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KALEIDOSCOPE MENTOR OF THE YEAR
Ian Davies, nominated by Moira Leonard of Tate Liverpool

Not just fun

Receiving his award as Kaleidoscope Mentor of the Year, Ian Davies was keen to say how much he and his mentee had enjoyed themselves.  "We laughed a lot", he said.  Without appearing to put a dampener on such good times, we would like to point out that the agreed objectives that Moira Leonard, Development Manager at Tate Liverpool, was aiming to achieve, were also fully met.

The main aim of the partnership was to look at effective team working and team leadership following a number of staff changes at the Tate.  Ian is a marketing expert, though latterly he worked in recruitment consultancy, and has managed teams for many years.  He also coaches rowing teams and has a sports psychology qualification.  His range of experience worked wonderfully well for Moira.  She wrote in her nomination that Ian "has given me confidence in my ability to be a good manager."  A whole range of other benefits were documented including improved prioritisation, a better understanding of team dynamics and a more strategic view of the organisation and its relationships.

Of course, none of these relationships is just one sided.  Ian wrote that he gained an '"education about real creativity and its management".  Having worked in advertising he thought he had an understanding of creative people and their passions, but says, 'this is nothing compared with the standards of excellence I observed whilst on this project.' 

Moira clearly had fun too: "I enjoyed the laughter that helped lighten the load when things were becoming difficult to handle; after our sessions I felt I could tackle anything." 

Equal Runners up

Andrew Raffle is the Artistic Director of Burnley Youth Theatre and was fairly new in both his job and the region when he began working with Mike Faulkner of G&M Associates.  By the end Andrew felt that Mike's support had led to a much more strategic approach to his work and the "establishment and development of good relationships internally and externally."  Mike's benefits included learning "about the essential elements of the relationship between artistic and managerial objectives and about how the skills in one area can be transposed to the other with great effect."  (We are looking forward to witnessing this, Mike.)
 

Stephanie Sturges was the Academy Manager at Pinna Ltd, a business near Preston specialising in coaching and development skills.  Her mentee, Vicki McCorkell, runs the mentoring programme at Full Circle Arts in Manchester, an organisation which promotes disability arts and artists.  Vicki wanted to make the service she ran the best it possibly could be and Stephanie seemed the ideal candidate to support her.  Vicki describes a voyage of discovery, empowerment and inspiration. She says "it's great to be able to talk about the benefits of mentoring having now been through the process myself."  Stephanie wrote about Vicki's "contagious motivation" which resulted in the completion of several pieces of her own work including her Postgraduate Diploma in the Psychology of Executive Coaching.

Other nominations
Alan Dean, consultant – Caroline Clegg, Feelgood Theatre Productions, Manchester
Catrina Hewitson, Vibrant – Paulette Clunie, Arts Council England, North West
Miles Hill, consultant – Gwen Oakden, Arts & Business North West