Boardwave Mentoring
Develop your leadership and scale your business
Great mentors are worth their weight in gold, and can help you in so many ways! To provide guidance and advice (from someone who’s walked in your shoes), to be a sparring partner to thrash out new ideas and strategies, to confide in when you and your business meet new challenges, to help you think about leadership development and board dynamics. To chew over critical team dynamics, and concerns. They can be the critical third dimension in your leadership journey.
If you’ve thought about appointing a mentor, and don't know where to start. Or if you’d like to apply your knowledge, expertise and experience to mentor others, Boardwave can help.
We offer two mentoring programmes:
Boardwave Mentoring
A match-making service to find you a 1-2-1 mentor from the 450+ members of Boardwave that have pledged time to mentor others in the community.
For those that have volunteered to be a mentor, We also offer a workshop, on mentoring best practice, called “Mentor+”. We award those that attend our workshop with a community “Mentor+” badge, which shows your willingness and extra commitment to the programme.
Boardwave Breakouts
Peer Group mentoring and support. You’ll be part of a group of no more than 8 CEOs and Founders, who commit to meet quarterly for half a day, in a moderated session. You set the agenda, in an environment of trust, group members often talk about leadership themes, and business challenges and concerns. There is usually someone there that can offer fresh ideas and a new perspective, amd if not we can help you engage a Boardwave expert.
Whether it’s personal 121 sessions, peer-group mentoring via Boardwave Breakouts or fun bite-size Two-minute mentor sessions from our community, we have a framework that should work for everyone.
Boardwave mentoring is here to connect software leaders across Europe, and facilitate the kind of knowledge and experience sharing and peer level support that can help to accelerate your success.
Whether you’re the mentor or mentee, we’ll help find the very best fit for you via Mentor Connect in our Connection Centre. Almost half of the Boardwave Members have signed up to be a mentor, so there’s a huge wealth of knowledge and experience to tap into across the European region.
Find the connections that are right for you and your business regardless of geography, right across Europe, or closer to home in your own country or market.
We’re here to connect and match Members to build long-term, fulfilling mentor relationships.
How to begin
In a few easy steps
Find your match from hundreds of potential mentors via Mentor Connect in our Connection Centre, which allows you to create a shortlist based on your chosen criteria, including; sector, expertise, size of business, geography, concerns, interests, career background, and expertise.
Build your mentor visibility through your “Boardwave Profile” page.
Be sure to provide as much detail as possible. For instance specifying your areas of expertise and business background, and pledging the number of hours you’re willing to commit to mentoring over the year.
Look out for those with the Mentor+ badge: they’ve been trained by one of our expert Coaches, on how to be a great mentor.
Why not stand out as mentor by attending one of our workshops on mentoring best practice. You will be trained by one of our expert Coaches and get awarded a ‘Mentor +’ badge.
Once you have made a mentor connection request and your candidate mentor has accepted we will share contact details with both of you.
Once you have received a mentor connection request and are happy to accept it we will share contact details with both of you.
TOP TIP
We suggest making
2-3 mentor requests and hold short 30 minute calls to find the right mentor for you.
Engage with potential matches to find the best fit for you, to test your chemistry. Align on communication cadence/channels, and find your common ground.
Once you find the right connection please feel free to continue mentoring or being mentored for as long as you both agree.
TOP TIP
Remember to keep your annual available mentoring hours up to date on your profile page.
Mentor+ Members include...
You’ll also have access to ‘Mentoring Best Practice’ so you can optimise your sessions. If you are unsure on how to get started, you can reach out to one of our panel of experts who can help guide you and ensure you have the best possible experience through this process.
Boardwave Mentoring
Mentor and coaching expertise
within the community
Many of Europe’s leading software CEOs, Founders and Investors are waiting for you to reach out via the Boardwave Connection Centre. Within the community, we have some expert leadership coaches and mentors based in your location and across the region. If you would like to understand more about how to be a great mentor or how to get the most out of a mentoring relationship, you can reach out to one of our panel of experts directly for free advice. They are:
Board member and investor, Meyler Campbell
William supports leaders through important phases in their career and facilitates projects to improve the effectiveness of top teams. For 16 years, he worked on critical leadership transitions as a Partner of Spencer Stuart and served as global practice leader of the Technology Media Telecom sector for eight of those years. He was also Chair of the Spencer Stuart Board Nominating Committee.
