Mentoring – Frequently asked questions

The mentors on our programme represent some of the very best business minds working today. They are either senior leaders within leading firms, or an experienced business leader of a small business  themselves. This programme is recommended for business leaders of UK businesses with at least one year of trading and three full time employees, including the owner. If you need a sounding board or impartial guidance to help guide your business strategy, this is the programme for you.

A mentor acts as a neutral sounding board for difficult decisions and offers support in the development of suitable strategies for the future. A mentor does not conduct business or work on your behalf. They direct you towards solutions, rather than telling you what to do. Their role as a mentor is to listen and give you fresh perspectives. They will create a safe space in which you can share both challenges and concerns, and thrive as you move towards your goals.

Be the Business Mentoring is completely free. We are backed by government and supported by leading businesses. Our experienced mentors are drawn from well-known firms from around the UK, including Accenture, Amazon, Cisco, John Lewis, Lloyds and Siemens. They donate their time to you on your business journey.

First, complete your profile to help the team understand what you’re looking to gain out of a mentoring relationship and what business challenges you think you might want to address. We will then match you with a suitable mentor based on the mentor’s experience and skills. This should happen a few days after joining us, provided we have someone of the skills and experience you need available.  In the meantime, familiarise yourself with the platform and support available to you.

We offer a 12-session mentoring programme. Our Mentors and Mentees agree on a cadence and flow that best suits them and the goals they are working toward.  We match our participants based on Mentor skills and Mentee challenges and, in the first meeting, the Mentor and Mentee will outline the agreed cadence/flow.

Mentoring is not a prescriptive process. Each relationship will vary in the schedule and approach to sessions. The mentoring relationship is driven by the goals that the mentee sets. You, as a mentee, are in the driving seat. We provide tools to support you as you contract and set goals for the relationship, as well as a Connection plan - which is your route map to your mentoring journey. Use this connection plan, together with the guidance we provide to conduct your mentoring in a way that suits you.

In our experience, and the experience of previous mentors and mentees on this programme, sector should not play a big part in choosing a mentor. A mentor from another sector will bring a fresh perspective that is beneficial to your mentoring, allowing you to focus on the fundamentals of your challenge and goals.

A good match depends on skills, experience and chemistry. We encourage our mentors and mentees to set a first meeting and get to know each other. If, after the first meeting, you decide that the chemistry is not right between you, then let us know and an alternative match will be made.

A relationship that is not working is not valuable to you or your mentor. We encourage letting the mentor know about the situation and contacting a programme administrator as soon as possible. We will provide our full support to resolve the situation in a positive and satisfactory manner.