The Business Community Partnership

Skills Exchange and Mentoring Programme

Improve Skills Influence Change Increase Optimism

“Mentoring others is good because it puts people with expertise in touch with people who need it. As a major employer in the South East, working with BCP, Legal & General provides opportunities to its employees to work with individuals from the local community to uncover the potential of talented people. For our employees we need to understand how effectively they can laterally apply work based skills in the outside world as part of their development. The community wins, the individual wins and the employee wins”

Frances Borrer Legal & General, CSR Manager, Savings

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5 Ways you can get involved 5 Directions

5 Ways to get involved 1 Commit to engagement and contact BCP 2 Inspirational Leadership workshop and introduction to the mentoring programme and BCP Skills Exchange, 3 Open Networking and Win-Win Challenge event to find out more in an informal meeting 4 Book an appointment and we will come and meet you to discuss the options best for you 5 Book a lunch or breakfast and learn session at your offices

Direction One: Skills Exchange supporting Direction Two, Three and Five – Providing short planned volunteering to support the mentoring programme eg o Workshops o Work shadowing,

o Interview role-play

o World of work

Direction Five – Bespoke in-house mentoring –

employee to employee bespoke mentor training and ongoing support. o Supporting

someone learn

new skills or

progress in

their career

o New

employee/app

rentice

o Supporting

retirement

planning

Direction Two: Skills Exchange supporting businesses, charities, social enterprises– Providing short planned volunteer support to assist with learning and sustainability o Workshops o Surgeries o Bespoke pro-bono matching for a specific project

Direction Three: Team Building Challenges – Employee Volunteers supporting engaged in: A community transformation activity eg: o Premises o External area o Community site

o School play area

o After school club

An organisation with a review, eg: o Business strategy

o Management o Marketing, PR o Developing trading income/

company

Direction Four – Mentoring Programme – 2

days mentoring training and ongoing fortnightly support, matching for example with someone who is:

o Young people

o Lone Parent

o Long term

unemployed

o Care leaver

o Student

o BAOH Client

o Retiree

o Over 50

o Business

support

o Support and

mentoring

between

managers

01273 810276 or info@bhbcp.org.uk www.bhbcp.org.uk

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Return on Your Investment Measuring the Return on your Investment as a result of engaging in BCP’s employee volunteer programmes is important to us. All our programmes will be monitored and evaluated. For small businesses and individuals we will provide feedback on individual learning and overall BCP reports and news updates. For those businesses with account management packages we will provide quarterly reports detailing: 1 Employee volunteers – the knowledge and skills shared and gained as well as changes in attitudes towards employer; learning taken back into the workplace; satisfaction and intention to remain in work; those seeking promotion; and value of the contribution made. 2 Mentees and organisations supported through skills exchange – the outcomes for the mentee, the skill and knowledge gained; the journey travelled eg further education, work placement, apprenticeship or a job; learning outcomes. According to American research mentoring programmes can have a significant impact on staff retention of up to 77% increase. The Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) in a 2007 survey found that the average cost of filling a vacancy per employee is £4,333, increasing to £7,750 when organisations are also calculating the associated labour turnover costs. The same

CIPD report also found:

o Attracting the people you want to recruit is cited by 80% of survey participants as the main resourcing objective for investing in employer branding

o 57% say they are also keen to improve the external perceptions of the organisation

o 41% are hoping to differentiate themselves from the competition.

o The company’s mission, culture and values are noted as the main elements of the employer brand to be communicated (85%).

o Many employers also use their employer brand to promote their career and development opportunities (71%).

Being involved in BCP’s Win-Win Challenge will support raising your profile through regular press releases; case studies on our website and for you to promote internally; annual awards; celebration events; and impact reports demonstrating your contribution to the local community.Thus achieving savings on marketing and PR budgets.

