Pollinators, supported by the City of Greater Geraldton, are excited to launch Flock – an innovative peer mentoring program. Participants came together last week for the opening session where they learned about the principles, action-learning approach and collaborated on prioritising the topics they wanted to focus on during the program.
Flock participants in the “Going Solo” stream: Angie West, Beatrice Burg and Rebecca Davidson
Flock has been designed to help be outstanding value for participants, helping them ‘fly further, faster, together’. Flock uses a mix of action-learning, peer mentoring and expert advice to help these innovators and entrepreneurs help themselves. Full details of the program are available on the Pollinators website: http://pollinators.org.au/learning/flock/
Flock Facilitator, Jo Blayney said “I’ve had a variety of experience with mentoring programs, from running in-house training on mentoring, to being a mentor and also a mentee. I’m very excited about facilitating the Flock program.The unique peer mentoring approach and the safe environment we aim to create will support participants to fly further, faster, together. It’s shaping up to be a fantastic program.”
Flock participants collaborate on the choice of themes and topics for their sessions.
Flock has three “streams” with 4-8 participants in each who will work closely together throughout the program. One stream will be dedicated to people involved in community based organisations – such as not for profits and community and sporting groups. Participants include representatives from Football, Farming, Basketball, Athletics and other groups. This group will cover amongst other things, governance, community & membership engagement, marketing and fundraising and managing volunteers.
The second stream is for anyone who is growing a Micro Enterprise. Flock facilitator Jo Blayney said this includes people running market stall, home-based and internet-based business. The focus for advice and mentoring includes strategy, pricing and positioning, personal productivity, financial savvy and marketing (offline & online).
Anyone going solo, either freelance or consultants, will be the target of the third stream. Whilst the content of the session will be driven by the participants needs, there is likely to be a focus on common issues such as marketing yourself as an expert,work-life balance, marketing and sales, and business model innovation.
Flock participants learning about the philosophy and approach for Flock.
Flock is another example of learning programs developed by Pollinators in response to requests from innovators and entrepreneurs in the Midwest. A recently-completed independent evaluation report highlighted the impact and benefit of this ‘market-driven’ approach to growing a better community. Further details of Pollinators other programs such as Catalyst and Swarm events are viewable online.
Potential mentors, guest presenters and participants in future programs can express their interest through the Pollinators website, online:
- Mentor opportunities: http://pollinators.org.au/membership/mentor-opportunities/
- Flock participant Expressions of Interest: http://pollinators.org.au/learning/flock/flock-eoi/
Or, contact facilitator Jo Blayney at jo [at] pollinators.org.au for further information.
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