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Individual 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.
Those that benefit most from mentoring often include:
- Leaders working directly on strategies and actions to address specific inequalities in sport and physical activity.
- Leaders who require help in how to navigate the systems around them that influence people’s activity habits.
- People 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.
- Leaders looking for growth and development opportunities to advance their work through the lens of tackling inequalities.
We know guidance and theory can be useful starting points, but to better understand how to make a difference, enact real change or see progress, leaders often prefer to learn from one another.
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 work in a similar role or space.
All sessions are fully funded by The National Lottery. We ask that all mentees take part in the programme evaluation following their involvement.
Our team will carefully match onboarded mentees to the best mentor to support their goals and challenges.
Our mentors will then 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.
Mentoring benefits
There’s lots of benefits to be gained from accessing our individual mentoring programme.
- Mentors and their mentees often develop a strong professional relationship.
- Mentoring offers leaders support to see them through different challenges and barriers, enhancing their network, resilience and coping strategies.
- Mentoring can help to facilitate cross-cultural understanding and awareness.
- Mentoring provides a great opportunity for leaders to gain new knowledge and understanding, helping them to continue to learn, develop and grow as a leader.
- The support provided by our mentors can help you develop your influence and credentials as a leader.
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’.
What's involved?
Leaders are asked to commit to individual mentoring only if they can make the most of their mentoring time. They must be willing and responsible for managing their relationship with their mentor, preparing for sessions and undertaking agreed actions.
Our mentoring programme typically lasts for three-to-four months. Onboarded mentees will attend:
A 25-minute welcome call, video and mentor-matching session
Up to five, one-hour mentoring sessions
A 90-minute reflective learning session after three-months
Group mentoring
Group mentoring is available for Sport England system partners. It's part of our mentoring offer for leaders who are working to tackle inequalities through sport and physical activity.
Group mentoring is ideal for leaders who prefer learning in a group situation
They'll be:
- Comfortable and confident to listen as well as to share.
- Willing to support others to learn and develop while developing themselves.
- Excited by bouncing ideas off other people.
- Appreciative of and benefit from the different perspectives each mentee will bring.
Our team will carefully select mentees wanting to explore similar challenges and match them as a group to the most suited mentor.
Our mentors will play a fundamental role in maximising the personal and professional development of our mentees.
Our mentoring facilitators will be there to support both the mentors and mentees throughout the programme. They'll ensure the mentor has the space to share their lived experience and that each group member has a fair and equal opportunity to share, question, learn, participate and reflect.
Our mentees who will benefit the most from group mentoring are leaders who enjoy and thrive in a group environment and are keen to learn from others.
What's involved?
Our group mentoring programme typically lasts for up to three months and consists of:
A welcome video followed by a matching call
An upskilling video followed by a questions and answers session with a team member
Three virtual sessions, each with a specific purpose on discovery, ideas, actions and reflections
Leaders must be able to fully commit and attend all three sessions. They'll need to make the most of their mentoring time but respect their role as part of a group and ensure everyone benefits equally from the sessions.
Group mentoring is fully funded by the National Lottery and free to access.
Mentees should be prepared to take responsibility for managing their relationships with their mentor, mentoring facilitators and fellow mentees. This includes being prepared for and undertaking agreed actions between each session.
Benefits of mentoring and being mentored as part of a group
There's lots of benefits to be gained from accessing our group mentoring programme. It provides the opportunity to:
- Gain new knowledge and understanding, supporting leaders to develop and grow.
- Understand how to navigate organisational culture and politics.
- Acquire new skills and tools to apply back into your role and organisation.
- Help facilitate cross-cultural understanding and awareness.
- As a group, explore the shared challenge from a wider perspective.
- Learn how to tailor a group solution to work for community, sector, sport or organisation's needs.
Self-nominate
For both individual and group mentoring please complete the self-nomination below. Your preference will then be considered during your welcome call. If you’re eligible (check if your organisation’s listed here) and mentoring sounds like it would be of benefit to you, we'd love to hear from you.
If you’re not currently eligible for mentoring, there’s lots of other ways we can support you. Please explore our further resources below and have a look at our ‘About us’ page for more information.
If you have any further questions, please explore our FAQs page or get in touch with us by email at leadingthemovement@sportengland.org.
Mutual mentoring
Mutual mentoring enables leaders to create a dynamic relationship with their mutual mentor. Participating leaders can have honest and challenging conversations where they can both learn, provide support and grow. Mutual mentors will have different backgrounds, identities, characteristics, levels of seniority and areas of expertise. They'll exchange knowledge, experiences and perspectives so they can mentor each other.
Mutual mentors will get the chance to be both a mentor and mentee within each conversation.
Mutual mentors will be committed to helping each other by contributing insights and exchanging support.There's no hierarchy, the contributions will be equal.
Mutual mentoring will be piloted with our current mentors before a self-nomination form is open to all system partners. Check back for more information soon.
What's involved?
One-hour welcome and introduction call followed by a one-hour 'getting to know you' session with a mutual mentor
Five mutual mentoring sessions over four months, each one-hour long
Three check-in sessions with us, each a maximum of one-hour, followed by self-reflection and feedback time
Benefits of mutual mentoring
- Progressing towards a goal.
- Tackling a challenge.
- Gaining new insights.
- Exploring new perspectives.
- Expanding your networks.
Do you want to develop mentoring skills?
Could you learn from the experiences of another skilled professional?
Do you have knowledge and experience to support someone else on their journey?
Do you like to collaborate and work with others to problem solve?
Mutual mentoring could be for you!
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.
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.
Being a mentor
Time commitment
For each mentee you’ll need to prepare for and be present at up to five one-hour mentoring sessions. The time commitment for this is approximately 7-12 hours usually across a four-month period.
Mentoring agreement
For each mentee you’ll need to create and maintain a mentoring agreement through which you and your mentee will be accountable to each other. We’ll provide a template for you to build from.
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.
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