Colin Ong TS (MR=MC Consulting)

The nine months following September last year have been some of the most difficult in the recent past, but with signs of an economic recovery, business leaders and human resources managers are likely to find themselves with a new challenge - employee retention.

Experience has shown that recessionary periods are followed by an "attrition avalanche", as critical talent begins to seek new opportunities outside the organisation.

Our research shows that while external signs of a recovery are beginning to appear, employers are still cautious. More than half the organisations in Hong Kong have not increased salaries this year, while the average salary increase is about 1.6 per cent, far lower than that in previous years.

However, a reduction in involuntary turnover in the second quarter to almost half of what it was in the first quarter shows that organisations are far less pessimistic than they were at the beginning of the year.

A look into the past has shown that performance during the recession is not a good indicator of performance during recovery.

Leading organisations (those that outperformed competition) were those that managed talent differently from the rest of the pack.

Here are the eight most important things to do to lead in a recovery:

Craft the long-term strategy: The aftermath of a recession often changes the "rules of engagement". Organisations need to cope with changes like slower growth projections, lower inflation, changing consumer preferences and spending patterns. Leading organisations are those that recognise these changes early on, define the "new normal" and craft a long-term strategy for recovery.
Put the right leaders in front: Once the strategy has been identified, it is critical for the organisation to get the right leaders to communicate, execute and drive that strategy. The right leaders here are often a mix of "old timers" who know the organisation well, as well as new hires who have a proven track record of leading organisations in the new direction that has been defined.
Get the staffing right: Workforce reduction is a characteristic of all employers during a recession. Leading organisations are able to identify the right skills for the recovery and strategically invest in those - by conducting employee development initiatives and even hiring for critical skills that may not be present in the organisation.
Focus on critical talent: Critical talent should be defined not only as high performers, but more importantly as those who are high performers and have the skills relevant to the organisation's new strategy.
Reward right: Leading organisations focus their budgets on critical talent and ensure that they receive adequate market corrections and a greater share of performance pay. In times of recovery, leading organisations increase the differentials between high and average performers, as they focus on their critical few.
Nurture the talent pipeline: Despite tight budgets, organisations need to ensure their future leaders feel motivated and special. Internal training and mentoring are effective substitutes for more expensive training methodologies. Some of the content training can also be offered through e-learning, for example.
Focus on reducing long-term cost: Rather than focusing on purely short-term measures of cost control (like headcount reduction), leading organisations make strategic investments in technology and innovation that lead to long-term cost-saving.
Communicate: Clear communication is the keystone of all change management, and one cannot underestimate its importance in a recovery. Frequent, consistent, multi-channel communication that reinforces the organisation's strategy, its commitment to goals and core values and builds employee trust in the leadership will go a long way towards soothing the pain of a recovery.

Tzeitel Fernandes is a practice leader at Hewitt Associates

2009-08-27T17:41:00.001+08:00

Dr. Martin Luther King is the Mentor of Jesse Jackson?

2009-08-27T17:25:00.000+08:00

Ted Kennedy is Obama's Mentor

2009-08-27T01:00:00.001+08:00

Crisis Management: What's Your Strategy?

Bruce V Bloom. Franchising World. Washington: Jan 2009. Vol. 41, Iss. 1; pg. 55, 3 pgs

Abstract (Summary)

The marketplace is certainly challenging enough that franchise businesses would like to avoid the thoughts of having to deal with a crisis in their businesses. The challenge is to establish a strategy to deal with a potential crisis that may or may not occur, whose origin is currently unknown, but could be generated from a number of sources, that will generate unknown consequences, but which has the potential to be significant, and could affect a number of factors of the business while people are involved in daily operations. Once senior management's support for the development of a crisis-management plan has been established, a champion has been identified and the franchisor has developed a relationship with franchisees for their involvement, the next step is to proceed with implementing the plan. The crisis-management strategy and implementation must be continually evaluated, just as companies continue to assess the business environment in which they operate in every day.

Full Text

(1229 words)

[Headnote]

Do not underestimate the potential risk and costs of a crisis.

Enlarge 200%

Enlarge 400%

[Photograph]

The marketplace is certainly challenging enough that franchise businesses would like to avoid the thoughts of having to deal with a crisis in their businesses. Besides, organizations would have a lot more issues to deal with than speculating if a crisis can or will happen to the business, much less preparing for it. Unfortunately, most crises don't recognize those challenges or how busy people are and will frequently occur at the most inopportune times.

The reality is that crises can be both internally and externally driven. They can happen gradually or in a moment's time. The genesis of the crisis can be weather-driven (Hurricane Katrina in the Southeast, flooding in the Midwest, fires on the West Coast), a simple misstatement by an employee or executive, a food-borne illness, or even the financial performance of a business. Name it and there is the potential for a crisis.

Think about such examples as Johnson & Johnson and Tylenol, Audi with the "sudden accel- eration" associated with their product (although it was never proven to have actually occurred as a result of a defect in the car), or recently the tomato industry with the salmonella illnesses. Perhaps it's a computer-system failure or consumer information data that is compromised. Think of the franchising industry with the bankruptcy of a franchisor, the sale of the system and its impact on the franchisee. Every one of these, and many more examples that anyone might have thought of, had an enormous affect on the brand, its employees, customers, and franchisees, much less the financial and psychological ramifications.

I have had the pleasure of listening to MotoPhoto Pres, and CEO Harry D. Loyle, CFE, and Jack In The Box Inc. Division Vice Pres. Michael Bamrick, CFE, share their experiences in dealing with crises with their companies. Loyle spoke of the essential elimination of the marketplace almost overnight with the introduction of digital photography and Bamrick has eloquently spoken about the emotional and financial consequences of the E. coli incident in 1993. Both of these successful companies have had to deal with crises that no one might have anticipated.

The challenge is to establish a strategy to deal with a potential crisis that may or may not occur, whose origin is currently unknown, but could be generated from a number of sources, that will generate unknown consequences, but which has the potential to be significant, and could affect a number of factors of the business while people are involved in daily operations.

Developing Your Strategy

One of the key elements in establishing a strategy for crisis management is the ownership of that effort. Senior management must embrace, support and set the direction for these efforts. If the organization does not see that involvement, the effort will never receive the attention or provide the value that it needs to provide.

Secondly, identify a champion for developing the strategy who has the respect of the organization and ability to effectively manage the effort. Ensure that it is a priority for the organization and that adequate resources are committed to the effort.

Whatever strategy the company develops, it is important that it reflects the franchise company's core business principals.

Involve franchisees in this process. Any crisis that may potentially impact the brand (franchisees' most valuable asset), their operating environment and support levels will affect them. Whether it is through an advisory council representative or key member of the franchise organization, their input will be invaluable to establishing the strategy, as well as creating credibility with the franchise community in its value.

Has the franchisor considered the affect on ownership, banking or funding sources, vendors, landlords, employees and their families in the event of a crisis?

Enlarge 200%

Enlarge 400%

[Photograph]

In determining who should be involved within the organization in the development of the strategy, think about the disciplines that would be most affected by a crisis: operations, legal, marketing, public relations, franchising and finance and ensure their representation and ownership in establishing the strategy and tactics for implementation.

Do you have any members of your organization who have been involved in a crisis situation before? Have you spoken with other companies that have dealt with a crisis? What have they learned; how did they establish their strategy? Have you checked with professional organizations within your industry for sources of crisis management materials, programs, and so forth?

As the franchise organization moves through this process, some key elements to consider include:

* Based on the industry, prioritize the potential sources of a crisis such as food-borne illness or employee safety.

* Ensure the franchisor has identified those who would be affected by a crisis; what is the potential impact?

* If the crisis occurs, what does the company do, whom do you communicate to and how, who are the decision makers, what is communicated internally and external?

* How does the franchisor communicate the strategy and plan? What training may be required? How often should the plan be reviewed?

* What does the ongoing recovery plan look like?

Implementing Your Strategy

Once senior management's support for the development of a crisis-management plan has been established, a champion has been identified and the franchisor has developed a relationship with franchisees for their involvement, the next step is to proceed with implementing the plan.

* Do your homework.

* Develop a written plan that reflects core principles and values. What is the objective of the plan?

* Be sure there is input and ownership of the key stakeholders.

* Develop a communications strategy that extends to both your employees and franchisees. Be sure it has been communicated to the appropriate third parties whether it is a financial source or vendors.

* Ensure there is review of the plan and provide the appropriate training to support its execution. Make it a point of reviewing the plan with franchisees.

* Plan periodic reviews of both the strategy and implementation strategy. Does it reflect the current business environment? Is your risk assessment up to date?

* Are there additional resources the franchisor should be committing today in the form of risk management to manage and minimize the cost of a crisis event?

* What steps are being taken to recover from the crisis? How does the franchisor ensure its brand's integrity following a crisis?

In the unfortunate event that a franchise company has a crisis to address, it is essential that it does a full assessment of what it learned, how the plan reacted and what additional modifications or training may be needed for the future. The crisis-management strategy and implementation must be continually evaluated, just as companies continue to assess the business environment in which they operate in every day.

Do not underestimate the potential risk and costs of a crisis, regardless of the form it may take to your business. It is essential that part of your overall business planning involves being proactive in developing both a strategy and implementation plan to deal with any potential crises.

[Sidebar]

Identify a champion for developing the strategy.

[Author Affiliation]

By Bruce V. Bloom, CFE

Enlarge 200%

Enlarge 400%

[Photograph]

[Author Affiliation]

Bruce V. Bloom, CFE, is principal/member of Bloom & Associates, LLC. He can be reached at bvbloom@aol.com.

Bloom serves on the IFA Franchise Relations Committee. For more perspectives on franchise relations, visit FRC online at IFA 's Web site, www.franchise.org, by selecting Member Resources, Publications and Franchise Relations Documents.