There is no downside to community involvement. The Win-Win Challenge encourages meaningful community involvement through mentoring and other employee volunteering skills exchange activities. This process raises the skills of employees as well as the person or organisation supported. Benefits include:

o Greater workforce engagement o Ability to maintain talent and recruit new

talent o Increased productivity o Ongoing and positive public relations o Building a positive brand image with

stakeholders and brand loyalty o Cost effective training and experiential

learning opportunities

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Networking and Information Events Getting involved is easy - come along to one of our open events where you will meet the team and existing employee volunteers and in an informal way find out what is right for you. Events are held monthly throughout Brighton and Hove, Crawley/Gatwick area, East Sussex and West Sussex. Check out our website for

dates and booking www.bhbcp.org.uk. Inspirational Leadership Inspirational Leadership and introduction to mentoring. This session is stand-alone as a leadership course but is also intended to introduce the concepts of mentoring as a management tool. Participants may chose to move onto the next stage or be involved in other employee volunteering activities. Lunch and Learn at your offices We can organise lunch and learn or breakfast meetings at your premises providing a presentation to your team and discuss what might work for your business or have a one-to-one meeting at a time to suit you. Contact us direct To make an appointment or book on an event visit our website www.bhbcp.org.uk Tel: 01273 810276 and speak to one of the team or email: info@bhbcp.org.uk

How to get involved

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“The benefits of Skills Exchange to our company and staff are far-reaching. It leads to new commissions and offers great staff training. Most importantly it gives us a great sense of achievement knowing that local people will benefit from our help”

Giles Ings, R I B A Architects

Direction One – Skills Exchange Employee Volunteers Planned Volunteering to Support the Mentoring Programme Employee volunteers provide short one-off planned volunteering opportunities supporting the mentoring programme and access to learning and skill development for mentees for example:

o Work shadowing days o Introduction to the World of Work o Interview role play o Money management o Presentations about your job

This programme is directly linked to the Mentoring Programme and is intended to provide mentees with opportunities to meet people in real work environments, break down barriers and fears of different roles, workplace cultures and behaviours.

Mentor Programme Community Challenges We will also be supporting mentees to train in the delivery of community-based challenges. Alongside this we will require employee volunteers to support the process in addition to their mentors. These challenges will provide mentees with practical experience that they can add to their CVs.

Direction One and Two Skills Exchange and Team Building Challenges

Direction Two – Skills Exchange Employee Volunteers a) Supporting charities, social enterprises and business Providing skills exchange through sharing your skills and expertise with another individual or organisation can be a rewarding experience and supports the development of personal learning and building professional expertise. What we do:

o Bespoke brokerage to match individual needs with the right skills to address specific issues

o Employee volunteers providing surgeries, workshops or training sessions in an area of expertise eg: o Management and leadership o Business development o Legal issues o Strategy and Business planning o Disability Discrimination o Sales and marketing

This is suitable for individuals from all sectors who want to dedicate a short amount time, managed, matched and administered by BCP. For example:

o A day of 1 hour surgeries o Become part of a panel of experts around

a specific issue o Support a one-off bespoke project o Provide a workshop or training event.

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“What an amazing transformation in one day as if a magic wand had been waved. It was a real community spirit that changed a derelict, uneven site into a useable and sustainable eco-friendly green space. All our staff, volunteers and users of our centre can plan and use the area now and for generations to come”.

Brighton Deaf Centre

Direction Three Team Building Challenges

Direction Three - Skills Exchange Team building events can take on many shapes and support staff development and training in many ways. They can range from small teams of 3-4 employee volunteers to 50 plus. BCP has experience of organising challenges form many different organisations and levels of complexity from small groups to 200 volunteers.

