On this page
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 30-minute check-in session after three-months
Self-nominate
If you’re eligible (check if your organisation’s listed here) and individual mentoring sounds like it would be of benefit to you, you can submit a self-nomination below.
If you’re not currently eligible for individual 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.
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.
Stay up-to-date
You can find out exactly how we'll look after your personal data, but rest assured we’ll only use it to make sure you receive our newsletter, to understand how you interact with our newsletter, and to provide administrative information about our newsletter.