Indexing (document details)

Subjects:	Franchisees, Management of crises, Strategic planning
Classification Codes	2310, 9520, 9190
Locations:	United States--US
Author(s):	Bruce V Bloom
Author Affiliation:	By Bruce V. Bloom, CFE Bruce V. Bloom, CFE, is principal/member of Bloom & Associates, LLC. He can be reached at bvbloom@aol.com. Bloom serves on the IFA Franchise Relations Committee. For more perspectives on franchise relations, visit FRC online at IFA 's Web site, www.franchise.org, by selecting Member Resources, Publications and Franchise Relations Documents.
Document types:	Feature
Document features:	Photographs
Publication title:	Franchising World. Washington: Jan 2009. Vol. 41, Iss. 1; pg. 55, 3 pgs
Source type:	Periodical
ISSN:	10417311
ProQuest document ID:	1646123991
Text Word Count	1229
Document URL:	http://proquest.umi.com.libproxy.nlb.gov.sg/pqdweb?did=1646123991&sid=5&Fmt=4&cl ientId=13402&RQT=309&VName=PQD

PDF has been saved

2009-08-27T00:45:00.001+08:00

Mentor and Mentee Attitudes in Mentoring for New Entrepreneurs

Jimmy Wikholm, Thomas Henningson, Claes M Hultman. International Council for Small Business (ICSB). World Conference Proceedings. Washington: 2008. pg. 1, 27 pgs

Abstract (Summary)

A national governmental mentoring programme for new entrepreneurs was launched in Sweden in 2005. This programme has so far been very successful and experience gained in this process has been reported successively at ICSB conferences. The purpose of this paper is to report of mentor and mentee attitudes towards participation in this mentoring programme. Data is based on extensive nationwide telephone interviews with 200 of the mentors and mentees involved. Measuring the value of mentoring is a complex matter. Following interviews with both mentors and mentees, the answer is unambiguous. Mentoring creates value for mentees who are involved. It is thus evident that mentoring of new entrepreneurs carries very high value. Value that must be recognised and used to its full potential. In Sweden there are now just over 2,000 mentors and mentees involved in the national programme aimed at new entrepreneurs, in a country with around nine million inhabitants and about 44,000 newly-launched companies a year. We are firmly convinced that it would be possible to set up at least four times as many mentoring pairs a year because of the tremendous demand and the voluntary resources available in society. These results indicate that mentoring can be used to a much greater extent than was previously considered possible. We intend to continue sharing what we learn from managing the mentoring programme in Sweden through our papers. We hope that other countries will also review their potential supply and demand for mentoring. Sweden is not unique in our opinion. If we harness the power of mentoring, we will see our new entrepreneurs developing much healthier and stronger enterprises. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Full Text

(5909 words)

[Headnote]

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to report of mentor and mentee attitudes towards participation in this mentoring programme. Data is based on extensive nationwide telephone interviews with 200 of the mentors and mentees involved.

Measuring the value of mentoring is a complex matter. Following interviews with both mentors and mentees, the answer is unambiguous. Mentoring creates value for mentees who are involved. It is thus evident that mentoring of new entrepreneurs carries very high value. Value that must be recognised and used to its full potential. In Sweden there are now just over 2,000 mentors and mentees involved in the national programme aimed at new entrepreneurs, in a country with around nine million inhabitants and about 44,000 newly-launched companies a year. We are firmly convinced that it would be possible to set up at least four times as many mentoring pairs a year because of the tremendous demand and the voluntary resources available in society.

These results indicate that mentoring can be used to a much greater extent than was previously considered possible. We intend to continue sharing what we learn from managing the mentoring programme in Sweden through our papers. We hope that other countries will also review their potential supply and demand for mentoring. Sweden is not unique in our opinion. If we harness the power of mentoring, we will see our new entrepreneurs developing much healthier and stronger enterprises.

Keywords: mentor, senior executives, mentee, adept, protégé, start-up, new starter, entrepreneur, mentoring, mentoring programme, business, enterprise, supply, demand, theory, practice, attitudes

INTRODUCTION

In recent years mentoring for entrepreneurs has become a hot topic of debate with many people implementing it at a regional level. At a national level there is still a lot to be desired all around the world.

Within the framework of the EU Commission's initiatives for entrepreneurship, in terms of both innovation and entrepreneurial policy, there is an unutilised, dormant potential.

But more and more governments all over the world are acting and starting to set up their own national mentoring programmes for their new starters. The USA was the first to produce a national mentoring programme with SCORE [www.score.org], which has an association with the Small Business Administration (SBA), which started up a voluntary mentioning programme for the country's new starters in 1963 with the aid of 2,500 voluntary mentors. SCORE was very early on the scene, and it is really only after the turn of the century that other countries started to use mentoring on a somewhat larger scale as an operational element of business policy.

In 2005 Sweden launched a national mentoring programme [Mentor Eget Företag/Mentor Your Business, 2008] for prospective new starters, financed by NUTEK [NUTEK, 2008]. The mentors consist of senior executives from the business world who put themselves forward as mentors for one year on an entirely voluntary basis. At present the programme is active in all counties all over Sweden, involving around 2,000 people (1,000 mentors and 1,000 mentees).

The high level of participation has meant that at present Sweden has the biggest mentoring programme in the world in terms of new starters per capita. In terms of size, Sweden is in second place after SCORE in the USA, which has around 10,500 mentors. The mentoring programme is run by ALMI Företagspartner and Jobs and Society/Nyföretagarcentrum.

In this paper we will be using a number of terms, and it may be appropriate to present these at an early stage of this article.

The following are short definitions of terms frequently used in this paper:

Mentors are retired or active senior executives with a background as self-employed entrepreneurs or in senior management positions, who are willing to provide free mentoring to start-ups.

Mentees also referred to as adepts, entrepreneurs, new starters, start-ups and protégés. These are defined as small to medium-sized entrepreneurs who are in their first three years since the start-up of the business.

Mentoring is a relationship process between an adept and a mentor, independent of age and gender, where the mentor motivates and guides the adept forwards to a contracted stated goal, based on the mentor's accumulated knowledge and experiences. The mentor is helped in this by his/her experiences, knowledge and a network that the mentor possesses and knows how best to use in various situations.

Mentoring programmes in this paper refer to formal mentoring programmes for new starters, where mentors and adepts are paired by a third party.

Mentoring

The term 'mentoring' has its origins in Greek mythology. Mentor is a character in the literary work The Odyssey. Mentor is Odysseus' best friend, and when Odysseus has to go to war he asks his friend Mentor to bring up his son Telemachos and tells him to teach my son all you can and make him into a good person. [Homer, 800 BC]

A lot has been written about mentoring, and it can often be difficult to sift through the information available. A search on Google [www.google.com] using the keywords: mentor + entrepreneur produces 1,200,000 hits. If the keyword programme is added, the search is narrowed down to 159,000 hits. It can thus be confirmed that mentoring programmes for entrepreneurs is an extremely topical subject with a vast range of information.

Mentoring is a methodology that can be applied in all fields and sectors. We would like to emphasise that it is only a methodology that is essentially the same for all users. The difference lies in the purpose of the mentoring. Successful mentoring requires a clearly defined purpose, as the purpose and the methodology complement one another.

One can reflect and philosophise a lot about why mentoring programmes are starting to appear on such a large scale just now. Things have gone so far that the word mentor has been almost totally diluted. Nowadays teachers at many schools are called mentors rather than teachers. It is therefore extremely important that everyone involved in mentoring define precisely what they mean by the term mentor and the purpose of the mentoring process.

The methodology for mentoring, i.e. learning from another person's experiences and knowledge within a given area, has presumably existed since the dawn of man and even before then. If we look at the animal kingdom, we see this behaviour of watching and learning from the example of an elder. Essentially it is a matter of survival, and nature has made this methodology the most important one, as it is the clear methodology for learning and surviving in the long term. A methodology that has survived until the present day.

If we look at society in general, there is much talk in political and media circles about the importance of having both male and female role models while growing up. The reasoning is that the person in question will build up a broader perspective and make the right choices when making tough decisions.

As mentioned above, the methodology of mentoring has always existed. If we continue to philosophise, we might consider why mentoring has become so topical right now. Have we missed something that we have become eager to recover? Since the age of industrialisation, companies have been continuously rationalised at a very high tempo. This may have led to companies starting to rely increasingly on technology and less on people. This has meant that when someone retires, they are givens thanks in the form of a gift, a bunch of flowers and a piece of cake. After the retirement party the person leaves the company, taking along that person's experiences and knowledge. Long before a person leaves a position, that person should be linked up with other people so that experiences and skills can be passed on in an ecological system.

It is important to emphasise that it gives a lot of satisfaction to an older person when they can offer assistance, even on a voluntary basis. The easy option is to spend time in the summerhouse or go off and play golf for a year. But then a large number of people who have retired start to become restless, and a degree of regret at not being a key person in society starts to be felt. Mentoring is something noble. It is an opportunity for an older person to realise a purpose in life, a chance to pass on a lifetime of learning. Such a role creates a high degree of job satisfaction and also the ability to feel involved on an operational level once more, where your knowledge is highly valued.

Nowadays there is more investment in service companies than in manufacturing companies. This has meant that the spotlight has once more fallen on the person or the individual. It has thus been a completely natural step to reinvigorate what we now refer to as mentoring. We can find mentoring everywhere today, in all different fields of both public and private sectors [SKF 2008; Volvo 2008; Sahlgrenska Hospital 2008].

Service companies carry a far greater element of risk than a manufacturing company. The entire balance sheet goes home every day at five o'clock when the working day is over. This means that the company's product consists of the personal knowledge of its employees. Employees who can hand in their notice or move to a competitor whenever they want. It is not possible to avert the possibility that key people might disappear at short notice. The awareness that knowledge might disappear overnight has perhaps also led to an increase in mentoring. This is because it is important to pass on the knowledge of key people as far as possible so that some of their knowledge and experience remains even after the key person has left the company. Service companies also struggle with other problems such as arranging loans and security. A service company borrows to bring in knowledge that cannot be realised to generate liquid funds if required. A manufacturing company can always realise the value of its stock, machinery, etc.

A mentoring programme can be compared to a trainee programme that takes in young people and gets them into good shape. These people have the chance to try out various jobs around the world in a one-year scheme with an extremely structured format. These companies use such schemes to create their managers of the future. These people also get to meet key people and a personal mentor to inspire and teach them. It is all about giving and sharing knowledge for the benefit of people who are happy to receive this knowledge for the benefit of both the individual and the company. With voluntary mentoring we can now also offer similar trainee programmes to new starters in society with the aid of mentoring programmes. Those who have completed a mentoring programme as mentees will have more under their belt as they fight off the competition and will also be able to get out more quickly and make their mark on the international stage. In a world that is becoming increasingly interlinked.

How to measure mentoring

The benefit is easy to comprehend, but difficult to measure; by "benefit" we mean the positive value of the scheme for the recipient. How can you measure the benefit of a mentoring initiative? It is impossible. To be able to measure it, we must be able to see the consequences of first of all going in through Door 1, and then measure what happened, and then going through Door 2 and doing the same thing. If the mentoring initiative was Door 2, we would hope that that was the door that created the best growth for the entrepreneur. We can only draw hypothetical conclusions about the scale of the benefit. Having had a mentor and not having had a mentor - which produced the best result? What's done is done, and cannot be changed. You cannot go back in time and make a different choice. We will always revert to hypothetical reasoning. Mentoring brings out a qualitatively strong dimension.

As we discussed previously, mentoring has been around for a very long time, and the methodology exists in the animal kingdom. The benefit is there, but is difficult to measure. If we undertake a mentoring initiative today and then follow up on the initiative in three years' time, a lot will have happened in those three years. How many of these events are not a consequence of the mentoring programme? We must use mentoring to develop reliable targets such as a higher survival rate and better growth.

It is also the complexity of mentoring that makes it difficult for decision-makers to make decisions on whether to invest in mentoring or in some other kind of initiative. Mentoring also contributes towards greater prosperity and better finances for both entrepreneur and society.

CONSIDERATION OF THE PROBLEM:

It is easy to understand the benefit of mentoring. But much more difficult to measure it. Mentoring is and always has been difficult to measure. What does a specific initiative involve and mean for the recipient? Does the initiative mean that things will go better for the recipient after the initiative than if the initiative had not been undertaken? For all kinds of initiatives, the hope is that they will produce an increased, positive value. Two methods above all can be used to attempt to produce measurements: attitude surveys and measurements of effects.