Events can be linked to specific training as part of the activity. With all events we support a staff member to take on responsibility for team leading the event. BCP provides brokerage, administration, support, training and liaison for example:

o Team of volunteers undertaking community transformational event either relating to external environment or premises

o Team of volunteers with specific skills supporting an organisational review

o Team of volunteers supporting rebranding, marketing and communications

BCP can source your challenge to suit your company’s requirements and interests. Our service includes:

o Brokerage o Site visits o Risk Assessment o Identifying resources o Managing expectation between partners o Team leader briefings and ongoing

support o Case Study o Evaluation o Press Releases

Community and Voluntary Organisations If you are a community or voluntary organisation with a project that might be suitable for a team of employee volunteers or mentees and mentors to complete please contact us to discuss your needs. BCP will visit you to discuss your project, clarify the brief and advise you on whether we are able to broker a team of volunteers. BCP undertakes all the administration and liaison for you with the business concerned. For larger charities we can provide brokerage for all your corporate volunteering needs and promote your organisation and projects on our website. We can work with you to plan your annual programme and promote employee volunteering opportunities to the public and business sectors. For further information visit our website www.bhbcp.org.uk or contact one of the team on 01273 810276

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Directions Four and Five BCP’s Mentoring Programmes

What is Mentoring?

Mentors are: "many things - a positive role model, an adviser, an experienced professional. Somebody from outside a person's immediate circle taking a special interest can make an enormous difference." (Excellence in Schools, 1997)

Mentoring is a developmental partnership through which one person shares knowledge, skills, information and perspective to foster the personal and professional growth of someone else. We all have a need for insight that is outside of our normal life and educational experience. The power of mentoring is that it creates a one-of-a-kind opportunity for collaboration, goal achievement and problem solving. Mentoring is ideal for team leaders, new and emerging managers or for experienced managers who want to enhance their leadership, management and communication skills and gain experience in the community and outside of the workplace. Commitment required from Employee Volunteer Mentors

o To attend all training sessions o To attend mentor/mentee matching

meeting o Undertake CRB check o To attend some of the fortnightly meetings

o To commit to: o Meeting your mentee weekly in the

first month o Set up a programme of meetings,

telephone or email contact for the following 2-3 months

o 3 month review and ongoing support as required up to 6 months

o Abide by BCP’s Code of Ethical Conduct.

o To provide feedback and complete records of each mentoring engagement to ensure BCP can:

o Support development o Make links to other support needs o Meet monitoring and impact

measurement requirements o Be involved in case studies.

Matching Process A key to successful mentor and mentee relationships is the matching process. Clear criteria, skills, and aspirations of the mentee and mentor are considered when matching. Matching is done in a group meeting at the end of the training programme. This is a facilitated session and allows mentors and mentees to be introduced and begin a productive relationship in a managed environment with support on hand to help ensure the first meeting is successful.

A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope

inside yourself

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Visit BCP’s website to download our guide to Corporate Responsibility in Age Management and Workforce Development

www.bhbcp.org.uk

Direction Four – Mentoring to support people who are:

o New graduates/college leavers o New retirees seeking new direction

including self employment, setting up their own businesses or social enterprise

o Young People o Care leavers o Lone Parents o Long term unemployed through

redundancy, ill health or disability

BCP’s mentoring programme is flexible to meet both the mentor and mentees’ needs. Mentors will be matched to someone who needs support to identify their goals and how to achieve them in relation to gaining work, training, employment, volunteering or setting up their own business or social enterprise.

Mentor Training -

Training consists of 3 half days plus a half-day facilitated matching meeting. Employee Volunteer mentors will receive high quality training in mentoring skills that will enable mentors to provide support as a well as take learning back into their workplace for example:

o Listening actively o Clear communication o Identifying goals o Building trust o Understanding current reality o Working in and managing a one-to-one

relationship o Encouraging and inspiring someone to set

goals and objectives o Support to enable someone to achieve

their goals and objectives o Providing corrective feedback o Managing risks o Understanding diversity o Opening up ideas, opportunities and being

flexible o Instructing and developing capabilities o Managing expectations and boundaries

Ongoing Support Peer support and opportunities to continue learning through fortnightly themed meetings plus:

o Quarterly peer support sessions with Direction 2 Mentors

o Regular feedback and discussion and online forum

o Support to manage endings o Support in identifying other resources to

support/refer your mentee to: o Training o Work placements o Apprenticeships o Information about Skills Exchange

