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Introduction to mentoring
Our structured mentoring programme is designed for people who are working to tackle inequalities in sport and physical activity as part of their role in, or on the board of, a Sport England system partner organisation.
We know that guidance and theory can be useful starting points, but to better understand how to make a difference, enact real change or see tangible progress, leaders often prefer to learn from one another, especially mentors.
Our mentors are experienced leaders with a wealth of lived experience in working to tackle inequalities in sport and physical activity. They can empathise and understand your challenges because of their experience working in a similar role or space.
Our team will carefully match onboarded mentees to the best mentor to support their goals and challenges.
Available to system partners
Our coaching and mentoring offers are designed to support individuals, teams and groups. They’re fully funded by The National Lottery and available for leaders and board members of Sport England system partner organisations. You can check if your organisation is a system partner through the link below.
Being a leader isn’t determined by job titles or seniority
It’s about wanting to make a difference, creating change and opening up opportunities for more people to live active lives. If you work to tackle these inequalities, or you support the people that do, then you're part of ‘Leading the Movement’.
Our mentors play a crucial role in guiding their mentees to develop and maximise their potential both professionally and personally. They can help leaders, at all levels, become more self-aware, have a better understanding of the challenges they’re facing, be better equipped to find appropriate solutions and foster a genuine belief in the need and benefits of inclusion and diversity.
Those that benefit most from mentoring often include leaders:
- Working directly on strategies and actions to address specific inequalities in sport and physical activity.
- Who require help in how to navigate the systems around them that influence people’s activity habits.
- From groups that are under-represented as leaders in the sport and physical activity sector who are keen to progress and achieve their career aspirations.
- Looking for growth and development opportunities to advance their work through the lens of tackling inequalities.
Mentoring options
Each mentoring option below has been specifically designed to accommodate leaders’ different development needs and/or learning preferences so they can get the best from their mentoring experience.
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Individual mentoring
A focused, one-to-one, mentor-to-mentee experience to support and advance a leader’s particular challenge or need in tackling inequalities.
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Group mentoring
An opportunity for up to five leaders, who find value in working with others, to explore and find solutions for pre-identified common challenges faced across the sector with the support of a mentor.
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CEO to CEO mentoring
An opportunity for two CEOs to share and explore their experience as organisational leaders in a confidential space around topics of common interest.
For all three mentoring options, you will need to:
- Self-nominate to the programme.
- Attend a welcome and onboarding call into the programme.
- Complete an upskilling process to get the best from the mentoring experience.
We will:
- Carefully match you to your mentor.
- Support you throughout the programme.
All Leading the Movement mentoring programme options are fully funded by the National Lottery and free to access if you are a leader, as defined in the introduction, in a Sport England systems partner organisation.
Become a mentor
There are already so many sector leaders with a wealth of expertise, lived experience and knowledge. If you’re reading this and feel like supporting Leading the Movement as a mentor would be more fitting than receiving mentoring yourself, we’d love to hear from you.
We’re continually looking for leaders to join our team of mentors and volunteer to support others. If you’re keen to use your experience to inspire, motivate and help those who need a little more support, please get in touch. You don’t have to have previous mentor experience, we are looking for mentors with a range of experience, not just seniority.
As a mentor you will be onboarded, upskilled and continually developed and supported throughout your mentor journey. Mentors regularly network together and share their experiences.
Time commitment
For each mentee, you’ll need to prepare for and be present at up to five one-hour mentoring sessions. In total, this usually takes around seven-12 hours usually across a four-month period.
Mentoring agreement
For each mentee, you’ll create and maintain a mentoring agreement to help guide the relationship and support mutual accountability. We’ll provide a template for you to adapt.
Preparation
You’ll need to identify any information that would be helpful for the mentee to prepare or explore before or after sessions are held.
You will have access to our online toolkit and reflection tool to help you.
The role also offers several benefits linked to your own personal and professional development.
As a mentor, you can:
- Enjoy a greater sense of wellbeing, including increased job and personal satisfaction from supporting others and sharing your knowledge and skills to support the wider workforce.
- Enhance your awareness of local and national challenges enabling you to return to your teams with greater insights.
- Develop new skills that you can take back into your organisation and beyond and use to support your own personal and career development.
- Benefit from making new connections and expanding your networks.
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