To be able to achieve as much benefit as possible, there must have been optimal matching between mentee and mentor. The strength of a good match is based on there being people who can recognise and assess people's qualities and needs, and can bring them together on a sound basis.

The attitude survey and the measurement of effects complement one another as research tools. The attitude survey provides us with the respondents' opinions and the measurement of effects provides us with key ratios.

The aim of the attitude survey is to highlight the benefit of the mentoring initiative for new starters. How can we measure or confirm the benefit in an attitude survey? It is unfortunately not possible to measure the benefit in an attitude survey, but rather to confirm that there is or is not a benefit and the scope of this benefit according to the respondents.

In order to be able to confirm whether there is any benefit in Sweden's national mentoring programme, Mentor Eget Företag/Mentor Your Business, we have chosen certain specific values in order to be able to determine the benefit. We want to know whether:

* the mentees' entrepreneurial qualities were developed

* mentees and mentors set up targets and action plans

* mentees and mentors are working according to a defined action plan

* the mentees' business concept has been changed/developed

* mentees and mentors believe that a new starter with a mentor can be developed more quickly than a newly started company without a mentor

* mentees and mentors are happy with the contribution of their mentor/mentee

* mentees and mentors are happy with their own commitment

* what mentees and mentors believe are the benefits of the mentoring programme

To be able to get the best possible answers, we decided to put the same questions to both mentors and mentees. This would enable us to find out whether the perceptions of mentees and mentors correspond.

The purpose of this paper is to assess whether there is any benefit in the mentoring programmes for new starters by investigating and analysing mentors' and mentees' experiences of and attitudes towards the Mentor Eget Företag/Mentor Your Business programme.

METHOD:

This paper is based on three earlier papers in the field of supply and demand for mentoring new starters, with senior executives acting as mentors.

In our first study, we looked at the potential supply of senior management mentors and our targets were self-employed entrepreneurs and senior executives in Sweden. As a result, we developed cooperation with StyrelseAkademien, which is an association for board members in Sweden. The members of this association have the right background. The association is widespread in Sweden, located in both large and small cities in seven regions. We did not gain access to all the association's members but to members in five of the regions. In order to achieve a high response rate, the chairman of the board for each region in StyrelseAkademien helped us by sending an email, with a link to the online questionnaire, stating the importance of answering the survey. After two weeks, a reminder email was sent to those who had not yet replied. The total survey population with email in the five regions was 1,269, while the total number of members in all seven regions was approximately 1,800. The survey had a response rate of 32%. [Henningson; Wikholm; Hultman, 2004]

In our second study, we looked at the potential demand for mentoring from new starters and our targets were new starters in different sectors located throughout Sweden. The definition we used for a new starter was a business in its first three years since the start-up. We received the names of potential respondents from Statistics Sweden, which is the central government authority for official statistics and other government statistics. The target population was a new business that had been registered as a start-up in 2001 or later. When filtered this gave us a survey population of 1,022 , of whom 496 responded, representing a response rate of 48.53%. In order to achieve a high response rate, we followed up with three email reminders to non-respondents. The reason for this was that we assumed that a survey email was not of immediate importance for a business and might easily get mislaid, due to all the new emails arriving in the inbox. [Wikholm; Henningson; Hultman, 2005]

The results from these two studies indicated that almost 50% of senior executives would consider becoming a mentor, free of charge, for a new starter and 80% of the new starters would like a mentor.

In our third paper we moved on from theory to practice, following the process from the first study to a national mentoring programme in Sweden. [Wikholm; Henningson; Hultman, 2007].

In this paper, which is the fourth in our series, we present an attitude survey on the value of mentoring. The attitude survey was conducted in the form of 200 telephone interviews. When the programme has been running for four years we will also conduct follow-up in the form of a measurement of effects, in which we will compare the year-end accounts of those who have been involved in the mentoring programme against a control group that was not involved in the mentoring programme.

The telephone interviews were conducted in the period June-August 2007 by CMA - Centrum för Marknadsanalys AB on behalf of ALMI Företagspartner. The results of the survey are based on telephone interviews with a total of 200 people. 100 of these are entrepreneurs who have started up their own company and 100 are mentors to entrepreneurs. The material collected was processed in SPSS.

About the respondents

A total of 400 people responded to the survey; of these, 100 are prospective entrepreneurs, 100 are mentors to prospective entrepreneurs, 100 are entrepreneurs who have started up a company and 100 are mentors to entrepreneurs.

Within all groups service companies are the most prevalent, followed by trading companies, while the lowest proportion constitutes industrial or craft-based companies.

Among prospective entrepreneurs, 53% live in a town with more than 50,000 inhabitants, and 59% of entrepreneurs live in a town with more than 50,000 inhabitants. 61% of the mentors to prospective entrepreneurs and 69% of the mentors to entrepreneurs live in a town with more than 50,000 inhabitants.

The majority of respondents have been involved in the mentoring programme for 4- 6 months. Among mentors to entrepreneurs, a higher proportion than others, 39% (39 mentors), have been involved in the programme for more than 6 months. Prospective entrepreneurs have been involved in the programme for a shorter time than the others.

Among entrepreneurs, 34% (34 mentees) had been running their companies for 0-1 year before the mentoring programme started and 59% had been running them for 2-3 years. Among mentors, a higher proportion, 49%, had contact with companies that had been running for 0-1 year before the mentoring programme.

Among entrepreneurs and prospective entrepreneurs there are slightly more women than men, while among the mentors there are more men.

Most entrepreneurs and prospective entrepreneurs are in the age range 19-55, while the mentors are as a rule aged 41 or over.

11% of entrepreneurs and 13% of prospective entrepreneurs were born in a country other than Sweden. Fewer of the mentors were born abroad.

EMPIRI

The mentees' views:

The mentoring programme

Most (91%) of the entrepreneurs state that the mentoring programme is currently running, 1% that it has been completed and 8% that it has been discontinued.

37% of respondents believe that their entrepreneurial qualities have definitely developed as a consequence of the mentoring programme, and the same proportion believe that these qualities have been partly improved. 52% of entrepreneurs have, together with their mentor, defined targets and an action plan for the mentoring programme. Of these, 85% are working according to the defined targets and action plan. 35% need checklists and material relating to the mentoring programme.

The business concept

42% of respondents believe that their business concept has changed/developed as a consequence of the mentoring programme, 52% believe that the business concept remains unchanged, while 6% did not express an opinion. 48% of those who believe that their business concept has developed believe that they have better knowledge and understanding, and 19% believe that they have been given tips/ideas/advice. A smaller proportion have gained a wider network of contacts or a broader field of business.

Attitudes - Mentees

On the whole, 87% of the entrepreneurs are satisfied with the Mentor Eget Företag/Mentor Your Business mentoring programme. 9 out of 10 respondents believe that a company with a mentor can develop more quickly than a newly started company without a mentor. More than 8 out of 10 respondents are on the whole satisfied with their contact with ALMI Företagspartner and with their mentor's contribution.

73% are satisfied with the information meetings arranged, and those who are not satisfied explain this by stating that they had higher expectations or that they were given irrelevant information. A smaller proportion, 59%, are satisfied with their commitment to the mentoring programme. Those who are not satisfied with their commitment reply that this is due to a shortage of time and that they are unmotivated/uncommitted.

96% of entrepreneurs would consider recommending the mentoring programme to a colleague or another entrepreneur. 28% of respondents think that the best feature of the mentoring programme has been the support and guidance, and 27% think that the best feature was the mentor's sharing of knowledge/experience. In general quite a lot of respondents believe that the best features were contact with the mentor, swapping ideas with others and making new contacts.

The mentors' views:

Almost all (93%) mentors state that the mentoring programme is currently running, while 7% state that it has been discontinued.

The mentoring programme - Mentors

21% of mentors definitely believe that their mentee's entrepreneurial qualities have developed as a consequence of the programme. 56% believe that they have developed to some extent, 14% that they have not changed at all and 9% did not express an opinion. 77% of mentors have, together with their mentee, defined targets and an action plan for the mentoring programme, and of these 78% are working according to the defined targets and actions plan. 32% believe that they need checklists and material relating to the mentoring programme. 92% of mentors would consider continuing to be a mentor in the mentoring programme.

The business concept - Mentors

54% of mentors believe that the business concept has changed/developed as a consequence of the mentoring programme. 44% believe that it has not changed, while 2% have no opinion. 37% of those who believe that the business concept has developed think that they have achieved a clearer concept/objective/vision, and 28% think that they have achieved better knowledge/understanding/insight. In general mentors believe, among other things, that they have achieved a broader field of business and more structure/focus.

Attitudes - Mentors

Most mentors (94%) believe that a newly started company with a mentor has an opportunity to develop more quickly that one without a mentor. More than 80% are on the whole satisfied with their contact with ALMI Företagspartner, with the information meetings and with the mentoring programme in general. 72% of mentors are on the whole satisfied with their mentee's contribution, and the same proportions are satisfied with their own commitment to the mentoring programme. Common comments from those who are not satisfied is that there is not enough motivation/commitment.

Almost all of the mentors (98%) would consider recommending the mentoring programme to a colleague or another entrepreneur. 2 out of 10 mentors believe that the contact with the mentee/new entrepreneur has been the best feature of the mentoring programme. Almost as many believe that the best feature was the opportunity to get involved, develop new contacts/networks and to share experiences.

DISCUSSION

The mentees develop as entrepreneurs

As many as 74% of mentees believe that their entrepreneurial qualities have developed as a consequence of the mentoring programme. 77% of mentors believe that their mentee's entrepreneurial qualities have developed as a consequence of the programme.

The above figures show that a mentee becomes better at business if he/she takes part in a mentoring programme. As each mentoring relationship is unique, it is difficult to state specifically which qualities have developed. It should reasonably lead to the mentee gaining a greater degree awareness of himself/herself as an entrepreneur and of his/her company. A first stage in the mentoring process is that the mentee finds his/her place in the market with the right products/services, prices and customers. After discussions with his/her mentor, the mentee achieves this and can then start to develop more long-term strategies. When the mentoring programme is over, the mentee will retain his/her developed entrepreneurial qualities in his/her continued work.

By running his/her company with greater knowledge, this will hopefully lead to the survival rate of participating mentee companies increasing compared with control groups. The mentoring programme will also hopefully lead to increased growth, interest from investors, better risk analyses, a desire to employ and better business in general.

Just over half of the mentees are working more systematically by drawing up an action plan with defined targets towards which they work and on which they base their decisions. This leads to more, and better, control of the company and where the company is heading. Most of the mentees did not have a business plan or an action plan before they jointed the mentoring programme. All of the information was kept inside the entrepreneur's head. This means that there was no proper analysis of competitors or the outside world, which meant that the company embarked on the market without any definite strategies.

Both mentors (94%) and mentees (90%) are convinced that a new starter with a mentor develops more quickly than a newly started company without a mentor. These people are involved in an active mentoring programme, and if anyone should have a reliable view of how much a mentor affects development, they should. It is difficult for outsiders to form a reliable perception of the value of mentoring if the person in question is not in a mentoring programme environment. This is because mentoring can appear somewhat abstract. There is nothing tangible about it, the effects take time to calculate and the results obtained cannot be attributed 100% to the consequences of a mentoring initiative.

