How Helen & Douglas House launched mentoring through the Charity Mentoring Network
Helen & Douglas House introduced the Charity Mentoring Network (CMN) as part of its learning and development offer, building on a previous internal pop-up mentoring scheme involving around 20 staff.
Christina Murphy-Wakelin, L&D business partner at the charity, led the rollout.
She said the launch had demonstrated interest in mentoring and the CMN platform provided a system and resources (especially the welcome pack) that helped structure and formalise the process.
Launch approach
The organisation began with a soft launch within the people team which generated early engagement. Christina used the organisation’s intranet to share regular articles about how mentoring works, how to join and how it links to development.
The wider launch coincided with National Mentoring Day, with further promotion during National Mentoring Month. Mentoring became a part of appraisal discussions and objective-setting processes, positioning it as a development tool that could support development goals.
Christina also used several existing forums to reinforce awareness, including:
- All-staff meetings
- Line manager community of practice sessions
- Individual development conversations
Posters and QR codes linking directly to the platform were displayed across the organisation. Resources from the CMN welcome pack were adapted for internal use.
Participation increased following each communication activity.
The Mentee Experience
HR advisor Sophie Hartford joined the platform during the initial soft launch and has been in a mentoring relationship for six months.
She chose to work with an external mentor and cited the benefit of being mentored by someone independent of her organisation. During the mentoring relationship, she has used sessions to:
- Prepare for presentations and work projects
- Discuss challenging workplace conversations
- Build confidence
- Explore career development
- Gain practical communication techniques
Sophie has extended the mentoring relationship for a further six months to support ongoing team changes and development objectives. She says the mentoring relationship provides her with tools and guidance she can use in her day-to-day role.
Keys to success
- Soft launch with a specific team before wider rollout
- Align mentoring promotion with national awareness days
- Link mentoring to appraisal and development objectives
- Use multiple internal communication channels
- Share participant experiences to support engagement
To find out how to get your organisation involved, please come along to one of our upcoming virtual coffee mornings