Impact. The Local Government Graduate Programme: Mentoring guide

Impact: The Local Government Graduate Programme (formerly the NGDP) is a two year scheme that offers councils a unique opportunity to grow their own local government leaders. It is the only national graduate programme specifically for local government and acts as an opportunity for talent graduates to fast track their career in the sector. Across the two years, they will undertake at least three placements where they will work on high level, strategic projects which contribute to the delivery of the council’s goals

Alongside their employment, the Local Government Association (LGA) provide a complementary learning and development offer. This is carried out in parallel so that the graduates can implement their learning whilst working on real projects. Topics that they will cover across the learning and development programme include local government finance, working with politicians, and principals of procurement and commissioning.

At the end of their two-year programme, the graduates, known as graduate trainees will have developed a range of skills across a variety of services. Previous graduates have said their mentors provided them with unrivalled guidance, challenge and support which helped them both make the best of their time on Impact and understand the wealth of opportunity local government has to offer. Additionally, graduates have said how useful it has been to have a mentor alongside a manager, with both offering different perspectives.

For graduate trainees, mentors are assistant directors or directors at their placement council. The scheme is designed to facilitate the development of future senior managers, and therefore having a mentor is fantastic exposure for graduates into the lives of
those holding senior positions. Mentors can help their graduates to become future leaders, as for many, their placement may be their first workplace experience. Therefore, having a mentor can improve their confidence and development whilst on the scheme, meaning that by the end of their placement, they are in a better position to continue their career in local government.

Mentors will have a strong knowledge of issues facing local government and be able to use their networks and experience to provide guidance and support to their mentee. Mentoring is not the same as training, teaching or coaching, and a mentor doesn’t need to be a qualified trainer or an expert in the role the mentee carries out. Mentors should have no direct managerial responsibility over their mentee.

Mentors provide personal and professional support to their mentees, as well as being self-aware and able to be challenged about their own assumptions. A mentor should not be judgemental and be willing to listen to their mentee’s experiences whilst providing advice and guidance.

Mentoring is mandatory as part of Impact. There are benefits to both the mentee and mentor, as well as the council employing them, as it enables the growth and development of its staff.

The benefits for each party can include:

Scheduling and structure

Mentors and mentees must agree on a upon schedule or structure. A good place to start is meeting at least once a month and committing to this schedule over the two years of the scheme.
Whilst both participants can be busy, mentors should try and carve out time for the mentee and follow up with them if they need support on a particular issue.

Flexibility

It is also important to make sure that the mentoring relationship is flexible, allowing for changing work commitments, but also having a clear structure from the beginning. This will help to ensure that both parties are clear about the time they are committing to the relationship.

Providing guidance

The mentor should have the ability to provide impartial guidance to their mentee, including giving advice about potential career pathways in local government. The mentor should have an appreciation of wider local government issues, as well as a strong interest in learning and people development, which will be extremely useful for graduates.

Challenging mentees

Mentors must also challenge their mentees to try new things, get involved with a range of projects and new opportunities, especially as their confidence grows throughout their time as a graduate. It is also important for mentors to ensure that their
mentees act on advice or commitments that have been discussed in your sessions together.

The scheme offers the graduate a range of opportunities for learning and development professionally, but mentors must also push their mentees to think outside the box to maximise their own potential.

Career development

Mentors can help graduates identify areas of challenge or growth within their development framework, which captures the key
six competencies that graduates should gain whilst on their placements.

The competencies are:

• managing in a political environment
• leading others to successful outcomes
• communication and engagement
• managing the business
• developing the business
• developing yourself and your career in local government.

By helping mentees to keep on track with these competencies, mentors can ensure they are aiding career development.

Confidentiality

There should be a clear appreciation and agreement on the level of confidentiality and impartiality between mentors and
mentees, as well as realistic expectations, processes and timescales that are agreed by both parties. The relationship should be built upon trust and mutual respect.
If participants experience difficulties with the relationship, either party must discuss this with the placement co-ordinator.

Be open to talking honestly and frankly – sometimes talking about projects that didn’t go well are the ones that can help mentees learn the most.

The mentor should be open and willing to learn from their graduate, including understanding their experiences whilst on the Impact programme.

The mentor should provide professional and personal development to their graduate.

The relationship should be proactive, engaging and challenging for both mentors and mentees.

Remember to consider the generational gap that may exist between mentor and mentee. For example, a career path will look very different to new graduates entering local government now. Make sure that you acknowledge these differences when imparting your own experiences as a mentor.

