Up to 600 Irish businesses are set to benefit from the latest MentorsWork business support programme from Skillnet Ireland. Created in conjunction with the Small Firms Association (SFA), the programme is designed to provide skills and supports to help owner-managers and leaders sustain and improve their businesses, as well as deal with the threats posed by the current challenging economic environment.
A key feature of the programme is the assignment of an experienced mentor who works with businesses on a one-to-one basis over a 12-week period. “The mentors are experienced businesspeople who provide guidance and advice and work with participants to create business improvement plans,” says Skillnet Ireland executive director Dave Flynn. “The plan is a stepping stone to a sustained model of continuous business improvement, allowing participants to continue the progress made on the MentorsWork programme.”
According to Flynn, the MentorsWork programme addresses four thematic pillars: people, finance and growth, digital and automation, and business process.
“The people pillar covers aspects relating to the participant and their team, including driving team performance, optimising remote working solutions, supporting team wellbeing and leading the team,” he explains.
Finance and growth includes gaining new clients and business, accessing financial supports, building and executing new sales models and identifying new business opportunities. “It also looks at the key numbers that drive profitability,” he adds.
The digital and automation pillar covers aspects relating to internal and external digital transformation of a business and includes moving a business online, marketing, building online communities, and automating day-to-day tasks.
“A lot of companies are already on a digital transformation journey but many are finding it a bit daunting,” says Flynn. “We help them along the journey. For some it can be as simple as looking at accounts software and other packages which can help them automate areas of the business. In others, it can be in more advanced areas like data analytics.”
Under business processes, the programme looks at processes and efficiencies and includes creating a lean business model, implementing improved processes, preparing a continuity plan and performing risk assessments.
Productivity
The overall aim of the programme is to improve the productivity and profitability of small businesses in Ireland, according to SFA director Sven Spollen-Behrens: “MentorsWork goes back to a project carried out by the OECD in late 2019 together with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. They produced a report highlighting the need to improve the productivity of Irish businesses and we [the SFA and Skillnet] came up with a programme to address the productivity gaps.”
The programme has evolved since its launch in early 2020. “We had planned to launch it in March of last year, then Covid came along,” Spollen-Behrens notes. “We redesigned the programme to turn it into a rapid response to help small businesses deal with the challenges of the lockdown. It was a mentor driven programme to help small businesses react to Covid-19. The second phase was launched in September. We kept the mentors element but we added upskilling to it as well. We brought in online training and peer-to-peer learning components.”
The current programme includes one-to-one mentoring, access to two peer-focused workshops, two expert-led masterclasses, and three licenses for the Percipio Intelligent Learning Platform.
Participants select the masterclasses of their choice, which are delivered virtually by an expert who distils industry best-practice with the aim of improving high-level business strategy. The trainer-led, peer-focused and highly interactive workshops are designed to encourage knowledge sharing between businesses.
“We helped 580 businesses last year and we are hoping to help a further 600 in the current programme,” says Flynn. “We launched MentorsWork back in the teeth of the recession caused by Covid-19. Some businesses were struggling for survival. The feedback we received from participants was that it helped them get through it by being able to step back from the day-to-day pressures of the business. That feedback has helped form the latest programme.”
The programme is open to private sector businesses from all areas of the economy which employ between five and 250 people. “It is fully funded this year, so it is free to participants,” says Spollen-Behrens. “The only ask from the businesses is their time. Participants will learn what they need to do to survive the current challenges or how to take their business to the next level. It will be time well spent. It’s a very simple process to apply, just go to mentorswork.ie.”