Most mentees change their business concept

As many as 42% of mentees and 54% of mentors believe that the mentee's business concept changed/developed as a consequence of the mentoring programme. These are rather high figures, as before the mentoring programme these mentees considered that their business concepts were good enough to beat the competition. Through discussions between mentor and mentee, the mentee has primarily obtained better understanding of, knowledge of and insight into his/her business concept.

Changing a business concept is a major step based on a mutual belief that this is the way forward. The mentee must then move from discussion to action and truly believe in his/her "new" business concept, and not slip back to the old business concept. A high degree of resolution and faith is needed on the part of the mentee and tremendous knowledge and experience on the part of the mentor to dare to implement these changes.

If almost half of the mentee company's business concepts have changed/developed, it is easy to imagine what happens in newly started companies that are not involved in a mentoring programme. If almost half of these companies outside the programme are based on a concept that really needs developing to beat the competition, this is rather worrying. It does not necessarily mean that these companies will go bankrupt, but rather that their startup process will be unnecessarily long and expensive, and perhaps in some cases will lead to bankruptcy.

Own contribution and commitment

As far as the mentees are concerned, 82% are satisfied with their mentor's contribution to their relationship. This can be compared with the fact that 72% of mentors are satisfied with their mentee's contribution to their relationship. There is a rather large difference between the views of mentors and mentee of each other's contributions. One explanation may be that 72% of mentors are satisfied with their commitment to the mentoring scheme, while only 59% of mentees satisfied with their commitment to the mentoring scheme.

In most cases the mentors with their knowledge and experience do not have any difficulty in seeing the potential in a person and his/her business concept. Then, when the mentee has to commit to fulfilling his/her full potential, according to the mentees themselves they do not succeed in full. However, the mentors are just as satisfied with their own and their mentee's commitment.

Why do mentees have a lower perception of their own commitment than their mentors? Most mentees want to get a lot out of their mentoring when they see the incredible potential. They know that they themselves are the bottleneck. If the mentee wants to develop more, he/she must put in more time and commitment. The benefit becomes so tangible for the mentee that he/she could effectively spend all of his/her time on this. But reality soon bites for a new entrepreneur. It is difficult to find time to implement all of the new changes and tasks to be undertaken between all of the meetings, as well as attending information and networking meetings that have been arranged.

The mentee must generate money to survive, so when faced with a choice of meeting the mentor or a customer he/she has to choose the latter option. This also means that mentees often take on a wide range of tasks, not all of which are part of the core business on which the mentees should be focusing according to the strategy agreed with the mentor.

For this reason it is not difficult to identify with the mentees' frustration at or low perception of his/her own contribution. The mentors are clearly satisfied with the mentees' efforts, while at the same time the mentees feel that there is so much more than they can do with the aid of their mentors.

CONCLUSION

Measuring the value of mentoring is a complex matter. Following interviews with both mentors and mentees, the answer is unambiguous. Mentoring creates value for mentees who are involved. But what is the value created by voluntary mentoring aimed at new entrepreneurs in a national context where the programme is financed with the aid of government and regional funds? What is there to say that the value of mentoring is higher than any other initiative aimed at new entrepreneurs? Which initiatives give us the best value for each krona invested? As many initiatives are projects, they are time-limited and often span rather short periods such as 1-3 years. An approach that means that major measurements of attitudes and effects cannot be performed on these projects to the same extent as is the case with longterm investments. It is far easier for a company, as each krona invested must generate as high a return as possible. Companies invest in whatever generates a high yield and do not undertake investments that cannot be measured against the yield requirements.

It is our firm conviction that mentoring initiatives generate a very high yield per krona invested. In a discussion in 2006 with Enterprise Ireland, which runs a mentoring programme aimed at companies with export potential, they told us that they have about 80 services on offer, and that mentoring was number 2 among all services demanded. We are also experiencing a very strong demand in the Swedish national programme.

For us it is thus evident that mentoring of new entrepreneurs carries very high value. Value that we must recognise and use to its full potential. In Sweden we now have just over 2,000 people involved in the national programme aimed at new entrepreneurs, in a country with around nine million inhabitants [Statistics Sweden, 2008] and about 44,000 [ITPS, 2008] newly-launched companies a year. We are firmly convinced that we would be able to set up at least four times as many mentoring pairs a year because of the tremendous demand and the voluntary resources available.

FUTURE RESEARCH

In 2005 we launched our pilot programme in Örebro County. The mentors and mentees that started then completed the programme in 2006. This means that in 2009 we will be able for the first time to measure the effects of the mentoring programme for this group. Measuring the effects means that three years after completion of the mentoring programme we will review these mentees' latest yearend accounts and compare them with a control group that did not take part in the mentoring programme. This will enable us to identify the survival rates and growth factors.

[Reference]

SOURCES

Written:

Henningson Thomas; Wikholm Jimmy; Hultman Claes M.; (2004) "Mentoring New

Entrepreneurs - a Course of Action to Retain Knowledge and Experience in Society", Presented at the ICSB World Conference 2004, Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa

Homer, The Odyssey, 800 BC

Wikholm Jimmy; Henningson Tomas; Hultman Claes M.; (2005) "Demand for Mentoring among New Starters", Presented at the ICSB World Conference 2005, Crystal Gateway Marriott Washington, Washington DC, USA

Wikholm Jimmy; Henningson Tomas; Hultman Claes M.; (2007) "Supply and demand for mentoring: implementing theory in practice", Presented at the ICSB World Conference 2007, Turku, Finland

Electronic:

ALMI Företagspartner - www.almi.se

Enterprise Ireland - www.enterprise-ireland.com

Google - www.google.com

Institutet för tillväxtpolitiska studier (ITPS) - www.itps.se

Jobs and Society / Nyföretagarcentrum - www.jobs-society.se

Mentor Eget Företag - www.mentoregetforetag.se

NUTEK - www.nutek.se

Sahlgrenska Hospital - www.sahlgrenska.gu.se

Small Business Administration (SBA) - www.sba.gov

Statistiska centralbyrån (SCB) - www.scb.se

SCORE - www.score.org

SKF - www.skf.com

VOLVO - www.volvo.com

[Author Affiliation]

Jimmy Wikholm

ALMI Företagspartner / ALMI Businesspartner

Klarabergsviadukten 70, PO Box 703 94, SE-103 27 Stockholm, Sweden

Email: jimmy.wikholm@almi.se

Thomas Henningson

ALMI Företagspartner / ALMI Businesspartner

Köpmangatan 23-25, PO Box 8023, SE-700 08 Örebro, Sweden

Email: thomas.henningson@almi.se

Claes M. Hultman

Swedish Business School at Örebro University, ESI, SE-701 82 Örebro, Sweden

Email: claes.hultman@oru.se

Indexing (document details)

Subjects:	Mentoring programs, Mentors, Startups, Small & medium sized enterprises-SME, Supply & demand, Studies
Classification Codes	9175, 8306, 9520, 1130, 9130
Locations:	Sweden
Author(s):	Jimmy Wikholm, Thomas Henningson, Claes M Hultman
Author Affiliation:	Jimmy Wikholm ALMI Företagspartner / ALMI Businesspartner Klarabergsviadukten 70, PO Box 703 94, SE-103 27 Stockholm, Sweden Email: jimmy.wikholm@almi.se Thomas Henningson ALMI Företagspartner / ALMI Businesspartner Köpmangatan 23-25, PO Box 8023, SE-700 08 Örebro, Sweden Email: thomas.henningson@almi.se Claes M. Hultman Swedish Business School at Örebro University, ESI, SE-701 82 Örebro, Sweden Email: claes.hultman@oru.se
Document types:	Feature
Document features:	References
Section:	Training and Development of Entrepreneurs
Publication title:	International Council for Small Business (ICSB). World Conference Proceedings. Washington: 2008. pg. 1, 27 pgs
Source type:	Conference Proceeding
ProQuest document ID:	1709854351
Text Word Count	5909
Document URL:	http://proquest.umi.com.libproxy.nlb.gov.sg/pqdweb?did=1709854351&sid=3&Fmt=3&cl ientId=13402&RQT=309&VName=PQD

2009-08-27T00:39:00.003+08:00

Fight or Flight

Erika Cohen. Business NH Magazine. Manchester: Aug 2008. Vol. 25, Iss. 8; pg. 12

Abstract (Summary)

Retention Through Connections Seeing that half of NH's college students leave the state after college, University System of NH Chancellor Stephen Reno decided to tackle the problem head on. The task force is co-chaired by Graham Chynoweth, general counsel for Dynamic Network Services in Manchester and chair of the membership committee for the Manchester Young Professionals Network, and Chris Williams, president and CEO of the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce and a steering committee member for IUGO, Nashua's young professionals group. Devitte, the cofounder of Borealis Ventures, a venture capital firm with offices in Portsmouth and Hanover, recruited the mentors for the previously mentioned 20-student entrepreneurship class at UNH's Whittemore School of Business and Economics.

Full Text

(2012 words)

Elizabeth Woznack, a junior at the University of NH, hopes to one day run her own nonprofit or a for-profit company that gives back to the community.

She's exactly the type of student - young, educated and motivated - that NH officials want to retain and have in the workforce. One problem Woznack is thinking of moving to Boston after graduation because she sees more opportunity there.

Woznack's is a familiar story and part of a trend that has NH's business, education and government leaders concerned. Too many students like her are leaving the state. With Boomers readying to retire in a state that has one of the oldest median populations in the country, attracting and retaining young talent is a priority. Its one of the chief reasons the University of NH started an entrepreneurship class this year that partners students with NH entrepreneurs as a way of engaging them and showing them the opportunities that exist in the Granite State. Woznack was part of the inaugural class, one of many efforts focused on getting more kids to go to college in NH and stay after graduation.

Population data is fueling those efforts. Between 2002 and 2007, NH had an estimated 3.3 percent drop in 25- to 34-year-olds. At the same time, there was a 29.1 percent gain in 55-to 64-year-olds, according to the NH Office of Energy and Planning. But there is reason for hope. In the last five years, planning office data shows an estimated 6.9 percent increase in 15- to 24-year-olds. And the population of 25- to 34-year-olds is expected to increase 1.2 percent between 2007 and 2010, with larger double-digit gains by 2020. The challenge now is convincing young people NH has good opportunities, and ones that are financially viable given NH's dubious first place ranking among states for student debt in 2006, according to The Project on Student Debt.

Retention Through Connections

Seeing that half of NH's college students leave the state after college, University System of NH Chancellor Stephen Reno decided to tackle the problem head on. He developed the 55 Percent Initiative - the university system's effort to convince 55 percent of NH college graduates to work, play and stay in the Granite State. He has reached out to business and government leaders to push the initiative forward.

For the initiative to succeed, about 600 more students a year need to stay, which would have an annual $42 million impact on the economy. The university system is working collaboratively with businesses and other organizations to launch a new Web site next spring with job listings, things to do in NH and information about a paycheck's worth in NH versus larger cities. There will also be video testimonials by young professionals in NH, based on a suggestion by students. When Reno talks to students about the 55 Percent Initiative, he almost always brings a representative from one of the state's young professional networks that have sprung up in the past few years. "These young people are living proof of what we are trying to talk about," Reno says.

