Partner Article

Lloyds Banking Group’s Commitment to Mentoring

As part of its ambition to Helping Britain Prosper, Lloyds Banking Group is committed to helping businesses, charities and individuals succeed. It delivers this, in part, through the provision of over 240,000 hours of colleague volunteering support in 2016, including hundreds of colleagues providing expert mentoring and training through a range of nationwide initiatives supported by the Group. By sharing their skills, colleagues can make a difference to people of all ages and backgrounds, whilst also gaining valuable personal development in the process.

As mentors, colleagues provide an outside perspective and act as a sounding board for ideas giving unbiased support and guidance. They facilitate decision making and make introductions to their contacts and networks to help further personal and business development. Below are five core initiatives which Lloyds Banking Group supports with mentoring:

Social Entrepreneurs mentoring

This award winning programme supports passionate individuals who are starting or scaling up a social enterprise. Social entrepreneurs receive a financial grant, active learning through School for Social Entrepreneurs and a mentor from the Group The programme will support 1,300 social entrepreneurs by 2017, each with their own mentor, helping create over 7,000 jobs and support over 1.1 million beneficiaries

Lloyds Scholars mentoring

Lloyds Scholars is a unique social mobility programme created in 2011 which provides mentoring, financial support and paid internships to 600 students from low-income backgrounds to date Colleagues mentor 120 Scholars each year, providing support around their education and employability Scholars volunteer 100 hours per year each in their local communities to increase their transferable skills and employability, and many choose to volunteer as mentors

Charity mentoring

The Lloyds Bank Foundation supports 2,500 charities in 2016, and they are offered mentoring support alongside financial grants Mentors help them become more effective, sustainable and efficient through the support of a ‘critical friend’

Enterprise mentoring

Enterprise mentoring was formed by a partnership between the main banks and the then Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to support entrepreneurs, social enterprises and diversity businesses Over 400 Group volunteers are enterprise mentors, sharing their expertise, business experience and proven communications skills

Fintech mentoring

A new mentoring scheme launched by Lloyds Banking Group providing fintech start-ups with access to business skills. Mentors provide insight and experience regarding good business planning, governance and strategic direction Mentors have at least ten years’ commercial or corporate experience and the Group has an ambition of 100 fintech mentoring relationships in the first year of the programme

Bringing mentoring to life:

The case studies below demonstrate the positive impact that mentoring has on both mentors and mentees.

Kerry Gascoyne, a Senior Manager in Woking, is a Business Mentor to Donna McGhie, a social entrepreneur who is being supported by the Lloyds Bank Social Entrepreneurs Start Up programme to develop her social enterprise Art & Murals.

Using her strong commercial background and wealth of business experience, Kerry is able to provide Donna with a different perspective on her enterprise and is a sounding board so that Donna can discuss new ideas with an impartial body. Kerry is able to ask difficult yet necessary questions to help improve the enterprise.

Kerry believes mentoring and skills based volunteering is mutually beneficial and believes that colleagues within the Group have many skills which they can share through mentoring, offering guidance on budgeting, costing, strategy, time management and organisation.

Chris Fleming, former Lloyds Scholar from the University of Sheffield:

“The mentoring aspect of the Lloyds Scholars Programme was one which I initially overlooked, however throughout the three years of my university life it proved invaluable in helping me decide what steps I wanted to take next.

My mentor was able to provide support and guidance through utilizing his contacts to offer me shadowing opportunities and work experience across many areas in the group.

On top of this he was always on the other end of the phone and more than happy to meet up to help with anything I could throw at him – from volunteering queries to university concerns.“

Saskia Richie, Chief Executive, Cheshire Without Abuse, pictured left with her Charity Mentor Alyson Armstrong, Risk and Compliant Manager at Lloyds Bank said:

“Our mentor made us stronger by clarifying our risk strategy. She also helped demystify business jargon, giving me confidence to talk to corporate donors in their language. Consequently one of our supporters made an unexpected £10,000 donation. There’s no disputing the difference mentoring is making.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by EB .