Mentoring for Chairs of Boards and Governance Professionals

Applications are now open for two mentoring opportunities – one aimed at Board Chairs and the other at Governance Professionals – being offered by the Education and Training Foundation (@E_T_Foundation). Both are available at no charge to participants.

The Chairs’ Mentoring Programme is aimed at the Chairs of Boards of FE and Sixth Form Colleges. It offers participants up to four one-to-one, one-hour sessions of private mentoring support, focusing on skills, strategies, and challenges, over a period of six months, The sessions will be conducted via Microsoft Teams. They will be with one of two experts: Andrew Baird and Sandra Prail.

Governance Professionals Executive Coaching and Mentoring is aimed at Clerks, Directors of Governance, and Governance Professionals of FE Boards. Like the Chairs’ Mentoring Programme, it offers participants up to four one-to-one, one-hour sessions of private mentoring support over a period of six months. The sessions will be conducted via Microsoft Teams and be led by governance consultants Beyond Governance and Kay White. They will help participants provide effective support to the Chair, anticipate and solve strategic problems, and become solutions driven. The provision responds to a need for one-to-one support identified by The Unseen Strategic Leader research project.

For further details, and to book, please visit the ETF booking site.

Fiona Chalk, ETF National Head of Governance, said:

“Research shows that the vast majority of Governance Professionals have either never or rarely accessed mentoring or coaching, yet they strongly believed that access to a mentor or coach would contribute to their ability to develop the required leadership competencies to lead on the delivery of effective Governance. Likewise, Chairs have indicated that they too would benefit from such support.

“Both of these crucial roles can be quite isolated, making access to one-to-one support through mentoring and coaching a vital component of the development of the individuals in them. These programmes will provide high-quality mentoring support and help contribute to the long-term success of participants’ institutions.”

For details of the ETF’s wider programme of support for leadership and governance in the FE and Training sector, visit the Leadership Hub on the ETF website.