Dave Roberts has worked for Lloyds Banking Group for almost thirty years and has committed himself to mentoring in a big way, investing the process with real energy and enthusiasm at every stage. Here, Dave tells his own story of mentoring SMEs, mentoring fellow Lloyds Banking Group enterprise mentors and performing the role of Enterprise Mentor Champion.

“As a Senior Product Manager my day job is to manage services for expat customers. I began my career with the bank aged 16 and a few years later, on a posting to Jersey in the Channel Islands, I became qualified to give investment advice to Brits living abroad. I was fortunate enough to travel globally with the bank meeting people face-to-face. It was a really exciting time and I think it was that direct contact with people that let to my becoming a mentor and eventually embracing the role of Enterprise Mentor Champion.

As well as working with customers on the frontline, before I began enterprise mentoring I’d taken part in the bank’s internal mentoring scheme, supporting colleagues. I really wanted to use my experience to support the local business community, and get behind Lloyd’s broader objective to help Britain prosper. I looked into the bank’s mentoring scheme, which is headed up by my colleague Jackie Jenks. I thought it could be my chance to help a local business and apply some of the skills I’ve gathered during my career.

Jackie assured me that my skills were relevant to the role and I now work with three business mentees in very diverse fields. One runs a wedding entertainment agency, another has a community interest group teaching adults and children the value of nature, and the third is an independent financial advisor. I was with one of my mentees yesterday and he said ‘It’s so nice to just sit and talk to you. It’s a chance to think about what my key challenges are and how I’m going to tackle them.’ These small businesses don’t have the corporate structure I have behind me, the whole team of sales and business development professionals. It’s just them and they’ve got to run their business alone. If they don’t do it properly they don’t pay their mortgage; that’s what resonates with me. It’s very satisfying to actively listening to someone’s issues and try to pass on some of your own experiences to assist them in finding their own solutions. You become a trusted guide giving them enough support to progress.

I’ve noticed that the SMEs I support often ask about the same handful of business topics: money management, business finances, marketing strategy, plus brand and website related activities. Sometimes the biggest challenge is to get the mentee to focus on the most important issue first and then other topics start falling into place.

Obviously, I don’t have the expertise to cover all of these areas, but I can use my professional network to help my mentees access specialists in web design, marketing planning, compliance, cashflow or whichever business area they’re struggling with.

Having delivered SME mentoring, I decided to go for my SFEDI certificates to become an Enterprise Mentor Champion, so that I could widen my support to other Lloyds Banking Group mentors. As an Enterprise Mentor Champion, I organised a South East Mentoring Event, which brought together mentors, protégés, mentees and mentoring facilitators Enterprise First to share best practice and talk about how the bank’s mentoring programme could be developed and improved. Some colleagues, who attended the event as potential mentors, told me they were impressed by the mentoring process but unsure whether their own skills could be of value. People from finance and legal departments were saying ‘this is great but what can I offer an SME?’ By the end, and with Jackie Jenk’s support, I helped them realise their skills were transferrable and valuable.

The event’s success is now being replicated for the South West in Bristol, capturing the mentoring spirit of sharing best practice and good thinking and I’m now working towards my Level 7 Certificate in Professional Mentoring Services, having already attained Levels 3 and 5. There’s a lot of self-reflection involved in the SFEDI certificates I’ve done. You think about how to adapt your mentoring style to suit the type of person you’re mentoring and you need to have excellent listening skills. In my case, it’s about reining in my enthusiasm and letting the mentee answer their own questions with my support. You can often gain more insight by asking one question than by asking five. I’m really passionate about mentoring and being part of Lloyds Bank’s wider commitment to bolstering support for Britain’s SMEs. We’ve got over 400 bank colleagues volunteering to give mentoring support to small businesses. For me, it’s all about giving back some of the skills I’ve gathered over the years and helping a local business to hopefully grow and succeed.”