The Help to Grow: Management Course: Educator reflections on university-based mentoring

The Help the Grow: Management Course, established by the UK government amidst the numerous waves of the pandemic in the summer of 2021, aims to give businesses that ‘competitive edge’ and boost both resilience and performance.

For businesses, this level of potential support came at a time when they needed it. For the university, it is an invaluable opportunity to engage with local businesses, build on existing relationships, and promote the power of networks and enterprising ecosystems.

From my experience hosting several of the sessions across various Help to Grow cohorts, I have been able to note many features and benefits of the programme as I reflect on the interactions with business.

The 90% funded programme is delivered over 12 weeks through face-to-face or online sessions, and acts as a timely intervention to support and inspire businesses moving forward.

One of the key features of the programme is that it includes focussed themes, which are central to an operating business. Through four parts, and 50 hours of class contact with a university, the course covers business strategy, digital marketing, brand building, financial management, human resource management and recruitment, operations and product development, and internationalisation. These are, at various stages of a business life cycle, at the forefront of the minds of leaders and managers.

Benefits of the scheme, from an academic’s point of view, is being able to share experiences of the current business landscape and highlighting new trends and innovations across higher education and industry sectors.

In addition, the inclusion of one-to-one mentoring adds another layer to this scheme, as more detailed discussion and analysis of business challenges and opportunities can be undertaken.

Significantly, participants are tasked with completing a growth action plan. The growth action plan is direct and objectives-driven, and brings together prescribed help from an academic team possessing industry experience, which leads to a renewed vision for companies involved.

The role of the university, within any sector or social context, is consistently talked about. Within Scotland, universities contribute more than £4.5 billion to its economy. They prepare the managers and leaders of tomorrow, and through research and investigation, including consultancy activity, they encourage mutually beneficial solutions and instigate positive change for all.

Within the Help to Grow cohorts at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS), I have the privilege of meeting business leaders at the final session of the programme: the accumulation of targets and objectives that make up their growth action plan. So, with this in mind, I always ask the same starter question: what are your current plans for the business?

These plans will inevitably impact all corners and levels of the business, including its strategy, human resource processes, its ability to market products or services and to what extent they are digitally agile, and witnessing successes concerning innovative practice and entrepreneurial behaviour.

There are a number of key reflections that I think are fundamentally important, in both engaging with business leaders and in developing appropriate session-by-session content that is facilitated by participating universities.

Highlighting the factors which encourage business growth and development can be addressed through a combination of discussing relevant concepts and appreciating company contexts. Several business themes such as training and development, brand reputation, diversification and (re)location, and customer retention are also discussed and debated.

As I always stress in all of my course teaching or external engagement activity, I pose the ‘so what’ question to businesses.

So…what next? What helps? What has inspired the business? What has scared the business?

What many business leaders, who wish to join the Help to Grow programme may be reassured of, is that it is a great place to talk about your hopes and fears for your organisation. You find that many other businesses share these same thoughts, ambitions, and times of uncertainty. Having these chats, along with learning and developing on the programme, builds confidence and shapes the way forward.

Understanding and empathy are important when trying to help businesses. There needs to be evident social and emotional intelligence, when in a mentoring or coaching capacity. In that regard, the programme is an excellent bridge between academia and industry. Industry information, sector data, and knowledge can be shared and discussed. From there, useful ideas and skills can be transferred, and experiences translated to other situations and circumstances.

The programme opens up new opportunities, relationships, and networks. The enterprising university thrives on partnerships and productive action. They also remind businesses of the importance of industry stakeholders. The university, as the setting for the Help to Grow sessions, provides the meeting place for a team-based approach of academics and business professionals to set objectives, build on existing skills and knowledge, and provide solutions to live businesses.

In my second book, Entrepreneurship and Universities: Pedagogical Perspectives and Philosophies, I highlight four significant considerations which universities must address when engaging in enterprising initiatives such as the Help to Grow programme itself. These four stages are establishing a motive, a method, the message, and through what medium.

• Motive - the ‘what’ question. Rationalising new strategies for increased sales, implementation of new training, and expansion, to name a few.

• Method - the ‘how’ question. Making change happen through recruitment, open forums and discussion, and duty delegation, for example.

• Message - the ‘to whom’ and ‘why’ questions. Through effective leadership, consumer engagement, and emphasising growth.

• Medium - the ‘where’ question, via digital platforms, physical spaces, and entrepreneurial networks.

The existence of subsequent cohorts of Help to Grow businesses learning and networking within universities up and down the country results in these higher education institutions practising what they preach. They themselves continue to be places of entrepreneurial learning and development.

What should result from this collaboration between businesses, universities, and government is a productive and meaningful entrepreneurial culture across the United Kingdom, commitment to business growth and infrastructure, and the maintaining of creative, innovative, and supportive hubs.

Dr Robert Crammond CMBE is a Senior Lecturer in Enterprise at the University of the West of Scotland.