By Chip R. BellA recent study found that over 35% of employees who don’t receive regular mentoring, plan to look for another job within twelve months. Managers As Mentors is a rapid-fire read and a provocative guide to helping associates grow and adapt in today’s tumultuous organizations. Chip Bell persuasively shows that today, mentoring means valuing creativity over control, fostering growth by facilitating learning, and helping others get smart, not just get ahead. This hands-on guide takes the mystery out of effective mentoring, teaching leaders to be the kind of confident coaches integral to learning organizations. Managers As Mentors is about power-free facilitation of learning, about teaching through consultation and affection rather than constriction and assessment. It describes learning as an expansive, unfolding process rather than an evaluative, narrowing effort. It is a work book filled with ideas, suggestions, how-tos, and resources.
The e-Envoy has launched a campaign to halt growth in the ever widening gap between those who have Internet access and those who don’t. Some 52% of the UK adult population can be counted as regular internet users, but only 10% of the lowest income group are online, compared to 82% in the highest income group. There is also an age divide with 94% of 16-24 year olds on line compared to 17% of those over 65.The campaign will aim to raise awareness of the benefits that the Internet can offer to all and break down the barriers that people face to getting online. It will run from 12th May through to June 7th and will educate and drive new users into the 6000 UK online centres for their first experience of the internet. Introductory sessions will be free.
There is a yawning gap between the capacity of local government and what is needed for the present and the future. The capacity gap, which is made up of volume, knowledge, skills and behaviour, extends from councillors and top management teams through to operational managers. These findings have emerged from research commissioned by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and carried out by the Office for Public Management.Evidence to support the findings included an Audit Commission survey of people who had resigned from their posts. 49 per cent said that not feeling valued by their managers was an important factor in encouraging them to leave, and 32 per cent also cited a poor relationship with their line manager as a reason for leaving. One in five, also reported that more support from their manager would have helped to persuade them to stay in their job.