Young professionals are also the focus of a new task force created by Gov. John H. Lynch to retain and recruit young, skilled professionals in NH. Formed in March, members come from the business and education community as well as the state's young professional organizations. The task force is charged with developing a strategic plan that can be used by the state and various sectors of the economy.

The task force is co-chaired by Graham Chynoweth, general counsel for Dynamic Network Services in Manchester and chair of the membership committee for the Manchester Young Professionals Network, and Chris Williams, president and CEO of the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce and a steering committee member for IUGO, Nashua's young professionals group. The NH College and University Council is providing staffing and support for the task force, which is intended to build on the 55 Percent Initiative.

Entrepreneur Jesse Devitte is optimistic about the various retention efforts. Devitte, the cofounder of Borealis Ventures, a venture capital firm with offices in Portsmouth and Hanover, recruited the mentors for the previously mentioned 20-student entrepreneurship class at UNH's Whittemore School of Business and Economics. Devitte easily recruited about 40 mentors for the class - twice what he needed. "They said, 'If I can give back and help someone who was like me, sure,"' he says, adding many wished they had such a mentor when they were starting out.

The entrepreneurs, called e-mentors, made a significant time commitment to the program. Once paired to work one-on-one with students, they visit with students on campus for projects and discussions, stay in contact by e-mail and host the student at their business. Devitte says the potential payout is huge. "If we can have half of these kids who take this course each semester staying in New Hampshire and starting a business, just imagine the jobs that can flow out of that."

College students are also being called to mentor the next generation. Project Mentor pairs UNH students with middle school students identified as less likely to attend college. The mentors visit the mentees once a week for a semester and in some cases, a year or more. That's important, says Mary Ellen Fleeger, associate vice chancellor for research and planning for the University System, because data show students make the decision to drop out of high school before eighth grade. Fleeger, who heads the mentoring program, says the program recently grew 25 percent to serve 110 students annually after expanding from the Durham campus to Keene, Manchester and Plymouth.

She says surveys by mentees show they are more interested in finishing high school and going to college. A side benefit of the program is some UNH students switched their major to education, a profession in need of new blood as many NH teachers near retirement.

Funding Education

Reno knows that getting more students to attend college will take more than motivation and marketing; it will take money. In 2006, 32 percent of a family's income on average was needed to pay for a four-year public education, according to The New England Journal of Higher Education's 2008 report. That number increases to 79 percent for those making the least money.

The university system has many programs aimed at creatively closing the college affordability gap, Reno says, but there is only so much it can do. He notes that NH's university system receives the least in state appropriations per capita of any state and would need a 40 percent increase to reach 49th place.

One of the newest programs is the three-year-old Affordable College Effort. It is for students whose expected family contribution is $1,000 or less. Instead of taking out loans to cover costs beyond federal grants, the university system funds the rest of the direct costs, usually about $5,000. About 200 students have participated so far, most of them the first in their families to attend college, Reno says.

Students can also save on tuition by taking college-level classes in high school. Project Running Start allows high school students statewide to take community college system classes at their local high school and transfer the credits to college. In the North Country, about 200 high school students a semester participate. "If students are thoughtful about it, they can walk out of high school with a full semester completed to any college in the country," says Mark Desmarais, director of admissions at White Mountains Community College, based in Berlin. At $100 a class, students can get a semester of classes for $400, up to 85 percent off annual community college tuition of about $5,000. When it started in 1999, seven high schools participated; today 70 schools are part of the program.

Desmarais sees an expanded role for the community college system as higher education gets more expensive. The newest program is the Connections Program, where students not accepted to a university system college can attend a community college or Granite State College for one year and automatically transfer credits to their first choice school provided they maintain certain grades. The savings add up as university system institutions can cost up to twice as much.

Reno also sees an increased role for private business. The university system is "in conversation" with some NH businesses to pilot a program where businesses would pay off a portion of students' debt in return for staying with the company for a certain number of years. "Consider this, if your company has to run a search for positions, you can bum off $8,000 mighty quickly," he says. "So we're really trying to see if we can get a company or two to take the leap."

Increasing Aspirations

Central to increasing the number of NH students who go to college is convincing them of its importance. That's the impetus for the Governor's P-16 Working Group, which brings together leaders, including those from the university system, the department of education, the business community, the community college system and the Workforce Opportunity Council, to work within the educational system to encourage more students to stay in school, improve academic performance and go to college.

Formed two years ago, it is still in its infancy, but chairman Kathryn Dodge of the NH Post Secondary Education Commission sees the group as the hub of a wheel. She says it will hold together and coordinate many different efforts statewide including the UNH entrepreneurship class, Project Mentor and any other initiatives focused on student achievement and college attendance. "National statistics suggest that every student needs some kind of certificate or degree to be gainfully employed, even the auto mechanic, because the world is so computerized," Dodge says.

The group has not established goals yet, but it plans to collect data on student achievement, college participation and college success to better understand how to motivate the next generation of students.

One program already underway to offer that motivation is the State Scholars Program, a national program that NH joined in 2007. It targets students in the bottom 75 percent of their class, working with them to connect with area business leaders and encouraging participation in college preparatory classes. Students are asked to join in 8th grade, and both students and parents sign a participation agreement. "When they hear it from business leaders, it kind of hits home," says Scott Power, director of the program, who works at the NH College and University Council. "We're trying to relate what type of skills they need to enter the workforce."

The program started with six pilot schools last fall and is now up to 10. Power says the council plans to add more schools until it is offered statewide. Program participants have exclusive access to scholarships provided by area business leaders and specific federal grants. A total of 145 seniors graduating as scholars in 2008, up from 72 in 2007.

And these efforts don't only target students looking at four-year schools. While more new jobs require a bachelor's degree, more jobs also require at least an associate's degree. That fact hits the North Country particularly hard, where a spate of mill closings ended employment in an industry generations of families depended on. That's why White Mountains Community College recently started a new College Bound partnership with Kennett High School's career technical center in North Conway to encourage students to further their education, even if it's only part time. As an incentive, the college waives the application fee. "Many times, these were students who wouldn't normally go to college," Desmarais says. "Sometimes a first-generation college student doesn't have the support or encouragement at home. Sometimes it's their own belief they can't do it."

New Hampshire education, business and nonprofit leaders say failure is not an option when it comes to getting more students to improve their grades, go to college and work in NH. "These are the people who are going to take our places," Reno says of the students now in school in NH. "If we can't get them from our own state, that's it."

Indexing (document details)

Subjects:	College students, Entrepreneurship, Venture capital companies, Task forces, Secondary schools, Middle school students, Mentors, Mentoring programs, Job creation, Initiatives, Generations, Entrepreneurs, Education, Community colleges, Colleges & universities, Councils, Brain drain
Classification Codes	8130, 9520, 8306, 9190
Locations:	New Hampshire
Author(s):	Erika Cohen
Document types:	News
Document features:	Tables
Publication title:	Business NH Magazine. Manchester: Aug 2008. Vol. 25, Iss. 8; pg. 12
Source type:	Periodical
ProQuest document ID:	1547996981
Text Word Count	2012
Document URL:	http://proquest.umi.com.libproxy.nlb.gov.sg/pqdweb?did=1547996981&sid=3&Fmt=3&cl ientId=13402&RQT=309&VName=PQD

2009-08-27T00:37:00.002+08:00

Service brings mentors to startup firms

Angela Tablac. McClatchy - Tribune Business News. Washington: Jul 17, 2008.

Abstract (Summary)

The service, modeled after a program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, matches startup businesses with teams of experienced business leaders who can serve as mentors.

Full Text

(699 words)

To see more of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.stltoday.com. Copyright (c) 2008, St. Louis Post-Dispatch Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

Jul. 17--After John M. Haake started his Bridgeton-based company, Titanova Inc., in February, he wanted an adviser who could help him navigate the maze of starting a business.

Through a free mentoring service called InnovateVMS, Haake met more than one business counselor.

He met seven.

The service, modeled after a program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, matches startup businesses with teams of experienced business leaders who can serve as mentors. It was launched about 14 months ago by Innovate St. Louis, a regional group aimed at innovation and entrepreneurship.

The Clayton-based service has grown from its initial 18 mentors and four startups to 57 mentors and 46 startups, recruited mainly through word of mouth.

Those numbers are "astonishing," said Sherwin Greenblatt, director of MIT's mentoring program. At the end of the MIT program's first year in 2000, 12 mentors and 15 startups participated in the program, Greenblatt said.

Entrepreneurs, mentors and industry experts say the mentoring service fills an empty niche in St. Louis. It targets startups in all industries and creates long-term relationships with the mentors. Typically, mentors meet with the entrepreneurs on a regular basis.

Other free programs in the area -- like the Small Business Development Centers, run by a network of business advisers, and SCORE, run by retired executives -- counsel owners of new small companies.

However, "a lot of people coming to SCORE are just at the point of thinking about business" and only need advice on an informal, as-needed basis, said Bob Rickert, an InnovateVMS mentor and SCORE counselor.

Entrepreneurs in the Innovate group are further along in the process and need more personalized and continuous guidance, said Rickert, a mentor for Titanova, which uses lasers to weld, heat-treat and repair metal.

In the Innovate service, mentors such as Rickert act as sounding boards for entrepreneurs. The mentors give advice but cannot force entrepreneurs to take it. Also, the mentors cannot invest in the ventures.

Budding entrepreneurs need that un-biased perspective, said Lesa Mitchell, vice president for advancing innovation at the Kansas City-based Kauffman Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes entrepreneurship.

"At a very, very early start of a company, the company might not need a board of directors, but what you need and what you get from a board is ... expertise," she said.

The mentors help entrepreneurs from getting "lost in the fog" of starting a business, Haake said. "There are a lot of things going on when you start a business, and you tend to lose your direction quickly," he said.

While commercialization is the endgame for any entrepreneur, including Haake, it isn't the priority for the Innovate program. The goal for now is the education of budding entrepreneurs, not necessarily the commercialization of products and services.

"It's very early to get caught in the trap of how many companies are funded," Executive Director Pete Peters said. "Those metrics don't tell the story of what's happening."

What does tell the story are the hours of mentoring in the first year, Peters said. Mentors spent more than 1,200 hours with the companies in the service's first year. That amount, Peters said, indicates success.

Perry Wong, a senior managing economist with the Milken Institute, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based economic think tank, said the St. Louis program is a good way to introduce entrepreneurs to advisers, but it's not enough.

The program's success needs to be measured by the success of the startups, said Wong. Mentors also need to take stakes in the startups, he said, because that creates an obligation to the entrepreneurs and ensures the coaching is more than just generic business advice.

Peters said he disagrees. If mentors take a stake in the company, they're not providing unbiased advice. "You don't know what the advice is for, the benefit of the (startup) ... or (the mentor's) investment," he said.

And success takes time, said Peters and MIT's Greenblatt.

