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?