Employee Volunteer activities Full details of our trainers are available on our website www.bhbcp.org.uk. Direction Five – Bespoke in-house mentoring – employee-to-employee. This programme is designed to meet an individual company’s needs to support new talent, developing staff and supporting workforce planning. John McGurk, adviser with the learning and talent department for the CIPD, said: "It is not surprising that so many are turning to coaching and mentoring to improve performance. When budgets are tightened, it is a relatively inexpensive way to develop staff and it also has the benefit of being tailored to an organisation's specific needs. As well as this, coaching has great scope to improve employee engagement, empower people and boost morale at a time of great uncertainty.” BCP can support your company develop a bespoke mentoring programme to meet your needs. We have a bank of BCP Associates with the skills and expertise who provide a proportion of their time to BCP at reduced costs to meet their personal Corporate Responsibility and Skills Exchange goals – another Win-Win for all. Our mentoring training and ongoing support can facilitate.

o Supporting someone learn new skills or progress in their career

o Supporting a new employee/apprentice o Supporting retirement planning

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Mentees The aim of Win-Win Challenge is to support 500 individuals of all ages, who lack confidence, skills and experience to be inspired and supported to gain work or training, volunteering, or the help and guidance they need to achieve their goals. Mentees will have access to:

o Introduction to making the most out of mentoring

o Ongoing mentee support through access to Skills Exchange activities

o Sign posting to opportunities in Further Education, work placements, apprenticeships and other activities

o Access to Skills Exchange free support through workshops and surgeries for those who wish to move to:

o Self-employment o Set up a social enterprise or new

business Mentee Community Challenges For mentees who have little work experience or have been out of the work place for a long time we will be working with our charity and business partners to set up a programme of community based transformational challenges. Mentees will receive workshops and support in:

o Team working/Team leading o Project planning o Communication and facilitation skills

Their mentors as well as BCP staff to deliver the community challenge enabling them to put their learning into practice and gaining valuable workplace skills will also support Mentees. All sessions will be evaluated and mentees will receive certificates and testimonials to use on CVs and job applications. Celebrating Achievements Regular celebration events and award of certificates will form an important part of the mentor and mentee journey alongside measuring learning and success of each engagement. Commitment from Mentees

o Attend induction sessions o Attend training as appropriate for each

mentee o Attend matching meetings o Agreeing a programme of meetings,

telephone or email contact for the following 2-3 months

o 3-month review and ongoing support as required to be agreed and new programme of activity

‘Before I wouldn’t have gone for the job I now have. I could not have seen myself

doing it”

Directions Four and Five Mentees

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Skills Exchange Case Study “Without the professional input we received through The Business Community Partnership, I fear we may have become insolvent within a year,” says Chris Brown from Grassroots Training, a Brighton-based community interest company providing training and consultancy to support a community model of suicide prevention. Grassroots are specialists in suicide prevention and deliver training that saves lives. The organisation believes that suicide is a community health problem and that suicide can be prevented and works to educate and train to

help achieve these aims. As well as the ‘Make it Happen’ session, Grassroots were also able to access surgeries on business planning and accountancy advice. “We had been experiencing some cash-flow issues, but through the surgeries we were given specific advice that gave us a better understanding of our organisation’s difficulties and provided us with practical solutions. The Business Community Partnership process has resulted in practical actions that will help us to improve our financial monitoring and reporting and put us on the path to achieving our goals as a Social Enterprise.”

Challenge Case Study Maximus at The Sussex Deaf Association The Sussex Deaf Association supports those who are profoundly Deaf throughout the Sussex area. The organization has been running since 1905 and although it supports hundreds of service users each year, it struggles to find funding to maintain the services. For many of the service users, the ability to communicate and make friends with other people is one of the most important benefits that the Sussex Deaf Association can offer. A recent event with BCP saw the transformation of their garden from a dull and lifeless plot of land into a vibrant area, where clients can now plant, grow, learn and communicate.

