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BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT www.images-magazine.com 26 images APRIL 2020 ■ HMRC has launched an online customer forum. Users of the new Community Forums are able to view general queries about tax and benefits, as well as interact with other forum users. By registering, users can also ask their own questions on the forum, which will be answered by HMRC experts. www.community.hmrc.gov.uk ■ A new ERC report, The Northern Powerhouse Growth Dashboard, found that Greater Manchester’s start-up rate was among the highest in the UK (58 per 10,000 people). Other parts of the north-west also have healthy start-up rates, but it’s a different story east of the Pennines, with the north-east having the lowest rate – 19 per 10,000. www.enterpriseresearch.ac.uk How can mentoring help me and my business? M entoring is one of the single most effective ways for an individual to develop in their career. It is regularly used to help individuals with self-development and career progression. What is mentoring? Mentoring is the act of one individual sharing knowledge, skills and experience with others to help them to develop and grow. That’s it. And it is because it is so broad that it is so powerful and becoming increasingly popular in the working world. Some of the most successful professionals are both mentors and mentored (often referred to as ‘mentees’). Individuals like Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Jobs, Barack Obama and Elizabeth Taylor have all either been mentors or mentees in their careers – often both. Mentoring is flexible and while there is a wide range of fantastic guidelines to help individuals with mentoring, it is ultimately up to each individual and partnership as to how they wish to engage with the mentoring process. Mentors and mentees can meet in person or across telephone or video calls. These meetings can cover a myriad of different topics and typically start with the mentee defining what their objectives and challenges are, and where they are looking for the mentor to offer guidance and provide experience-based advice. What are the benefits to being mentored? Mentoring can often be seen as more effective than coaching because it is experience-based. An individual who has tackled certain workplace challenges can be in a strong position to offer advice and guidance. If you think back to times where you have faced and overcome challenges, there is usually an element of trial and error to them. With mentoring, trial and error is significantly reduced, and by speaking with a more experienced professional, a mentee can be in a far stronger position to develop their career more efficiently. Having a mentor can also increase one’s social and professional confidence, and help an individual to define and focus on their goals, feel empowered to achieve more and gain valuable insights they may otherwise miss out on. There are benefits to being a mentor too. When an individual engages with mentoring, they can learn from their mentee, improve their interpersonal skills, widen their understanding of different departments and industries. How can organisations benefit frommentoring? It is not only those within a mentoring relationship who can benefit from mentoring. Organisations are increasingly looking at mentoring as a way to improve employee engagement, retention, inclusion initiatives and cost-effective internal knowledge-sharing too. And it makes sense when it’s broken down. Given the statistics about how many employees leave an organisation due to management conflict (it’s estimated to be in the region of 50%), by offering a mentor as an additional support resource and guide, organisations can significantly reduce employee turnover. Additionally, by giving employees responsibility to be mentors, organisations can improve engagement through empowerment. But mentoring does not have to be kept within an organisation. In fact, some of the most powerful mentoring relationships thrive when an individual is mentored by someone in a different organisation or even a different industry altogether. Having a mentor who can offer an external viewpoint and a completely unbiased opinion on challenges, goals and aims can add true value to what you are looking to achieve. So, if you are considering becoming a mentor or finding a mentor to help you, why not explore both internal and external mentoring solutions? PushFar is one such external and open network with thousands of members voluntarily mentoring one another. Expert advice on the business of running a garment decoration company Q&A Ed Johnson is the CEO of PushFar, a mentoring platform that helps individuals and organisations with mentoring. Founded in 2018, the platform allows individuals to register free to find a mentor, volunteer to mentor others, network, connect and develop their career, while helping organisations with both internal and external mentoring solutions too. www.pushfar.com