MANAGING ADAPTABILITY IN BUSINESS MENTORING

JANUARY – JUNE 2000 (Part-time)

Free Course (part-time) to businesses which meet the European Social Fund Criteria

Are you responsible for staff development and morale in a change management situation?
Are you responsible for integrating new members into the organisation, or retaining valued staff?
Do you know how to best develop your future high flyers?
Have you considered implementing a mentoring scheme as a strategic business solution in these situations?

About the programme

This part-time flexible course aims to help London businesses develop a broad and coherent understanding of the basic concepts and issues which underlie the introduction of mentoring into a business environment. It will aim to develop the skills required to successfully run a mentoring programme within such an environment, and it will define and explore the critical issues of running such a programme. The course is designed as a double module comprising Part A and Part B. Part A will explore the basic concepts underlying business mentoring and will train participants in the skills required within a mentor/mentee relationship. Part B will equip participants with the knowledge and ability to implement a business mentoring programme, and will include the delivery of Part A by course participants to others within their own organisation.

The course is aimed at SMEs , and will be particularly relevant to:

Owner/managers
HR professionals
Managers or supervisors
Managers or Management Consultants involved in change processes

The course is designed as a double module, Part A covering a 12 week period and Part B covering a further 12 week period, and each part provides:

An extensive programme with three workshop days at City University, using new technology software and hardware, and on-line working facilitated and supported by tutorials, peer mentoring and study groups
Flexible study via new technology over the Internet with learning situated in work based applications
Individual tutor support throughout
The course is designed to offer maximum flexibility for busy professionals. The workshop days for Part A are 10 January, 16 February and 27 March, and for Part B 2 May, 7 June and 17 July, and are held at City University. The remainder of the training is over the Internet. Some help is available for those not already on the Internet.

Tutors
Course tutors are experienced academics and consultants with extensive knowledge and experience of the principles and practices of mentoring, and the management relationships involved.

Accreditation
Accreditation by City University is currently being sought, and will enable participants to be awarded a City University Certificate in Managing Adaptability in Business: Mentoring.

Attendance
Applicants must commit to attend all full day workshops. Additionally students will be expected to spend approximately 11 hours per week participating in on-line learning and 2-3 hours per week of workbased activity or reading/private study.

Venue
The workshops will be held in the new state of the art Open Learning Centre at City University, Northampton Square, which is easily accessible from Angel, Barbican and Farringdon underground stations.

Enrolment criteria
The course is sponsored by ESF and is FREE to those who meet the following criteria.

Participants need to be owner/managers, HR professionals, managers or supervisors, management consultants or other change agents working within SMEs.

The funding is applicable to London based businesses, but first consideration must be given to businesses in the Wandle Valley.

Applications are particularly welcome from businesses within declining industry sectors, or businesses which face the threat of redundancy; participants in the age range 45+ are also particularly welcome, but there is an upper age limit of 58 for women and 63 for men. We regret however that the funding criteria do not permit applications from those working within the public sector.

Routine working knowledge of word processing systems is essential, experience of email is desirable. Participants are expected to bring to this pilot course their enthusiasm to learn on-line and to try new technology in a safe learning environment.

Students are required to have access to the following:
A personal computer with one of the following specifications:
ß PC: 486/2 minimum, with Windows 3.1 or Windows 95, with 32mb memory, and a hard disk with at least 90mb free
ß Mac: at least a 68XOO series machine or a PowerMac with 32mb memory, system 7 and free hard disk space of at least 90mb
A modem of ideally 56Kbp, but at least 28Kbp
Email and Internet access
Technical support will be available during the first workshop, to help with problems such as loading software and connection to the Internet.

Applications
Please send completed applications as soon as possible to: Maggie Bankart, Department of Continuing Education, City University, Northampton Square, LONDON EC1V 0HB. Telephone: 020 7477 8252. Fax: 020 7477 8240. E-mail: [email protected]. We advise early application as numbers are limited.

Interviews To be held during November/December 1999