Advice and Knowledge
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Advice and Knowledge
We share advice and knowledge with you from those on the ground and practicing as coaches or mentors with entrepreneurs. We aim to provide useful and actionable insights from different viewpoints, so that you can apply these in your coaching or mentoring practice for entrepreneurs, whether it may be as a coach, mentor, programme manager or enterprise educator.
Three things a mentor should never tell a founder
Starting a business is never a solo journey; founders rely on many people for guidance and support. A very important character in almost every founding story is the wise mentor. Sometimes, it’s an industry veteran who adds a critical piece of the puzzle. Sometimes, it’s a seasoned founder who’s been there and done that. And sometimes, it’s someone who has seen dozens of startups grow and can share valuable war ... Read more
Neurodiversity in entrepreneurship coaching and mentoring
In support of Neurodiversity Celebration Week in March 2024, the NCME held a panel discussion inviting Rob Edwards, CEO of the Neurodiversity & Entrepreneurship Association (NEA), and Sascha Evans, Founder of We the Creators and a neurodivergent entrepreneur, to better understand some ... Read more
How we can get better at recruiting female mentors
In a world where we are increasingly conscious about diversity and research shows that having women on executive committees leads to higher profit margins (see Women Count 2020 report), why are we facing difficulties in recruiting female mentors? And how can we achieve a better gender balance in our mentor pools? This topic has been a recurring theme during discussions of the members of The Network for Coaching and Mentoring Entrepreneurs (NCME), so in Spring 2022 we brought together a ... Read more
The benefits of peer mentoring for entrepreneurs
When you think about a mentoring relationship, usually what comes to mind is a vastly more experienced person mentoring a significantly less experienced person. But does that always have to be the case and how can value be derived from peers mentoring each other? We wanted to know, so we gathered the following group of peer mentoring experts together for an interactive online discussion on peer mentoring and what emerged were five key ingredients to make it work. Who our panel of ... Read more
Tracking mentee progress – keeping an eye or keeping tabs?
The NCME gathered to discuss ‘Tools for Tracking Mentee Progress,’ which included both the quantitative and the qualitative aspects of mentee progress. Here we summarise the discussion, themes and recommendations for practice that emerged when discussing the best tools for tracking, who should be capturing the metrics and who should summarise the key points and actions. A key insight that emerged is the role of programme managers, which is integral to the mentor-mentee relationship and ... Read more
Managing Mentoring Relationships
The NCME gathered to explore how to effectively manage relationships between entrepreneurs and their mentors. We were fortunate to have two superb serial entrepreneur panellists: Heather Niven, Business and Innovation Consultant and Mary McKenna, Angel Investor and Board Member (various). The theme of the meeting was managing mentoring relationships and the discussions centred around their experiences, what entrepreneurship educators could learn from and what they could apply to their own ... Read more
The ‘what, how and when’ of coaching and mentoring for entrepreneurs
The terms coaching and mentoring are often used interchangeably in the entrepreneurship ecosystem and applied to someone providing help or support to an entrepreneur. This occurs in university, accelerator and government-funded programmes, but what do the practices really involve and how should they be carried out? This article provides the what, the how and the when of coaching and mentoring; what are the practices of coaching and mentoring? how can they be delivered? and when might you ... Read more
How to make the most of a meeting as a coach or mentor
Coaching or mentoring meetings can typically range from 30 minutes to an hour. They may vary based on factors such as a programme requirement that asks you to coach or mentor for a particular period of time, your availability, or what has been requested from you by the entrepreneur. You may also be being paid for your time or operating pro bono. Either way, both your time and energy are valuable, so how can you get the best results from a meeting? Here are 3 suggested steps, ‘GPS,’ to help ... Read more
Goals and objectives – how can you get results from coaching or mentoring?
There are many different reasons that coaches or mentors engage with entrepreneurs, which can range from being paid to provide their services, gaining access to new business ideas, philanthropy, or the sense of prestige that comes along with the role. You may have some experience as a coach or mentor already, or be taking the role on for the first time. So, what exactly does your role entail and what do you plan to achieve from it? - a key part of this will be setting or working towards ... Read more
WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY
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