need for new senior staff and am in the market to recruit them.”
“It has improved my whole approach to dealing with staff matters.”
“I am now able to identify and solve work problems.”
“I have now started to re-skill myself.”

The CEOs felt Mentoring had created considerable change in their life; changing their behaviour, equipping them to deal more effectively with change itself in their organisation as well as benefiting them in many people related ways.

4. The Roles of Mentors The CEOs identified that their Mentors operated in multiple roles through the course of their 18 months of Mentoring (av.). One common characteristic of these roles is their reflective nature, their ability (e.g. as a Sounding Board or Critical Friend), to reflect through accurate feedback how the Mentor Partner really is doing and through Wise Counsel and the voice of a Critical Friend to open out possible undiscovered avenues or approaches for the future. The CEOs saw their Mentors as:
• Wise Counsel and Sounding Board
• Empathetic Listener and Voice of Experience
• Critical Friend and Provider of access to Networks

5. Most Valued Qualities of Mentors
The CEOs reported that they valued different qualities in their Mentors. The qualities identified could apply to the Mentor at any time, in any role. These were the Qualities of a person who:
• You could Trust and was Honest with me
• Was not Patronising and had my Interests at Heart
• Believed in Me and was always Accessible
• Was Encouraging, Supportive and Non Judgemental

The CEOs were clear not only what qualities the valued, but that they valued many of them together, (rather like a mosaic or patchwork quilt of varied qualities) which though in aggregate were common to Mentors, in combination were unique to each Mentor.

6. Balance between short term problem solving and seeking strategic solutions. The CEOs found benefit both personally and professionally from their Mentoring, which helped them deal both with critical short term and longer term strategic issues. Once more immediate issues had been resolved, CEOs were more able to ‘stand back’ and work on strategic plans for the future. Personal issues became a priority as the Mentoring relationship matured and this continued through to the end of the relationship, though at a lower intensity.

7. Enabled the Mentors to ‘give’ and ‘gain’. All of the CEOs felt that their Mentor gained as well from their Mentoring relationship, particularly enjoying in their achievements as their relationship matured. This was a clear demonstration that WCoMC Mentors have both given and gained from this most successful Mentoring Scheme.

8. Valuable information on Mentoring Assignments The following information will be valuable in the induction and training of future Mentors and creating realistic expectations for Mentor Partners.
Meeting Duration: On average this was around an hour and three quarters in length. Very few meetings, unless with an unusually complex agenda, went beyond two hours.

Frequency of Meetings: An interval of around six weeks between each meeting with a Mentor was typical.
Duration of Mentoring Assignment: The average duration of a mentoring assignment was 18 months.
Total number of Mentoring Sessions: Taking into account holiday periods, this meant that over 18 months CEOs had approx 9 sessions during a typical length Mentoring Assignment.

Cancellations and Postponements: During a Mentoring assignment on average both the Mentor and CEO reported postponing a meeting once each, but never cancelling one.

Meeting Agenda: Everyone commented on the importance of each meeting having an agenda in advance of the next meeting. This was typically an informal agenda, but with sufficient structure and clarity to give both a good idea of what they would be working on together next time they met.

Location of meetings: This came out as a very important issue in the eyes of the CEOs. Negotiation occurred between CEOs and their Mentor on this and eventually they chose a location which was neutral and convenient, (a diverse types of location were chosen).

Timing of meetings: Getting the timing of meetings right during the day (or evening) was seen as an important issue for both CEO and Mentor.

9. Improvements to Mentoring The findings of the project show just how successful the WCoMC Mentoring Scheme has been over the past four years, but this does not mean that improvements cannot be made (and these will be addressed specifically in the project recommendations). CEOs themselves were asked specifically how the Scheme could be improved and all had observations and proposals on this subject.

10. The way ahead The Mentor Follow Up Project gives the Charities Committee an opportunity to review the past four years performance of the Mentoring Scheme and establish a Strategy for future Mentoring in WCoMC. The Mentoring Scheme has been very successful; now we have an opportunity to build on the past and strengthen the Scheme in the future.

C. Project Recommendations

1) Recommend we publicise the findings of this report through the next Company Mentoring Meeting ( successor to the 3rd February 2005 ‘Wellington Meeting’) scheduled for early February in 2006 to be held at Cass. All Company members will be invited, including specifically the current pool of 52 Active Company Mentors (47+5 reserves), members who have attended Master Classes (26) and all new members.

2) Recommend we seek to increase the number of Active Company Mentors by
asking all 78 Potential Company Mentors if they will register either:

• (if they are current Mentors) how close they are to completing their current Mentoring Assignment and future interest in new Assignments.
• (for those new to Mentoring having attended a Master Class), interest in starting a future Mentoring Assignment.

3) Recommend we share with the Centre for Charity Effectiveness the findings of this report and participate with the Centre in developing WCoMC’s future Mentoring Strategy.

4) Recommend we share with acevo the findings of this report and offer to publicise it via their Newsletter and possible future conferences. Review with acevo:

• arrangements for publicity of the Mentoring Scheme.
• arrangements for referral to WCoMC and take this process over.
• potential for a briefing pack (based on findings) on what Mentoring can offer – creating realistic expectations.

5) Recommend we review our own referral process (based on findings) and Company Mentor briefing material, so that we can ourselves create realistic expectations among our Mentors (new and old).

6) Recommend we put in place a Mentor Support process for all active Mentoring Assignments:

• For the WCoMC Mentoring Manager to make contact in each of the three phases of a Mentoring Assignment. Consider value of having a Mentoring Log for Members, to document progress.
• For the ’Buddy Group’ to act as counsellors (provide support and counsel) to Mentors when either they or the Mentoring Manager becomes aware of difficulties arising on which advice would be helpful. Propose each Mentor is assigned a member of the Buddy Group to whom they may turn for support.

7) Recommend that in the light of project findings we revise and strengthen Mentor Master Classes, emphasising new findings, as well as:

• Recommend all new Mentors to attend Master Classes before they start Mentoring (while continuing to encourage active Mentors who have not attended a Master Class, currently 19 of them, to attend a Master Class).
• Offer further Master Classes in 2006 (probably 1 or 2 depending on demand).
• Pilot Master Class II Workshops in 2006 (probably offering 1 or 2 depending on demand) for those who have attended Master Class I and are actively Mentoring, with the objective to improve Mentoring capability through role plays (based on project findings) of typical problems Mentors encounter and ways to resolve them through skill and understanding – a Mentoring Clinic design.

( Recommendations Reviewed and Adopted by Charities Committee, 24/11/05 )