"It's not a two-year thing," Greenblatt said. "It takes a long period of time, and that may be why it's hard to measure" success after one year of operation.

atablac@post-dispatch.com -- 314-340-8140

Write a letter to the editor -- Subscribe to a newsletter -- Subscribe to the newspaper

Credit: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Indexing (document details)

Subjects:	Startups, Entrepreneurs, Mentors, Entrepreneurship, Mentoring programs, Innovations
Author(s):	Angela Tablac
Document types:	Financial
Publication title:	McClatchy - Tribune Business News. Washington: Jul 17, 2008.
Source type:	Wire Feed
ProQuest document ID:	1511975791
Text Word Count	699
Document URL:	http://proquest.umi.com.libproxy.nlb.gov.sg/pqdweb?did=1511975791&sid=3&Fmt=3&cl ientId=13402&RQT=309&VName=PQD

2009-08-26T23:56:00.002+08:00

Aug 26, 2009

New mantra for teachers

By Amelia Tan

TEACHERS have a new mantra to guide them in their work: Lead. Care. Inspire.

The tagline, launched on Wednesday by Director-General of Education Ho Peng, was crafted based on feedback gathered from six months of brainstorming with about 28,000 teachers from schools across Singapore.

Teachers were asked by other teachers who led the sessions to share personal stories on what they saw as their strengths. They also gave their vision for the teaching service.

Ms Ho, who was speaking to about 4,000 teachers and schools leaders at the Teacher's Mass Lecture which is held annually to highlight pertinent education-related issues, said it is timely to have a vision statement for teachers as the education system is at an 'inflexion point'.

She said the system has evolved over the past decade, giving school leaders autonomy in school management and teachers leeway to introduce innovative teaching and learning methods.

'With the rapid professional, growth of teachers, I see Singapore teachers as beginning to chart the future of our profession," she added.

'Where do we want to go as the teaching fraternity? Next year is 2010, we are entering a new decade. It is the next lap of the education journey.'

Explaining the vision statement, Ms Ho said teachers should help students discover their talents by giving them the opportunities to do so. They should also step forward to be mentors to younger teachers.

She added that more Professional Learning Communities, or groups formed in schools for teachers to discuss issues such as new teaching methods, will be formed.

Ms Ho also said caring is integral in the responsibilities of teachers. They have to care for the physical safety, social and emotional needs and mould characters of their students.

Great teachers inspire their students to love a subject and other colleagues to become better teachers, she added.

Alfred Wallace

2009-08-26T22:52:00.001+08:00

http://wallacefund.info/en/faqs-myths-misconceptions

2009-08-26T18:39:00.000+08:00

Usain Bolt has a mentor

2009-08-26T18:27:00.000+08:00

Jamie Oliver's Mentor closes restaurant - how ironical

Student Mentor Programme

2009-08-23T21:39:00.003+08:00

I wonder if there should a short programme for all students to learn mentoring. They can

Do away with the Student Councilor?
Learn to have good communication skills
Look at the Big Picture
Understand their own problems
Be more matured
Understand School Culture much better

Qualities of Good Mentor

2009-08-23T21:18:00.002+08:00

M - Motivational

E - Entrepreneurial

N - Neutral

T - Total

O - Organised

R - Resourceful

I - Insightful

N - Networks

G Goal-Oriented

Measuring Mentoring

2009-08-23T21:07:00.002+08:00

M - Measurable

E - Elaborated

N - New

T - Total

O - Organised

R - Result

Usain Bolt

2009-08-23T20:50:00.002+08:00

I read this article with alot of interest.

I wonder if there is also a need for a Sport Mentor to psych the mind of a world-class athlete like Usain Bolt? Or is Technology sufficient?

Hmmm

Peer Advising

2009-08-19T14:18:00.001+08:00

Peer Advising

Service Learning ***

2009-08-19T14:08:00.003+08:00

Service Learning needs mentoring volunteers

Art of First Impression

2009-08-19T14:04:00.001+08:00

First Impression

Disney Characters for Advising (Mentoring)

2009-08-19T13:49:00.001+08:00

Disney

Case Study - Dyslexia

2009-08-19T13:38:00.001+08:00

Reading about this case study

This is a relevant case study about mentoring Carla who has dyslexia

How To Discuss About YOG

2009-08-19T13:19:00.003+08:00

Talk about sportsmanship in that though there is normally one winner, people should remember that sports is about challenging one's environment and even bias. Thus a mentor is important in getting the best out of the sportsperson.

Many see the YOG as the warm-up to the Olympics.

For some foreign participants, this will be the first time that they have visited Singapore and they may want to continue their studies here. So students can be mentors too.

Students can also plan activities that introduces Singapore's attractions and strengths to Foreign students.

2009-08-19T13:09:00.000+08:00

Tips Before Starting The Mentoring Process

2009-08-19T12:08:00.004+08:00

Here are some tips before embarking on the mentoring process. :

Decide on the measurable and intangible results/milestones of mentoring.

Have a serious discussion about the sharing of intellectual property and privacy issues.

Choose Mentors carefully - there should be a review of their performance.

Mentors should not offer their expertise for more than a year - this is to give a new perspective to things.

Mentors should send confidential written reports of the their specific mentoring development to a supervisor.

Find out if the potential proteges are open-minded enough to be mentored.

Are both Mentor and Protege open to using the e-media platform for mentoring?

Publish and document the process.

Using YouTube For Mentoring

2009-08-18T16:34:00.003+08:00

The mentor can use the power of podcasting to make some comments about a particular issue that is happening in the workplace. This will give the protege some idea about what the mentoring meeting will be about. The mentor is able to bring some important points across in his podcast.

I have created a podcast are in YouTube address http://www.youtube.com/mentorsg

Strip Generator Complements Mentoring

2009-08-18T15:48:00.004+08:00

I am very fortunate to have found this website called Strip Generator http://www.stripgenerator.com . It allows you to use pre-created cartoon images and you are able to use your imagination to bring your message across.

I have uploaded a simple cartoon strip that I created to bring home the message of mentoring. What is amazing is that it took me just a few minutes to create an effective visual that I can also upload in my powerpoint slides.

How is this useful for mentoring?

In every workplace, there are certain issues that cause friction and sometimes top management chooses to sweep these problems "under the carpet". It is up to the Mentor and Protege to use cartoons to discuss it and even come out with "out-of-the-box" solutions.

Cartoons can also be used to create scenarios for future crisis management discussions.

The Mentor can also use cartoons to motivate the protege too. Please refer to this simple motivational piece that I created above.

Importance Of Wiki In Mentoring

2009-08-18T15:26:00.003+08:00

Sometimes, there is not enough opportunities for regular mentoring because of the time-constraints of both the Mentor and Protege. A good way to lessen this problem is to create a Wiki. An example is a simple Wiki that I have created about providing simple franchise tips. I have used the free function provided by Wikispaces.

The Mentor can start a Wiki topic called "Challenges of a dynamic environment" and the protege is able to post extensively about his own ideas and difficulties. The Mentor will then be able to reply through the Wiki and keep in touch with the protege.

Another advantage is that there is a storage of important discussions that can be used as a simple record of the depth of mentoring. This record can be further passed on as organisational archive or published as a book.

Usefulness Of Twitter As A Mentoring Tool

2009-08-18T14:58:00.004+08:00

Twitter is an online tool where people can post a maximum of 140 characters in one message. It has also been referred to as a Microblogging tool.

Here are some ways in which mentoring can be aided with Twitter:

Twitter platform is very versatile and can be used 1-1 mentoring through DM and then evolving to a many-2 model.

Twitter can looked upon as a open MSN conferencing tool.

Twitter has a search function called Trending Topics where popular topics are discussed. The mentor can bring up as a discussion some of these topics as a warm-up.

Twitter can be used as a form of direct feedback about the organisation. However, this must be used with extreme care as privacy issues may be involved.

The 140-character limit is a good way in which the main points of discussion can be condensed and important 2-way discussion can be started.

Importance Of Mentoring In The Workplace

2009-08-18T14:41:00.003+08:00

The importance of mentoring in the workplace cannot be over-estimated and it is also an opportunity for new members to fit in quickly with the organisation's goals and mission. Here are some more reasons:

Mentoring allows the positive aspects of organisational culture to be passed on even with the departure of the old guard.

Mentoring allows new employees to feel at home.

Mentoring help the protege to be more opened to new ideas and solutions when facing new challenges.

The Mentoring process can be incorporated with the organisation's Crisis Management Handbook.

The Mentor is able to provide feedback "upwards" to top management about any perceived problems that the current rank-and-file is facing.

2009-07-19T21:40:00.000+08:00

2009-05-24T18:25:00.000+08:00

Joe's words made me think a lot about my online strategy

2009-05-24T18:24:00.000+08:00

Louise's words motivate me..real impetus

2009-05-24T17:54:00.004+08:00

Mardi Tan is such a great personality - hope to write for her website!

2009-05-24T17:47:00.002+08:00

Irene's words were instrumental in me finding more confidence in myself

2009-05-24T17:41:00.000+08:00

Elim gave me words of encouragement..real help indeed

2009-05-24T17:31:00.001+08:00

Willy asked me a great question about mentoring

2009-05-24T17:22:00.003+08:00

Mitch said I needed therapy!

2009-05-24T17:18:00.001+08:00

2009-05-14T14:19:00.001+08:00

Initial Topics

2009-03-09T14:10:00.001+08:00

I have prepared some initial topics for the Singapore conference..

Future Directions of Social Media/

How Social Media can help build branding/

Is the ROI Social Media measurable?/

Can Social Media be used as a marketing tool?

Case-studies

Comments please? :)

Proposed Conference Topics/Themes (Updated)

2009-03-09T13:45:00.004+08:00

I am bouncing the idea of inviting "Well-Known Twitterers" (WKT) to Singapore for a conference.

I am looking for collaborators in:

1) Choosing, contacting and persuading these "WKT"

2) Deciding the topics that they should speak about

3) Commercialing these topics and presentations into a book

4) Creating a marketing strategy

5) Form a Twitter Advisory Super-group

6) Be a financial supporter in this event

As always, each category has financial rewards. I am opened to any suggestion to expand these ideas into revenue-generating streams for everyone involved.

You need not be from Singapore :)

*Latest Update*

This is a list of proposed conference Topics/Themes for the Singapore conference:

*Future Directions of Social Media

*How Social Media can help build branding

*Is the ROI Social Media measurable?

*Can Social Media be used as a marketing tool?

*Case-studies

If you are interested, please post your information in the comment field below.

Thanks.

Colin Ong

colin@mrmc.com.sg

http://www.mrmc.com.sg/colinong.pdf

Conference Details

2009-03-05T22:20:00.006+08:00

This offer is opened to everyone not only those based in Singapore!

I have been active in Twitter for the 6 months and have been honoured to get to know a number of great Twitterers.

I am bouncing the idea of inviting "Well-Known Twitterers" (WKT) to Singapore for a conference.

I am looking for collaborators in:

1) Choosing, contacting and persuading these "WKT"

2) Deciding the topics that they should speak about

3) Commercialing these topics and presentations into a book

4) Creating a marketing strategy

5) Form a Twitter Advisory Super-group

6) Be a financial supporter in this event

As always, each category has financial rewards. I am opened to any suggestion to expand these ideas into revenue-generating streams for everyone involved.

