Code of Practice
Introduction
The purpose of this contract is to establish and maintain a Code of Practice for the members of the Fáilte Ireland Mentor Panel. These guidelines help to promote best practice and ensure that the highest possible standards are maintained in the provision of our business mentoring and advisory services which will create the opportunity for learning and development, ultimately building business capability.
The following sets out the terms of the Code of Practice which is a requisite for your participation as a Mentor on the Fáilte Ireland Mentor Panel.
General
The basic values of mentoring are integrity, impartiality and respect. Mentors must ensure that all work carried out on behalf of Fáilte Ireland is done with the same degree of care and ethics.
The Mentor will be required to conduct themselves to the highest level of ethics, accountability and responsibility and act with courtesy and consideration at all times.
The Mentor’s role
The Mentor is there to support, develop and stimulate the business whilst also challenging the owner to consider alternatives in the development of their business. It is envisioned that the approach will be one of working ‘with’ the participant through the process rather than diagnosing issues and making suggestions.
Mentors will act as a sounding board for clients and in general should be:
- Empathetic
- Good listeners
- Sympathetic to the problems of small business
- Experienced in business
- Providers of opinions and ideas, not professional services
- Passionate and committed individuals who will use their skills and experience on behalf of Fáilte Ireland for the benefit of small businesses.
Competence
The Mentor should only accept work that he/she is qualified to perform to allow the client to be served effectively.
The Mentor must make certain that advice, solutions and recommendations are based on thorough, impartial consideration and analysis of all available pertinent facts and are realistic, practical and clearly understood by the client.
Sub-contracting
The Service Provider shall sub-contract work only with prior agreement of Fáilte Ireland, and except where otherwise agreed, will remain responsible for the performance of the work.
Confidentiality
The Mentor, during his/her appointment on the Fáilte Ireland Mentor Panel, will hold all information concerning the affairs of the client in the strictest confidence and will not disclose or use proprietary information obtained during the course of the programme for personal benefit or for the benefit of others outside the organisation. This obligation extends to the use of information obtained by virtue of position for the purpose of dealing in shares or property.
They must also treat in confidence personal information about clients whether obtained directly or indirectly or inference. Such information includes names addresses, biographical details and other descriptions of client’s life or circumstances which may result in the identification of a client.
Conflict of interest
The Mentor shall not accept any appointment as a consultant or enter into any commercial arrangement with a client while acting on behalf of Fáilte Ireland’s Business Mentoring and Advisory Service to that company.
Should a conflict or potential conflict of interest arise, the Mentor shall as the circumstances require:
- Resign as a Fáilte Ireland Mentor to that company with immediate effect
- Remove the source of conflict
- Or disclose and obtain the agreement of the parties concerned as to the performance or continuance of the engagement
The Mentor must at all times represent the BizCheck - Fáilte Ireland’s Business
Mentoring and Advisory Service and not their private enterprise.
Disclosure
A Mentor will disclose at the earliest opportunity any special relationships, circumstances or business interests which might influence or impair or could be seen by the client or others to influence or impair the Mentor’s judgement or objectivity of a particular mentoring case.
Boundaries
Service Providers will avoid entering into business, intimate or personal relationships with clients.
Communication
Effective mentoring programmes expose individuals to a variety of learning conditions, e.g. learning from other people, learning by doing and learning from challenging experiences.
It is important that a Mentor provides tailored mentoring action plans to act as a roadmap for keeping the partnership on track and on target. It is the responsibility of the Mentor to ensure that both the client and Fáilte Ireland are kept fully informed regarding the progress of the mentoring through the submission of timely, accurate and up-to-date reports on the templates provided.
Mentoring Evaluation
Successful mentoring programmes continually evaluate the development process to see if the effort is working and make quick adjustments as necessary. Lack of progress must be addressed by the Mentor and over dependency must also be managed.
At the end of the agreed sessions the Mentor will review progress outlining the achievements to date and areas for future work while establishing the overall satisfaction with the process. Fáilte Ireland will also carry out a third party evaluation.
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