GrowBiz Mentoring – is it for you?

The GrowBiz Mentoring team has been inspired, excited and, we admit it, sometimes quite emotional as we’ve followed the hundreds of athletes competing in the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

And we couldn’t help but see the parallels to life as a rural business — and we don’t just mean that every day can feel like a marathon!  Successful athletes have determination, courage, passion, focus and the ability to pick themselves up when they (sometimes literally) stumble. They research and know their competition, they recognise their strengths and weaknesses and they have a plan that can adapt as circumstances change.

And they have one more very important thing — a support network. They have support with technical skill development and support to build confidence, stamina and resilience.

GrowBiz’s support network includes one-to-one technical support for businesses, delivered by our team of enterprise facilitators and at peer support, learning and networking events.  Through our mentoring programme we support individual business owners, the self employed and social entrepreneurs to identify and put into practice the skills needed to be more flexible, adaptable and to reach their full potential.

Could you be part of an enduring support network for other rural businesses owners by training as a GrowBiz Mentor?

You don’t need to have all the answers.

You do need to:

• Be curious and interested

• Commit to building a safe and supportive space

• Be a present and engaged listener

• Support your mentee to be the best version of themselves.

In return for your commitment you’ll receive full training and on-going support and CPD from our award-winning mentoring programme.

About the GrowBiz Mentoring Programme

The GrowBiz Mentoring Programme was established in 2014 to offer free business mentoring support on a one-to-one basis to individuals at pre-start-up, start-up or the development stage of their social and micro-enterprises.

Unlike other Scottish business mentoring programmes, the focus is on the individual rather than a specific issue within the business. This need was identified by Enterprise Facilitators who, while working on a one-to-one basis with GrowBiz clients, recognised support beyond the practicalities of finance, sales and marketing would be beneficial. In addition, many of our clients juggle their business or practice with caring responsibilities and their own physical and mental health issues. Others identified accountability as necessary to sustain the motivation to seek new customers or find the courage to participate in networking and learning sessions.

During the Covid pandemic and lockdown, the mentoring programme rapidly adapted and realigned to be most relevant to the current needs of mentees and mentors. Isolation and the importance of stepping back and reappraising their ambitions and work life balance led to an increase in demand for mentors. Delivering training online has enabled the programme to widen its reach and provided an opportunity to reshape and realign our training and support to current demands.

Our programme’s training and the ability to identify technical intervention when needed enhances the core impact that comes from providing our mentees with a space to step back, reflect and address their self-development.  A participant will often need to identify, or have a mentor help them to identify, their hurdles as either technical and self-development, or both, with the end result of tailored and integrated support.

The programme is accredited by the Scottish Mentoring Network (SMN) and is considered a standard of best practice in the mentoring field. It remains the only business mentoring programme in Scotland to have achieved the SMN Quality Standard, which we have held since 2018.  Our Mentoring team, mentors and the programme itself has regularly been recognised through Scottish Mentoring Network annual awards and Clair, our Mentoring Manager was awarded Mentor of the Year at the Business Women Scotland/Women’s Enterprise Scotland Awards in 2017.

What makes a good GrowBiz mentor?

GrowBiz mentors are volunteers with a wide range of skills, expertise and come from many different backgrounds including experience in running a business, wellbeing or creative practice; social entrepreneurs or individuals involved in community development work.  There is no formal qualification required — all GrowBiz mentors receive full training and ongoing support.

A good mentor is engaged, interested and open to develop new skills alongside their mentee. Many have been mentees and value the impact a mentor had on their personal development. And all our volunteers share a passion for their local community and the wider ecosystem of rural Scotland.

The programme doesn’t prescribe the length of a mentoring relationship. Some mentees are looking for a short, sharp intervention to get a project or product launch to completion and the time commitment may be condensed into a few weeks. Other mentees are looking for longer support and the interventions will be less frequent but over a longer period of time.

The capacity to commit time will always be matched to the needs of the mentee. All we require is for mentors to commit to one day of training and to communicate regularly with the GrowBiz Mentoring team.   

What does a GrowBiz Mentor do?

In a nutshell you listen; you ask really good open questions and help your mentee to work out their own solutions.

You provide a calm space where mentees can step aside from their usual environment and feel comfortable to talk to a responsive listener. A space where they can start to see new possibilities and have their achievements recognised and reflected back to sustain momentum and move them forwards with ongoing support.

Before you are introduced to a mentee, you will be given training that will help you to adapt and develop your communication skills to the mentoring process. These skills will also stand you in good stead for other areas of life!

Still not sure being a mentor is for you?

We believe mentoring is beneficial for everyone. Mentees will find it particularly helpful if they struggle with low confidence and self doubt, second guess themselves a lot, have no one to honestly and openly talk to about your business or find it difficult to be focused, motivated and clear on their next steps.

You will enhance their own skills – skills that can transfer across all aspects of life,  study, business and community work.

Through training and our bespoke online platform you will connect with a new network of like-minded GrowBiz mentors across rural Scotland.

And you’ll contribute to building a sustainable, vibrant and resilient rural economy in Scotland.

Are ready to challenge yourself, develop your communication skills or to hold your hand out to help a mentee take the next steps to achieve their goals?