Of all the points, I feel that nos 3 is the fastest revenue-generator.

If you have further suggestions, please post here or email colin@mrmc.com.sg

Want to know more about me?

http://www.mrmc.com.sg/colinong.pdf

Facebook Murders - Original Movie Plot

2009-02-22T17:59:00.001+08:00

1/3 FB Movie - John is a youth who gets ridiculed becos he is a Loner who does not have many friends. He opens a FB account & starts adding

2/3 FB Movie - people. He wants 2 have many contacts, tho he does not know them. He then hears the news of a mysterious death & recognises

3/3 FB Movie - him as his FB contact! Deaths follow the sequence of his contact addition. He tries to locate his NEXT FB contact, but how..?

Twittered The Movie

2009-02-22T17:41:00.000+08:00

1/3 Movie plot - Twitterer discovers that another unknown T posts exact same messages WITHIN 12 hours of his posting, in the same sequence!

2/3 Movie plot - One day, original T does not post and discovers that unknown T posts about his desire to kill his wife becos of a suspected

3/3 Movie plot - affair. He rushes home 2 find wife murdered in the kitchen. Unknown T's account can't b accessed! <>

How Business Should View Twitter

2009-02-19T11:03:00.003+08:00

Twitter is a free micro-blogging site that allows up to 140 characters. It has yet to incorporate any visible form of revenue-generation. However, it member-growth is quite explosive and there are a number of applications that support it

How should you utilise it?

1) For starters create for yourself! Ensure that your Twitter name is memorable and reflects your company's online branding presence.

2) Encourage your business peers to create one too :) If your company is called "OPL", you can name it oplthomaslee for a person named Thomas Lee. Thus there is an online presence for OPL

3) The 140 character requirement (140cr) could be quite cumbersome but u can use http://www.tinyurl.com to shorten the website address. The 140cr is also very useful for people who are used to text-messaging.

4) Search for people who are on Twitter using search. There are a number of famous people here (besides President Obama).

5) Locate their websites, blogs and send an introductory message. I have also connected with a number of Twitter friends through Facebook.

6) Get to know people who follow you on Twitter...they are an important source of market research and networking. The strength of Twitter is its laid back and honest atmosphere. People are quite willing to provide genuine and useful feedback for your company's products.

7) Learn how to promote your company to the large Twitter community. Do not just broadcast about your services. Share knowledge and you will be perceived as a subject-expert.

Best wishes

The Mentoring Board Game - as it stands...

2009-02-19T10:05:00.003+08:00

This is the rough look of my mentoring board game. It has 4 levels

Level1: The Big Idea
Level2: Business Plan
Level3: The Pitch & Get Funded
Level4: IPO

The objective is to get from Level1-4.
I will create a series of scenarios and a team of guest judges will decide.

The marketing value of the board game for corporate training is that the scenarios can be customised to suit the specific situation of the training participants.

I am looking for people who are interested to take this idea to the next step and help create scenarios.

Mentoring Exercise 30

2009-01-28T13:28:00.001+08:00

Your student asks if the whole class can be created on SecondLife. You feel that this is not a good long-term exercise because there is a lack of social interaction. What are your views?

Mentoring Exercise 29

2009-01-28T13:27:00.002+08:00

Your students are having an argument about the importance of having more Facebook contacts. How do you use business ROI to help them understand?

Mentoring Exercise 28

2009-01-28T13:25:00.002+08:00

You wonder why most Business and Economics textbook are written by authors based in the West. You start to inspire your students about creating an economics textbook with all asian case-studies. How will you go about marketing the book?

Mentoring 27

2009-01-28T13:21:00.002+08:00

With the influence of mass media, your class seems to show more interest in President Obama's Fiscal Stmulus than the understanding of how Singapore is the "original economic miracle". They are convinced that he will be infamous if he could create 4m jobs in 4 years!

Are comparisons between Singapore and US valid?

Mentoring 26

2009-01-28T13:20:00.001+08:00

Will robotic soldiers make a much better place since there will be no loss of human life. Do you agree?

Mentoring Exercise 25

2009-01-28T13:15:00.002+08:00

During a GP class discussion about the relevance of religion in society today, your student proposes the concept of collaborative intelligence like a Wiki. "We are greater then our individual intelligence." Your response?

Mentoring Exercise 24

2009-01-28T13:13:00.002+08:00

Your student feels that Wikipedia provides enough information that makes classroom learning obsolete. He waxes lyrical about the advantages of home schooling and complete self-directed learning.

What will be your response?

Mentoring Exercise 23

2009-01-28T13:09:00.002+08:00

Your student comments that Singapore is a very boring country that has to "build up" it attractions like F1 and Integrated Resort. Being very well-travelled, he feels that Singapore does not have any natural attractions and may lose the race to attract more tourists in the future. He brings in alot about the concept of barriers to entry.

How do you respond?

Mentoring Exercise 22

2009-01-28T13:07:00.002+08:00

You are going through the topic of the spread of HIV in developing countries. How do you react to a student's question that if HIV drugs should not be sold cheaply in developing countries because the sufferers are economically less productive than HIV sufferers in advanced countries.

Mentoring Exercise 21

2009-01-28T13:03:00.002+08:00

Get your class to discuss about how to encourage their peers to respect intellectual property. What will be their answer to these questions:

1) There are too many people who are already downloading illegally

2) The orginal suff is too expensive

3) It is ok. We are under-aged

My Thoughts B4 The Singapore Budget Statement

2009-01-22T15:22:00.000+08:00

Host mega clubbing events where concert-goers pay one fee & club around the world for a month
Develop more unique reality TV programmes in Singapore
Allow more youths to balance E-commerce activities with their studies.
Encourage more Singaporeans to study locally - many distance learning courses are of high quality.
Use the coming YOG (Youth Olympics) as an opportunity to build up and improve infrastructure in Singapore.
Target more ASEAN tourists visitors to Singapore - use their children, who are already schooling in Singapore, as tourist ambassadors.
To boost tourism, encourage a combined yearly pass where tourists get discounts to hotels, F&B within the ASEAN region.
Build more hostels and enlarge the Education Sector in Singapore.
Get the 3 local Unis (NUS, NTU, SMU) to combine resources and expertise in order to nurture Singapore's first Nobel Prize Winning team.
Singapore has the expertise to develop Examination Curriculum/Test-Papers especially in Mathematics and Science.
Singapore government should consider charging a consulting fee to help countries develop their own statutory boards like education and healthcare. This consulting fee can then be put back to our national reserves.
Singapore should create a "super-mentor team" comprising of Minister Mentor Lee, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and ex-top Civil Servants who provide consultation for developing countries and paid by IMF - a percentage will be put into our national reserves.

Obama's Inauguration Speech - My Thoughts

2009-01-21T12:55:00.001+08:00

Observation 1: "..mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors"

His first sentence included the remembrance of the past. This is important as it sets the tone for helping the audience understand that the current crisis need not be insurmountable.

Biz Application: This is where the importance of organisational story-telling applies.

Observation 2: He thanked George Bush and had a positive that Bush helped in the transition.

Biz Application: The CEO should always be gracious.

Observation 3: "..faithful to the ideals of our forbearers"

He reiterates the aspirations of past generations of Americans

Biz Application: The CEO should have a good understanding of the organisation's goals and mission statement.

Observation 4: "Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age."

I am amazed by Obama's directness in mentioning "...to make hard choices". It seems that he is admonishing the past American feeling of worshipping all forms of excesses.

Biz Application: The CEO should be a futurist, yet looking rationally at daily operational procedures.

Observation 5: "..each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet."

He uses the term energy and adversaries in the same sentence. This is interesting. Is he implying that America has too much reliance on oil and is at the mercy of the price manipulation of OPEC?

Biz Application: Not sure

Observation 6: "..a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights."

Obama show's an acute understanding of how the rest of the world is currently viewing America..as a country that is too distracted by its domestic woes to pay attention to the war in Gaza, North Korea and even global poverty. The end of the American single Superpower model?

Biz Application: The CEO is allowed to bring in cost-cutting measures but must also have a strategic plan for the future.

Observation 7: "In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame."

Obama is referring to the age old ethos of hard work and honesty. I am wondering if he has hinting that there must be an overhaul of the American Financial System - maybe more government supervision and involvement.

Observation 8: "..it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things"

Is Obama referring that there must be a new spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation in America? The Fords? Gates?

Observation 9: "We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished."

This is one of the rare occasions where Obama brings in some basic economics in this historic speech. He is definitely spot on about America being the most prosperous, at least in GDP terms. However, I think it is unsubstantiated rhetoric when he brings in the productivity of the typical American worker. He should have quoted some relevant statistics to back up this claim.

Observation 10: "..we are ready to lead once more."

In my own opinion, this is the climatic part of Obama's speech. He is reaffirming the desire that there will at least be one Superpower country and there must be leadership to move global issues forward.

Observation 11: "..and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."

This is an obvious reference to America's never-ending fight against terrorism.

Observation 12: "Let it be said by our childrens children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and Gods grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations."

Obama ends his speech with a bang - he encourages Americans to think themselves as history-makers.

Mentoring Exercise 20

2009-01-19T17:12:00.000+08:00

America has a new president - it seems that there is a new wave of openess and idealism. Your students ask you why does the school culture take so long to follow suit. The teaching staff should learn to loosen up.

Mentoring Exercise 19

2009-01-19T17:09:00.000+08:00

One of your students feels that the current environmental crisis has been the product and negligence of the older generation. That is why you are so eager to promote green awareness.

How do you respond?

Mentoring Exercise 18

2009-01-19T17:07:00.000+08:00

The inaugural YOG will be launched in Singapore 2010. Think of various activities that can encourage greater youth awareness in your school

Mentoring Exercise 17

2009-01-19T17:05:00.001+08:00

Singapore has been hit with a recession and a weak external environment.

You are tasked with giving a talk to so that students can make an informed decision to choose their career path. How will you help them if you feel that their dream job may not be viable?

Be pragmatic?

Mentoring Exercise 16

2009-01-19T17:01:00.000+08:00

Your school has been asked to stage a concert like "High School Musical" for a building project.

You have been asked to choose a script but with time and budget constraints.

How will you decide to move on?

Mentoring Exercise 15

2009-01-19T16:54:00.000+08:00

I believe that creating a strong mentoring culture also requires giving back - thus the concept of wiki is very important.

Here are some ideas how a wiki can help:

1) For your Sports CCA - where past participants can share tips about getting the best performance

2) Maybe subject heads can contribute ideas about the teaching of their respective topic

Mentoring Exercise 14

2009-01-19T14:32:00.000+08:00

You are asked to mentor the running of the schools annual magazine and tasked with earning as much money as possible. You can just squeeze one more ad and it is a tossed up between a fast food chain and a book shop. The fast food chain is willing to pay more for the ad space and is also offering a special cut up that gives students a discount on its meals.

How can you decide?

Mentoring Exercise 13

2009-01-19T14:28:00.000+08:00

You have been aproached to improve the school website. You are convinced that the problem lies with the dearth of attractive content that appeals to students and parents. However, you are given a very small budget. You feel that using search engine, you are able to source out for content which need not be paid because the content-originators are not from Singapore.