The 12 volunteers from The Maximus SSK Leadership Team began their work at 9 am and spent the day, painting, building walls and raised beds, fixing fences and laying woodchip and compost. In order to maximise on time, the team split into two groups, one to garden and one to build. The gardening team weeded and cleared the garden of rubbish and the building team undertook the challenge of building a gate, repairing a fence, building a dry stone wall, a gravel garden and a compost bin!

In a matter of hours the garden had been transformed into a welcoming and useful space that the service users can now develop themselves. In order to further support the community all the materials were

purchased and obtained from local social enterprises. The wood was purchased from the Wood Recycling Project, who were impressed with the challenge and therefore pre-cut all the wood and delivered it for free - they even donated a wooden planter. The woodchip and bark was donated by a community farm on the outskirts of Brighton, who were only too happy to help. All the organic garden waste was put into the newly built compost bin to ensure nothing was unused.

Tricia Mitchell, the manager of the centre said “What an amazing transformation in one day as if a magic wand had been waived. It was a real community spirit that changed a

derelict, uneven site into a useable and sustainable eco-friendly green space. All our staff, volunteers and users of our centre can plan and use the area now and in future generations to come. Everyone at the deaf centre is completely stunned, amazed, excited and thankful at the transformation of the space in a day. A fantastic group of hero’s and heroine’s of which we thank from the bottom of our hearts as this could never been achieved without their help and commitment. Grateful thanks to Maximus and The Business Community Partnership for arranging this event. Lastly, for doing a fantastic job and making such a difference to our community, thank you all.”

Aimee Izzard the team leader said, “It was a total team effort and with the sun shining the project was soon achieved. With lots of fun and banter it was a great

opportunity to be together and have fun whilst being creative”.

Case Studies

”Leading organisations recognise that ”Leading organisations recognise that ”Leading organisations recognise that ”Leading organisations recognise that profit at the expense of environmental or profit at the expense of environmental or profit at the expense of environmental or profit at the expense of environmental or social good is ultimately not sustainable” social good is ultimately not sustainable” social good is ultimately not sustainable” social good is ultimately not sustainable”

IBM Institute for Business Value CSRIBM Institute for Business Value CSRIBM Institute for Business Value CSRIBM Institute for Business Value CSR

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Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in

the right direction

The Business Community Partnership as part of its employment programmes runs a Mentoring service for those who face barriers into employment. Part of this service is providing training and support to business volunteers to mentor long term unemployed on their journey back into work, and to bring those skills back into their work place. This is a win-win situation for all, as the businesses get their staff trained in motivating others, problem solving and solution focus, building confidence and professional development, setting and achieving goals and transferring knowledge. The client gets to move in the direction that they desire with support from a business mentor who is skilled and committed to share their skills and experience for their benefit. The mentor worked for Family Investments and said of the training "The mentoring training made me see another way of approaching things, being able to take a step back, not making assumptions about people, mentoring is like delivering one to one training tailored to the individual. I have found the whole experience really rewarding, seeing her confidence grow and her gaining employment has been the best." Her mentee said before the mentoring “I felt stuck in a rut and was unsure about what direction I wanted to take. I had low self-esteem and had lost a lot of confidence. I needed help with my career path. The mentoring sessions have helped me tremendously, made me believe in my abilities again. My mentor’s support and advice has been fantastic. I have had lots of interest which has led to interviews and now a full time job with Legal & General.” I am now employed as a Platform Analyst at Legal & General. I am now passing on my skills to others and whilst working at Legal & General have trained to become a mentor. The Business Community Partnerships mentoring programme has not only seen people gain employment, but also seen people venture into further education and take up voluntary roles.

Family Investments and Legal & General Mentoring Case Study

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The Mentee Journey

I want to improve my prospects of getting a

job but don’t know how to go about it.

