FDA Public Sector Mentoring Scheme is a ‘gateway for change’

Professor David Clutterbuck speaks on diversity and mentoring at the Public sector Mentoring Scheme launch

The launch of the Public Sector Mentoring Scheme - the joint project between the FDA and Middlesex University - took place on 27 September. The project pilot will train 60 mentors from public sector graduate schemes, before partnering them with 60 Middlesex University students considering a public sector career. Mentors will be given the opportunity to design and deliver a mock assessment centre for students and analyse the results.

The cross-public sector scheme also involves members of Managers in Partnership, the union for senior NHS managers, and will draw on the expertise of both unions, the Cabinet Office, Middlesex University and internationally renowned leaders in mentoring.

Speakers at the launch - which took place at Middlesex University's Burroughs campus in Hendon, north-west London - included Doctor Mary Hartog, head of department, human resource management at the Middlesex University Business School; FDA skills project manager Neil Rider; and Professor David Clutterbuck, one of Europe's top writers on leadership, coaching and mentoring.

Rider said: "The FDA is very keen to look to the civil service of the future. This project will help ensure that it will look more like the community at large." He also confirmed that if the London-based pilot is successful, the scheme will be rolled out across the UK.

Clutterbuck said of mentoring in the past was "for young white males - an introduction to privilege... Mentors are [now] the gateway for change in an organisation. In future, age and authority will not be the key, it will be energy and ideas."