Pro-bono Mentoring Services
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Why seek a Mentor? Becoming a CEO seems to many highly capable senior managers in the voluntary sector as no more than ‘the next logical step’. You’ve been a head of a function in your organisation for some time, a member of the management team, responsible for managing people, initiating change and getting things done. You’ve been a great success in this and are ready to take on the top job. It will be tough, you acknowledge, but many do not fully recognise the fundamental nature of the step change that this new appointment involves. In reality, you will never have experienced the unique mix of relentless demands on your energy, resourcefulness and resilience that being a CEO demands. |
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These periods are particularly acute for new appointees to the job. Training and development before appointment is usually non-existent and the successful appointee often finds himself or herself essentially ‘going it alone’, with great expectations of them from the Boards which appoint them and from the staff they will lead. The pressure can be telling. The financial well-being of the organisation is paramount, but the new CEO is also keenly aware of the potential consequences for people and for morale should the wrong decisions be made. Yet the biggest impact on any organisation’s effectiveness is the action of the leader. There is no hiding place, often little time to ponder, and frequently the need to hold faith with decisions that are unpopular and whose positive impact will take time to emerge. This is why mentoring, particularly of new chief executives, but also helpful to those with experience, can be so beneficial. Applied at a time of greatest strain, the confidence that can be built using a skilled and experienced sounding board can be the difference between success and failure, both for the incumbent and the organisation. This is why we, as a modern Livery Company in the City of London, take practical steps to help CEOs of qualifying organisations, by offering free of charge mentoring. Modern in its new arrival on the Livery scene, and modern in the profession that it represents, but taking the name bestowed by ancient tradition, The Worshipful Company of Management Consultants, applies its professional skills to help charities become more effective. Our Company’s mentoring support is offered individually by our members, who are all experienced management consultants, and who between them have worked across most sectors and have a very wide range of expertise. |