I would like to feel more confident about applying for work placement, training or

apprenticeship

I don’t know what opportunities exist or what would be expected of me – I have never been

inside an office, hotel or restaurant

I don’t really know what employers are looking

for or what sort of jobs I could do

I want to be more economically independent

and I need help to manage budgets

I don’t know how to write a CV or fill in a job application form

I find going into large workplace intimidating I don’t know what is expected of me, how I

should dress or behave

I would like a mentor to help me build my confidence and help me see what opportunities exist so that I can be more

independent

If I could spend a day in a workplace seeing what someone does I would feel more

confident when applying for jobs

A work placement would help me gain more experience and I would have something

current to put on my CV

My mentor has really helped me see my own potential and identify my personal goals I now

feel I can achieve them

The interview role-play was scary to start with but I now feel I know what will be

expected of me

Being mentored has given me new skills, and opened my eyes to opportunities. I now have

the confidence to apply for jobs

Following my work placement I will be starting

an apprenticeship soon I am really excited

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My company has launched a new community-mentoring programme. The experience and

practical training will help me in my career.

I want to get involved in volunteering to put something back into the community; my

company’s scheme will help me do this

I want to train to be a mentor to gain new skills that I can use in the work place as well

as get involved in employee volunteering

I’m not sure mentoring is for me but I would still like to be involved in employee

volunteering

Book into Inspirational Leadership day to find out more about employee volunteering and

mentoring

I’m going to book onto the Mentoring training I’m going to speak with my manager about supporting the mentoring programme by Work Shadowing and offering interview role-play

sessions

Mentoring training has given me more confidence in my communication skills; giving feedback to staff; working with them to set and achieve goals

My boss is really supporting me to seek promotion as they can see how I have grown

since I’ve been mentoring

I’ve been telling all my friends and family what a great place this is to work and how much they contribute to supporting the local

community.

Its so rewarding feeling that I am doing something worthwhile and my employer is

supporting me with time and resources

I had a young person shadow me today I am going to see if I can support them to gain a

work placement through their mentor

Employee Volunteers

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Fees and Charges

The Business Community Partnership provides its services through fees for training and membership. Currently it receives a discretionary grant from Brighton & Hove City Council and pump priming funding from Crawley Borough Council. BAOH is funded through Brighton & Hove Council’s Supporting People contract currently under negotiation for continuation in 2011 and beyond.

Below are details of our fees and charges as at April 2011.

Direction 1 and 2 – Skills Exchange is funded through membership fees – see our website for sliding scale of fees www.bhbcp.org.uk and administration fees for each event.

Direction 3 – Team Building Challenges are priced according to numbers involved and whether the activity is bespoke or a calendarised event. For example a team of 10 for an existing calendar event would cost in the region of £850.

Direction 4 - Mentor Training, matching, fortnightly support, quarterly mentor meetings and individual mentor report, celebration event/awards £500 per person per annum.

Every 10 places bought by businesses BCP will provide 1 place for £200 for a charity which has limited income or limited access to a training budget.

Account Management and Supporter Packages available on request, for example:

£5,000 pa Account Management, BCP Membership, Inspirational Leadership day, 6 mentors trained and supported throughout the programme, skills exchange employee volunteer sessions supported, quarterly reports, case study and promotion of your engagement, awards and celebration events.

£10,000 pa as above for 12 mentors supported, plus 1 community challenge with mentees and mentors to provide experiential learning. Support for 1 charity training place.

Direction Five – available on request and subject to needs of each employer.

Please make a donation in to enable us to provide training and

support for mentees.

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Supporters And Advisory Group

Members

Become a Supporter or to find out more Contact Judith Cousin, CEO Strategic Development Judith@bhbcp.org.uk Charlie Allsebrook, Charlie@bhbcp.org.uk Tel: 01273 810276 Website: www.bhbcp.org.uk

The Business Community Partnership Is a Social Enterprise Registered Address: 1A Isetta Square, 35 New England Street, Brighton, BN1 1GQ Company Limited by Guarantee, number 03941988 Printed by Sussex Business Bureau www.sussexbusinessbureau.co.uk Tel: 01273 447111