Intellectual Output 1 is the final result of the preliminary analysis phase. This exploratory investigation focuses on two important areas necessary for the preparation of the training material development and the mentor certification.

MentorCert logoPart 1:
The experience based knowledge evaluation of the mentors and the establishment of different mentor levels are essential to the setting up of a certification scheme and its long term sustainability. Participating partners in the future mentor-network development have to define at least 3 levels for the mentors based on their knowledge and working experience. The tasks in the second part of the IO1 are to:

  • Analyse the working experiences and European examples and specify the basic, intermediate or advanced and the senior business mentor categories
  • Assign the necessary levels of knowledge and work-based experiences (former or during the mentoring work)
  • Work out the relations between the levels and
  • Prepare the evaluation methodology

Part 2:
The former TRUST ME project and the elaborated training programme dealt with only the basic level of general Business / SME mentors. Looking around European experiences – transmitted by first of all Adinvest International – it became apparent for the partners that during the mentoring work more attention should be paid to the sectorial specialities.
Mentors have to be trained according to the different characteristics of the sectors of the economy on vertical and horizontal dimensions as well.
In the framework of the first IO – under the leadership of P1 BBS – the partners will investigate on one hand the most important industrial sectors of the participating countries (represented by educational institutions) as agro-food (Porto), construction (Warsaw), FinTech (Leeds) and tourism (Budapest) examining the differences and similarities from the mentoring point of view.
On the other hand horizontal issues of the economy will be analysed, which are also very important in the different moments of the companies’ life cycle – as start-ups (Leeds), micro-enterprises (Warsaw), generational transition (Budapest) and connections to the social economy (Porto) –.
The definition of sectorial skill cards as the main results of these investigations will serve as a good basis for the sector specific training material development in case of IO2.


Work package:
Start: 01-11-2017     End: 30-11-2018      Languages: English

Completed:

IO1 – Mentor level and Sector-based analysis
Based on the lessons that has been learned from the TRUST ME project, our assumption was that during the mentoring work more attention should be paid to the sectorial specialities as, besides their generic mentor skills and competencies, business mentors should be aware of the sectoral specificities of the industrial area where they carry out their activities and they also should be able to treat the particularities of the different stages of the different development cycles of companies. Consequently, mentors must be trained according to the different characteristics of the sectors of the economy in both vertical and horizontal dimension. To this end during the first project phase analytical work was carried out. IO1 is the result of the preliminary analytical phase. As the experience-based knowledge evaluation of the mentors and the establishment of different mentor levels are essential to the setting up of a certification scheme and its long-term sustainability, the project partners defined three levels of the professional mentors and the first version of the modified skill card and competence framework was compiled for the second, intermediate level (Part1).
The task of Part2 was to provide an analysis of the working experience and the European examples of the most important trends and challenges mentors must face working in different sectors and with companies in different life-cycle phases that should serve as an important input for both the skill card and the training material development. During the reported period the sectoral analyses have been completed by the partners, alongside with the suggestions for the curriculum development. The following issues were selected for analysis (responsible partners in brackets):
Vertical:
   - Agro-food (P3 UCP)
   - Construction (P4 WUT)
   - Financial technologies (Fintech) (P2 LBU)
   - Tourism (P1 BBS)
Horizontal:
   - Nascent entrepreneurs (P3 UCP)
   - Start-up enterprises (P2 LBU)
   - Matured enterprises (P4 WUT)
   - Enterprises in transition (P1 BBS)

The structure of the analyses is as follows:
   I. Brief overview of the vertical/horizontal issues
   II. Analysis
   III. Best practices of answering to the challenges
   IV. Lessons for the curriculum development
   V. Definition of sectorial skill card elements

In order to support the investigative analysis guidelines were compiled. Followed the guidelines, eight sector- and issue-based analytical report have been carried out. These reports were peer-reviewed by the project partners. The final versions served as a basis for the final report that aimed at processing and interpreting the analyses of both horizontal and vertical issues. The report contained a short analysis of the skill and competence needs in the various sectors and direct recommendations for the curriculum development. The following key competencies and hard skills were selected, based on the results of the IO1:
Strategic orientation (horizontal issues) and Entrepreneurial development (vertical issues)

Key competences:
   - Strategic planning
   - Understanding the eco-system
Hard skill areas connected to the competences:
   - Value creation models
   - Futures

O1-Mentor level and Sector-based analysis

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MentorCert_IO1-Mentor level and sector-based analysis

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MentorCert_IO1-Skill Card

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