Examples of mentoring techniques

You may find that using techniques will help to approach any problems or challenges your mentees face. Some examples of mentoring techniques are below.

The GROW model

The GROW model is a good way to structure a meeting with your mentee. You can either start with the goal and work logically through the model or you can move the model around, starting with the reality and then the goal, if this works best. Remember to always finish with the way forward and ensure that this is set and owned by the mentee.

Goal. When structuring a goal, use the SMART method to ensure that it is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timebound. Make sure that goals also fit your mentee’s current placement and aspirations for their career development.

Reality. Ask your mentee to examine their current reality, as this is the starting point for achieving their goal or finding a solution to
a problem. What is achievable and realistic in the context of what they are working on?

Options (or Obstacles). Go through what the options or obstacles are to reach the goal. Your mentee should come up with these, and you should encourage them to think of any constraints or obstacles that may challenge them.

Will (or Way Forward). By following the steps above, a way forward will become clear for achieving the goal. Work with your mentee to review their progress and commit to specific actions that you can check in on.

Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle 

Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle was developed by Graham Gibbs in 1988 to give structure to learning from experiences. It offers a framework for examining experiences, and given its cyclic nature lends itself particularly well to repeated experiences, allowing you to learn and plan from things that either went well or didn’t go well. It covers six stages:

• description of the experience
• feelings and thoughts about the experience
• evaluation of the experience, both good and bad
• analysis to make sense of the situation
• conclusion about what you learned and what you could have done differently
• action plan for how you would deal with similar situations
  in the future, or general changes you might find appropriate

Once again, this might be useful when discussing challenges or how to approach tasks that mentees will be facing on their placements or in their learning and development modules. This
can also be used as a cycle to discuss how a mentee is improving over the course of their placement and reflect on what lessons they have learned.

As a graduate trainee, it is important to utilise the experience and knowledge of your mentor as much as possible. Whilst a
mentor does not replace your manager, or have any authority over your day-to-day work, a mentor can assist your professional and personal development, as well as giving you an oversight into their networks.

It is the mentees duty to identify what they want from their mentor and be clear about what they would like to gain from the process.

You should come to meetings prepared with topics or questions to discuss and take the lead on organising further contact if necessary. Some examples might be:

• What do you wish you had known before taking your first management role in local government?
• Which leadership skills were the most difficult to develop?
• Can you suggest any tips for me to develop these skills?
• I have two very different areas of interest on my current placement that are available to me. Can I ask your advice to help me make a final decision on which path to take?
• What are the challenges that you have faced working in a political environment?
• Can you give me an example of when you have used innovative thinking to influence the direction of the council?
• Can you give me advice on working and communicating with stakeholders?

As a mentee, you should also discuss any challenges or opportunities that may have arisen during a placement.
It will be useful for both you and your mentor to discuss and create solutions and/or actions plans for these.

There should be mutual respect, where the mentor and mentee understand each other’s personalities.

You should be willing to learn and open to understanding your mentor’s experiences, as well as making the most of their advice and guidance.

You should give yourself adequate time to prepare for mentoring sessions, to ensure you are gaining as much information as possible from your mentor.

Preparing for your first session

It may feel daunting meeting your mentor for the first time, but we have suggested some topics that you can start the meeting with or use to find out more about your placement.

Get to know your mentor. How long have they worked in their role, and what is their professional background? What made them interested in local government? If your mentor has worked in local government for a long time, it is also worth asking about what changes they have seen from when they started their role to the present day.

Ask about your placement. Bring your placement brief to your first meeting and ask your mentor how to make the most of the opportunities there. It may be useful to go through the links your placement has with your mentor’s directorate, as well as thinking about how you can align the skills from the development framework to your placement.

Think about what you want to get out of the sessions with your mentor. Is it a better understanding of them and their role, or advice and guidance on leadership and management skills? Make sure you are on the same page about what you want to achieve with your mentor.

Are there useful ways to check in with your mentor?
Do you prefer email check ins, coffee breaks over a video chat or formally structured meetings? You can ask your mentor for these things as well as longer monthly catch ups if you feel that they are necessary.

Are there particular areas that your mentor works on that interest you? Use your mentors knowledge and experience to broaden your own horizons. If it is possible, ask your mentor
whether you can get involved or observe/shadow any work that you are particularly interested in.

Your mentor is there to help with your development, so make sure that you utilise them as much as possible!