Who are the mentors for the agricultural industry? Where can young or not so young people in the industry find independent and appropriate advice and support?
Mentoring is a management tool that many organizations utilise to support and develop their employees and can be either an informal or an informal process. A mentor is someone, who may be older, but who has more experience, who helps and guides another person's personal and career development. This guidance and support may be proved either internally or externally to the business. At the outset of the mentoring process it is important to define and develop the learning objectives and to then measure progress against those objectives. Finding the appropriate mentor is very important and both parties should be able to quaickly develop a positive rapport. Mentors must be prepared to share their experiences of success and of failure and most importantly what they learned as individuals from the experience.
So, where are the mentors in the agricultural industry?
In England, the Fresh Start initiative aims to develop a network of mentors who will be able to offer valuable experience and assistance to those developing new farming businesses. This is a college based scheme for young people, but what about exisiting businesses and existing employees especially as there is so much change within the agricultural and food supply industry?
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