To date Francis Verling has delivered mentoring to over 500 business owners. This experience has given him a unique understanding of the challenges business owner encounter and how these can be overcome.
One-to-one mentoring is a tried and tested process to assist individuals to unlock their potential, ideate and innovate, discuss and appraise options and move their business ideas forward whichever phase of business development they are at: pre-start, start-up and or growth.
The role of the mentor is to share wisdom gained from experience and learning. The mentor’s principal function is to listen and to ask questions. They help their clients explore their business goals and ideas for the future and to help them realistically appraise their current situation. As business plans develop the role is to challenge and support the execution of the client’s plans and to assist them to keep track of their objectives.
Mentors are not encouraged to solve the problems for the client, rather to help clients develop the capability to solve their own problems. Mentors do not carry out the work on behalf of the client but can be a source of guidance and advice for them. The mentor may offer advice and opinion. Responsibility for decision-making rests solely with the client.
Francis’ functional competences and characteristics as a Mentor include:
- A good knowledge of broad issues facing Irish industry and services companies, particularly issues affecting the support and development of micro-enterprise
- excellent administrative skills together with the ability to successfully organise and prioritise work
- sound judgment as well as good communication
- computer literate with knowledge of relevant applications including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
The skills Francis brings to his mentoring include:
- Empathy
- Listening without judging
- Challenging
- Questioning
- Sharing
- Non – directive
- Supporting
- Business counselling skills
- Business planning
- Project management
- Business knowledge and expertise
