The British telecommunications company BT has completed a pilot project specialized in coaching and leadership development of young apprentices. It was a three-month programme allowing young professionals under 30 years to experince the same style of leadership development common for senior managers. The programme included a week of classroom training and 11 weeks of coaching. The aim was to promote mental resilience, confidence, communication and leadership skills of the apprentices in relation to corporate values.
The project also included a socially responsible element in the form of selecting the coaching company called In Sync. They company committed to provide the same training to a 16-19 year old disadvantaged local school student for each coached apprectice from BT. The pilot project involved 25 coaches. Now BT wants the program to repeat and offer the same chance to others from its total 600 apprectices.
"Having access to coaching of this quality, so early in their careers, has helped these apprentices understand their real potential and build the capability and confidence to move toward it. During the course of the programme I have seen them become young leaders and their understanding of and commitment to our business bloom; making them the emotionally intelligent managers of the future that we need to ensure BT continues to thrive. When taking part means that a disadvantaged young person also gets the opportunity to grow and develop, there’s an added incentive to do well.” said Caroline Waters, BT Group Director of People and Policy, on peoplemanagement.co.uk.
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