See an example of William's mentoring briefing sessions here
Vice Chair and Chair NCC, SoftwareONE
As a former CEO in logistics, current Vice Chair at SoftwareONE, and experienced board and C-Level advisor, she previously led Spencer Stuart’s Board and CEO Practice in Switzerland. Marie-Pierre is uniquely positioned to help dissect your most pressing leadership challenges.
Esther is a passionate executive coach and consultant of board dynamics and leadership, with 20+ years of business and corporate experience supporting CEOs, founders and senior leaders. She is Boardwave’s head coach, and is responsible for curating the Boardwave Breakout framework and guidelines for each Breakout session. She leads our network of professional coaches and Moderators from across Europe.
Boardwave Mentoring
A rewarding experience
Watch our latest video showcasing the positive impact the Boardwave mentoring programme has had on Boardwave Member, Kate Pljaskovova, Founder and CEO, Fair HQ and her business. From Kate’s initial connection with her mentor and Boardwave Patron, Dawn Marriott, Serial Chair, NED and Partner, Hg, to now signing her biggest contract to date, Kate has benefited from Dawn's help and support on her commercial strategy, growing her network and building confidence.
The Connection Centre worked amazingly. Within 24 hours both of my connections replied and the meetings happened within days. The conversations I had were of the highest quality and led to immediately actionable insight. In each case, the conversations will continue in further meetings.
Ulrich Sharf
MD and Founder of SkillLab
I’ve been mentoring a Boardwave member focussing on organisational planning for scaling and shaping and making those vitally important first senior leadership team appointments – a first commercial leader in this instance… It’s been great working closely with him on a Boardwave mentoring basis and looking forward to seeing him and his company throughout their journey.
Andrew Parker
Managing Director of Sheffield Haworth
I see Boardwave as a huge opportunity to meet with people who have gone along the same journey, sharing best practice and trying to avoid the pitfalls and just having a support network.
Zoe Bucknall
CEO, Kuberno
Boardwave Mentoring
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the goal of the mentor program? A: Boardwave Mentoring facilitates knowledge and expertise sharing between leaders in the European software sector. The goal is to build collaborative relationships based on trust, that help solve your business challenges, to accelerate your growth.
Q: What will we discuss during mentoring sessions? A: Mentoring sessions take place in an environment of trust and confidentiality designed to help you hone your leadership skills and address critical business challenges. What you discuss will be down to you and your mentor.
Q: What types of mentorship are available? A: With Boardwave mentoring we can help you find a mentor with the right background and experience for you and your business. Once you’ve agreed to work together, the length, frequency and location of each 1-2-1 session is down to you. Initially we suggest a 30 minute “chemistry” meeting to ensure you are both compatible, before you agree to proceed regularly. It’s important that there are some agreed rules of engagement around these sessions, e.g. no short notice cancellations. Alternatively you may choose to join a Boardwave Breakout, which is a curated peer-group of up to 8 software leaders, committed to meet four times a year, to share their business and leadership challenges and solve them together. Boardwave provides a moderator for these sessions, who help keep things on track, and when needed bring in an “expert” from our community to help resolve particularly stubborn problems.
Q: How do we track progress? A: As a mentor you’ll have pledged a certain number of hours to Boardwave mentoring per annum. You’ll need to update your remaining mentor hours as they’re used, so that your mentee(s) can see how much time you have available for them.
Q: What is the expected outcome of the mentorship? A: Over time you will build a trusted relationship with your mentor, you decide how often and how long each meeting lasts. But you should expect to share your challenges, concerns and business issues as well as points on leadership development. Your mentor should offer fresh perspectives, new ways of framing the issues, and possibly some suggestions on how to grow and build your business based on their personal experiences.
Q: Are you able to pair me with the best mentor? A: Using our Connection Centre search tool and initial engagement meetings, you can quickly zero in on the very best fit for you - whether you’re looking for someone in the same situation, or someone who has successfully navigated the challenges you’re currently facing. You may be looking for someone locally, who speaks your language, or someone elsewhere in Europe who can help you think about going International. If you are having difficulty finding the right match, we can provide support via our concierge service, or you can connect with the professional mentors / coaches in the community above.