Should you go ahead? How should you react?

Mentoring Exercise 12

2009-01-19T14:24:00.000+08:00

You are part of a parents group that is setting up a food stall to support the school's fun fair. The stall that raises the most will win a prize and recognition. In the morning of the fun fair, you happen to see a parent buy from a very popular hawker stall, which contradicts the rules of complete food preparation.

As a mentor, should you help improve the quality of your own stall or blow the whistle?

Mentoring Exercise 11

2009-01-19T14:20:00.000+08:00

You have been asked to be a mentor for a a group of students who want to raise funds for a non-profit organisation. During the course of meeting up with them, you feel that the leader of the group has aspirations of using the fund- raising as an opportunity to get attention and maybe a job in the non-profit.

What should you do?

Mentoring Exercise 10

2009-01-18T18:10:00.000+08:00

You discover that a subject teacher's blog provides enough clues to do well in a Science exam. You are also teaching the same subject.

Should you follow through?

Mentoring Exercise 9

2009-01-18T18:01:00.000+08:00

You are the class monitor and have been assigned to be a buddy to a new student who has come from a country whose english is considered as a second language. The new student is very motivated in improving his english competency and insists in joining the class debate team to improve. You are the class captain and u need the team to do well to boost your chances of getting into a good secondary school.

What should you do?

Mentoring Exercise 8

2009-01-18T17:57:00.000+08:00

You have been approached to be part of a Startup that is involved in creating a business strategy board game. However, your progress in the company is impeded by the lack of trust that the board game's creator has in revealing to u the business idea.

How will you proceed?

Mentoring Exercise 7

2009-01-18T17:54:00.000+08:00

Your ex-student asks u for a favour. He has a group of friends who are musically-talented. You watch their singing on YouTube and am very impressed. You suggest that they compose jingles for ads to get exposure.

Do you have other suggestions?

Looking Into 2009 (Chinese Context)

2009-01-18T16:51:00.000+08:00

I recently read with huge interest on Chinadaily.com.cn (December 27, 2008) how authorities in Yizhuang launched a 100 million yuan per year program to recruit overseas-trained Chinese talent to work for companies set up in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (BDA). It was reported that qualified Chinese recruits returning from overseas are entitled to an award of 100,000 yuan in addition to getting housing subsidies, a free medical checkup, and education subsidies for their children. That is not all; companies that employ these returned talents could receive an award of up to 500,000 yuan.

This article reflects the importance of retaining and employing talent in Chinese business. Every employee has a warehouse of experience of knowledge to contribute, even if he had been trained overseas. Actually being trained overseas has an added advantage of being able to increase overseas networking opportunities.

This set the scene for my first article (in the China context) of 2009 – how should Chinese firms view the coming year? Here are some of my views as an Economist and Futurist.

Team up with Chinese Higher Learning

According to The China University Alumni Association, Peking University has been labeled the "cradle of Chinese tycoons". The reason? It topped the list of the richest Chinese college graduates with 35 billionaire alumni! This is followed by Zhejiang University and Tsinghua University. Billionaire alumni from Peking University include sports goods tycoon Li Ning.

It is very crucial that your company get involved with the various activities of Chinese Higher Learning. This can be as simple as sponsoring their events.

Be open with your employee

Don’t make promises that you cannot keep. The global recession is going to last for at least the whole of 2009. This will definitely hit the company’s bottom-line. Cost-cutting will be the norm.

Retrenchment should be the last resort

Nothing is more devastating then to go through a retrenchment exercise. It is the easiest way to solve a bad situation. But is it the best? Will your company be reflected in a good light and get the respect of your employees?

It has been reported by Chinadaily.com.cn that several of Chinese Huddler Liu Xiang's sponsors will continue to support the track star despite his failure in the recently-concluded Beijing Olympics. Nike has even gone so far as to change the tag line of one of its print advertisements to "Love Sport Even When It Breaks Your Heart", which prominently features Liu. Coca-Cola has also said it will continue to endorse Liu.

Find more innovative ways of cutting costs

Your company can start cutting cost by reducing the air-conditioned bills by encouraging workers to dress less formally like in casual jeans for certain work-days. Alternatively, you can encourage them to take the lift less often and use the stairs. Many companies can also drastically save money by encouraging employees to use more of the internet, instead of fax, in order to cut down on paper usage.

More income generated

Help you employees generate more sources of income – even activities that are not traditional like private tutoring. This may sound far-fetched but their activities may open more doors for new source of revenue for your own company. Under-utilised facilities like seminar rooms can also be better employed and the employee may be touched by how open-mindedness of your company. This will also encourage more corporate loyalty.

Book publishing

Nothing gives your company more visibility then publishing a book about your company’s activities. You can even consider getting your top marketer to publish under your company. Give the book out or have a prominent book launch.

Engage Your Customers

Get their feedback on your new launches or through viral marketing, get them to promote your product. Many of your customers have website and blogs so send them a widget to link back to your company.

Mentoring Exercise 6

2009-01-11T21:03:00.000+08:00

As a mentor, how do you ensure that you make a difference in the business decisions of a Startup or Non-profit organisation? Can you be sure that your views are valued, not just your immediate contacts?

Mentoring Exercise 5

2009-01-11T21:02:00.000+08:00

You have been approached to be a mentor/advisory board member for a non-profit organisation. You meet up with the Founder and feel energised - you immediate answer is a resounding "yes". You are also swayed by the membership of a prominent mentor who is a well recognised figure. You convince yourself that you are in very good company.

However, as time progresses, you discover that you are not regularly updated with the organisation's progress and your membership does not create much bearing with the organisation's activities and direction.

Do you stay? Or were you never meant to be part of that organisation?

Should you set up a competiting organisation since as a mentor, you are highly regarded by business professionals and political heavy-weights?

Discuss the various ways in which you should set out your decision-making matrix.

Mentoring Exercise 4

2009-01-11T21:00:00.000+08:00

You chanced on a blog that was set up by your assigned workplace-mentee, that describes much unfavourable remarks about your current company. Your mentee has been careful not to quote names but you are definite that the photos that he has uploaded are taken within the workplace.

Should you report to higher management?

Mentoring Exercise 3

2009-01-11T20:59:00.000+08:00

You have a friend who has just lost his job in senior management position. His retrenchment has thrown a spanner in the works, especially with regards to sending his only child for Overseas studies.

He approaches you and ask for employment within your Startup - preferably as the Managing Director, so that his bank loans will not be affected. However, you are in a dilemma because you feel that there is a wide generational gap.

How will you resolve this problem?

Mentoring Exercise 2

2009-01-11T20:58:00.000+08:00

In a business plan competition, you have been assigned to be a mentor for a Startup. However, the Startup has not been very cooperative and does not reflect a need to be mentored. In actual fact, the Startup has approached another mentor to be in their team.

You decided to break away from them and coincidentally, you discover some information that will help them be more persuasive in their business plan presentation.

Will you inform them?

Mentoring Exercise 1

2009-01-11T20:57:00.000+08:00

Your HR Department has just deployed a new member to your team. He is very experienced and knowledgeable in your industry. It seems he was laid-off from a competing company and is quite judgmental about your current company's operations.

You have been assigned to be his mentor.

Describe your response.

My 2009

2008-12-19T08:38:00.000+08:00

Get more business for MR=MC Consulting (I run it)
Launch business mentoring clubs
Hope that Obama gets the support to move America forwards
*Get his photo when he comes to Singapore for APEC meeting*
Be a good and effective Economics lecturer
Support more worthy causes
Write more/Read more academic journals
Re-discover my religious side
Improve my chess rankings
Maintain my tan
Not lose my voice throughout the year
Get ready for new assignments related to Youth Olympic Games
Get the new U2 Album
Have the time to watch (just) one concert

2008-11-08T21:46:00.000+08:00

This is a recent video interview

Hasselhoff had his share of ups and downs too

2008-07-30T12:32:00.000+08:00

I was kind of inspired when I read this about David Hasselhoff

http://movies.sg.msn.com/features/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1593396

You've had a few "nos" in your life, haven't you?

"I've had some big 'nos,' and they kind of threw me into a tailspin. The first was when I was up for Indiana Jones and Steven Spielberg turned me down. The next came when I was up for Superman and they passed. The latest big 'no' was when I brought Knight Rider back to NBC. They said, 'We love the project, but we don't think we want you starring in it.' And I went, 'Wow.' I'm still part of it because I love NBC and I love the show."

You went through some tough times, including the humiliation of seeing a video of you when you were drunk posted all over the Internet.

"You know, not one person ever stopped me on the street and said anything negative about that except for, like, one very drunk guy in Vegas who goes, 'Hey, man! Let's go out and get drunk and eat a cheeseburger.' I thought, 'There's always one.' But you know what? People realise that I'm a human being and that I take responsibility for my mistakes."

Mentoring Activity 1

2008-07-20T17:55:00.000+08:00

I believe that there are many Facebook Applications that are not receiving enough fans and traffic. One possible mentoring activity for students, in groups of 5, is to approach these FB Apps creators and propose to them about how to improve their programs.

Mentoring Competition

2008-07-18T10:45:00.000+08:00

I have had an idea for some time.... Go to a school and be introduced to the weakest performing student. Mentor him and see whether his grades make an drastic competition. Alternatively, go to a developing country like East Timor and maybe get one of its students to be mentored by the best educators in Singapore... the ending of the second scenario? Will the East Timorese student want to go back to contribute to his country or will he want to settle down in Singapore?

Colin Ong's Mentoring Framework For Schools

2008-07-16T15:38:00.000+08:00

Brain-storm with teachers about creating a customised mentoring framework

Get external mentoring consultants/trainers

Set up mentoring club as CCA

Invite mentors to speak about mentoring

Create positive exposure about mentoring throughout the school

Incorporate mentoring tips within term time and as part of an elective subject

Decide on the time-frame of the end-point of mentoring

Quantify the metrics of both success and failure

Align the mentoring framework with school mission

Start a pioneer group of student mentors who will be permanent mentor advisory group

Get the support of parents group

Create regular mentoring visit overseas

Why Mentoring Is So Worthwhile

2008-07-13T17:03:00.000+08:00

Many people's concept of mentoring is like providing professional advice without being paid.. in way, it sounds like volunteering.

When I set up Mentors4Startups, I wanted to provide a professional platform for mentoring to be executed and my end goal is that the mentor has to be remunerated either in cash or positive exposure.

Why is mentoring so worthwhile for the mentor? Here are some of my thoughts:

1) It enables the mentor to get away from his current job commitments and maybe have a different perspective in his work.

2) Professional mentoring entails looking through business plans and this will help the mentor hone his analytical skills.

3) Many Startups will become the next big business or service. Being part of the mentoring process helps in getting a first-mover advantage in this business.

4) Mentoring gives the mentor an opportunity to give back to society and it is a great social movement.

5) From my own experience, I feel that during my own mentoring, I develop an ability to find solutions to my own business problems.

6) Mentoring helps the mentor develop new contacts.

Mentoring Interviews

2008-07-12T16:34:00.001+08:00

I am in the process of getting more people to share their mentoring experiences with me. I hope to include them in the my new book about mentoring.