The scheme, which attracted some 50 or so business participants in this its fifth year, is designed to match students at university with individuals in a relevant job, who make a commitment to help them gain an understanding of their work environment, its culture, its expectations, its demands and even its frustrations.

During the celebratory event, the participating students and their employer mentors received certificates from the Mayor of Cambridge, Councillor Mike Dixon, to acknowledge their contribution to the scheme which has seen them working together in a mentoring relationship for a period of six months.

Employers nationally identify the lack of business awareness among graduates as being a significant barrier to progress. Addressing this key concern, Anglia Ruskin University’s Employer Mentoring Scheme has been developed as a targeted program, giving individual students support and mentoring from a graduate or professional from local organisations. On a one-to-one basis, these mentors are invaluable in encouraging and helping the coming generation of our graduates to understand, evaluate and enhance their personal skills and business awareness.

The region’s participating employers include Cambridge Building Society, PI Consulting, Motorola, Eversheds and online security firm nCipher, Cambridge Consultants, East Cambs District Council, Cambridge City Council, Cambridge Constabulary, Stagecoach and a range of other organisations including Addenbrookes and Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service.

All participants benefit at the outset from a free Anglia Ruskin University introductory training session. More importantly, the mentoring experience and the University’s ongoing support develops the skills of participating staff, providing them with a valuable developmental opportunity. The scheme is highly regarded within the sector and has Home Office recognition.

In the words of Hamish Cameron from nCipher who has been a mentor on the programme for four successive years now:

“With every year I gain a little more confidence and learn a lot more myself. It is very much a two way process.”

A further benefit for employers is, of course, their access to motivated and enthusiastic students, potentially aiding with future recruitment.

Many trained mentors returned to the scheme this year but more are invited for next year’s programme. If you are an employer and would like to find out more about taking part, please call Katie Morris on 0845 196 2541 or email katie.morris@anglia.ac.uk.

The Self Assessment Business Diagnostic has been developed by business consulting and advisory firm PI Consulting.

It’s a five minute online questionnaire which examines how a company is performing in five key areas of business, then awards a percentage score.

Any business with a low score is very poorly prepared, and, according to PI Consulting, at high risk of not making it through any serious economic downturn.

“Our emphasis on advising and supporting implementation ensures we base our advice and plans on a thorough understanding of the opportunities, issues and practicalities of achieving results for each individual project and client.”

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“They develop exciting new products while adopting inappropriate approaches to winning business. Their technical creativity needs to be matched by innovation in their approach to business building”.

Colin’s ‘Winning Companies; Winning People’ research programme identifies what successful people or winners do differently in areas such as winning business, building customer relationships and creating and exploiting know-how. Over 2,000 companies participated in the latest round of studies, and critical success factors or ‘winning ways’ for key business building activities have been identified. Further information can be obtained by contacting Colin at PI Consulting: colin.coulson-thomas@piconsulting.org.uk.

PI Consulting is delighted to announce that it has been awarded Accredited Premier Practice status by the Institute of Business Consulting (IBC). The IBC is the Professional Body for Management Consultants and Business Advisors in the UK. This award makes PI Consulting one of a small group of IBC Premier Practices and one of the youngest firms to have achieved this prestigious award.

Peter Brotherhood Ltd has been designing, manufacturing and servicing power generating systems from the UK for almost 140 years. PI started working with Peter Brotherhood during 2006 and during 2007 will be assisting with the implementation of their five year strategic plan.

As satisfied customers spend more, say positive things about the supplier and demonstrate higher levels of loyalty there is a tacit belief in a correlation between customer satisfaction and business growth. The well established research by Reichheld and Sasser1 provides further insight into the relationship between customer loyalty and profitability.

The Leadership Centre for Local Government has been set up in response to “the biggest challenge in local government since the end of the war”. To help Local Government leaders to meet this challenge the Leadership Centre for Local Government has prepared a consultancy services supplier database.

How does the Team Climate System (TCS©) work? Based on confidential responses to a questionnaire TCS© produces a comprehensive picture of the way a team or group of teams are currently working and the factors that are impacting their performance.