Employer Mentoring of Apprentices
Name
Date
This was produced as part of the Apprenticeship Staff Support Programme, which was commissioned and funded by The Education and Training Foundation
Timing Breaks
Rooms Refreshments
Phones Facilities
Administration
Introductions
Name
Background
Current mentoring role?
Personal objective(s)
“I am probably the only person in the room who….”
Agenda
Apprenticeship contextRole of the mentorSkills of the mentorStages in the processRoles and responsibilitiesSMART targets
Setting the Scene
Be yourself
Contribute
Offer feedback … constructively
Be respectful
Something should be different tomorrow!
Apprenticeships
Provider to insert their specific Apprenticeship context
What is the role of a mentor?
The mentor role
As a mentor, you pass on valuable skills, knowledge and insights to your mentee to help them develop personally and in their career.
Definition
"Mentoring is to support and encourage people to manage their own learning in order that they may maximise their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and become the person they want to be."
Eric Parsloe, The Oxford School of Coaching & Mentoring
Skills of a mentor
What do you think are the essential skills of a mentor?
Skills of a Mentor
PositivityEmpatheticMotivationalConfidentHonestQuestioningActive listening Noticingknowledgeable
CaringObservingTarget drivenSkilled at feedbackTime managerStructuredAuthoritativeApproachable Open
Stages in the mentoring process
4. Ending
3. Progress monitoring
2. Goal setting
1. Getting to know you
Exercise – getting to know youWrite a letter to your mentee. Include:
◦A little about you, your background, work history and your experience
◦What you hope to bring to mentoring◦What you will commit to the mentoring
relationship◦Your hopes and expectations of
mentoring
Effective listening
In pairs, one person talks about a hobby, holiday or passion of theirs.
The other person has the role of listening.
How do we ACTIVELY listen?
How do we ACTIVELY listen?
Maintain eye contact
Encourage the speaker
Check understanding / summarise
Appropriate body language
Exercise
Draw a house
Explicitness is....
...defining, and specifying in explicit terms, what is required, so that the person has a clear mental picture of the actions, behaviour or results that are required.
Draw a house
Add 25 points for each windowAdd 100 points if you included curtainsTake off 50 points for each chimney Add 75 points for a pathwayAdd 100 points for each treeTake off 25 points for animals
Explicitness
The Onion Model
SMART Targets
SMART targets help develop explicitness in goal setting.
SMART stands for:S Specific
M Measurable
A Achievable
R Realistic
T Time-bound
Creating SMART targets
Work in pairs to generate 2-3 SMART targets that may be relevant to an Apprentice.
Share your examples with the room and ask for feedback on ways they may be made even more SMART
Exercise 2 - SMART targets
How could you suggest SMARTening the following target:
Apprentice X is expected to make telephone contact with 300 employers.
Feedback exerciseIn small groups discuss how feedback is
best delivered.
Agree the key elements of effective feedback
Prepare to feedback to the full group
What is Feedback?
Information about reactions to a product, a person’s performance of a task, etc. which is used as a basis for improvement.
Oxford English Dictionary
Considerations when providing feedbackBe clear and honestRemain positiveBe objective – using factsEnsure the comments are constructiveFeedback should be two-wayIt may need to be formally followed upDiscuss alternatives / adviceMotivational – positive / developmental /
positiveConsider an appropriate environment
Preparing to Give Feedback
When preparing to give feedback, it can be useful to consider the conversation from three different perspectives, in order to ensure that:
You are clear about the key messages you want / need to get across
You have considered beforehand the possible reactions / questions of the recipient, how your feedback can be worded in a way that is least likely to provoke a difficult reaction, and how you might handle possible reactions / questions
The bigger picture – the context of the conversation, what are the longer-term implications of the conversation, and what is the overall purpose of the feedback conversation
Feedback exercise
In groups of three allocate roles:◦Observer◦Mentor◦Mentee
Practice providing effective feedback to the Apprentice based on their first month in your department
Kolb Experiential Learning Cycle
The Seven Learning StylesVisual
Aural
Verbal
Physical
Logical
Social
Solitary
prefer using pictures, images, and spatial understanding
prefer using sound and music
prefer using words, both in speech and writing
prefer using your body, hands and sense of touch
prefer using logic, reasoning and systems
prefer to learn in groups or with other people
prefer to work alone and use self-study
What could be barriers to mentoring success?
In groups list on the left margin of a piece of flipchart the potential barriers to a successful mentoring relationship
Move to the flipchart of a different group and say how you may overcome each of the barriers
Case study
Your apprentice suddenly starts being about 20 minutes late for work every day, having been an excellent time-keeper up to that point.
Honestly - what would you do?
Case study
When gently persuaded, the apprentice revealed that his moped had broken and he couldn’t afford to fix it until pay-day, added to the fact that his Mum (single parent) was ill and so couldn’t drive him in.
What would you do now?
What support is available?
Your Learning ProviderMentoring HandbookLinked-in group – ‘Apprentice Mentors’Websites – specific supportFurther training
Thank you!
Evaluation sheets
Next steps
Any questions?
Top Related