The Scottish Wholesale Association is looking for ambitious individuals currently working in the key areas of buying, sales and management to participate in its mentoring programme.
Designed to improve skills and nurture emerging talent within the Scottish wholesale industry, the initiative matches individuals with an appropriate mentor.
Sandie Holmes, principal consultant at 121 HR Solutions, the association’s training partner, is facilitating the programme. “The thrust of the programme is to help focus on areas where individuals feel less confident but also to encourage them to challenge themselves to think differently,” she said. “While a mentee’s line manager will usually be in a position to guide an individual towards a better outcome for the business it can be very useful to take a step back and a get a fresh perspective from someone outside your company.
“We are looking for prospective mentees to volunteer themselves for the programme but we would also like members to consider nominating employees they think would benefit from being mentored.”
The mentoring programme runs for a year but most mentee-mentor pairings have, by mutual agreement, worked together for longer with contact continuing after the formal relationship concludes.
Fiona Ritchie, impulse buyer at JW Filshill, is a current mentee whose mentor is Clare Bocking, commercial director EMEA at McCormick & Company. “It’s still early days for me but already I’m beginning to see the benefits,” said Ritchie.
“Winning Employee of the Year at Scottish Wholesale Achievers in February was a great confidence booster for me and being mentored by someone with the experience of Clare is helping me think differently about many aspects of my job and how I communicate with people.”
