As you might have already guessed from the title, today is National Mentoring Day. As well as mentoring others, I have been fortunate to have benefitted from a wide range of mentors during my career so I thought I’d take the opportunity to share my most recent experience of a 12-month business mentoring programme run by Be the Business.

Backed by the government, the Be the Business Mentoring programme matches leaders from small and medium-sized businesses with executives from some of the UK’s leading companies including Accenture, Amazon, John Lewis, Lloyds and Siemens.

Over 12 months, I had monthly Zoom meetings with my mentor to discuss business challenges and strategies for long-term business improvement.

I gained a lot from the experience. I particularly valued the following:

• Having a sounding board. Being a business owner can sometimes be a lonely experience. It was really valuable to talk through key issues and challenges.
• Having someone who questioned my thinking and gently challenged my assumptions. It was really useful to explore different perspectives.
• Being accountable for taking action.  It’s much harder to do nothing when you have voiced your decisions to another.
• Affirmation of my skills and abilities. Like many, I can be self-limiting in my beliefs at time. Receiving feedback from my mentor helped build my confidence.

As a result, I was able to step outside my comfort zone and identify new possibilities. We had an amazing year for growth in the business. We expanded the team, developed our services and had a lot of fun.

You can hear me talk about my experience here:

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