The 2022 Cohort, saw the 8th year programme and once again our Executive Mentor’s added their wealth of experience and knowledge, to successfully support the LAP delegates through another year of leadership learning and development, which is now online.
Download Programme Schedule and Mentor Training dates
Since the pilot programme which ran in 2014-15, the mentors have continued to contribute a range of professional backgrounds and expertise. Many of them had mentoring experience and others joined as first time mentors.
Not all the mentors had lived experience of disability or a long-term health conditions, however, this platform allows for the integration of personal experiences and challenges faced by employees who do have lived experience of disability.
Many of our mentors have stayed with us for the duration of the time that the programme has been running. All have expressed views and feelings that this opportunity to mentor was beneficial to both their personal and professional growth and that they learnt a great deal not just from the mentor training, but from each other as mentors and through sharing the experiences of each of their individual journeys with their delegates.
Every year we welcome senior professionals, who join to voluntarily support Leadership Academy Programme (LAP) delegates through the programme.
LAP works well in many ways becuase of the dedication, expertise and experience provided by our mentors. They volunteer for LAP and provide 8 hours of mentoring for each cohort year and whilst doing so, help a disabled employee, their mentee, to overcome any barriers and support them to succeed in their journey to leadership.
Mentoring Impact Statements from various cohorts can be reviewed below:
Catherine Macadam | Coach/Mentor and Consultant
“The session was enjoyable and informative. I gained an understanding more about the LAP and its context and feel that there is a Good learning and support network”
Lorraine Hitchman | FInstSMM Managing Director | PSTA Ltd
“I really liked the fact that previous mentors were there to give their experience, I also liked the fact that the slide deck was sent out post the day. The mentor mentee information pack was also good”.
Andy Horne | Supplier Management CoE Lead | KPMG LLP | Procurement
“Being seated next to two mentors who themselves had a disability made me appreciate some of the challenges faced (from talking to them about their own work experience).”
“I joined the LAP as a mentor in 2015 and was assigned my mentee in early 2016, I have found it to be incredibly rewarding, professionally and personally as the relationship with my mentee has grown and I have seen them blossom. I believe mentoring is a two way street, that as a mentor, you learn as much as that of the mentee, you see different perspectives and it enables you to reflect personally as much as it does them.
What DRUK have created with the LAP is an incredible platform which allows people with disabilities to develop new skills, to grow personally and professionally to equip them further within their careers, enabling them to continue their upward progression or to break through the barrier(s) they had in front of them. I have stayed on with LAP and remain a mentor for the programme”.
Liz Pick | CEO-Performance and Well-Being
“Mentoring on the LAP programme was a great experience for me.
My mentee was an absolute delight to work with - she engaged really positively with the whole process and we talked about all aspects of her work. It made me realise how rare it is, for those of us with disabilities to talk openly about the impact not just on work performance but career opportunities, relationships and sense of self. And how easy it is for other people to under-estimate the ability and potential of someone with a disability.
That’s why the LAP programme is so important - it’s not about disability, it’s about achieving potential by building skills, self-awareness and confidence and developing individual ways of managing any impact of disability”.
Dr Sanjay P Mody MD MHSA (USA) BSc Hons (UK) | Healthcare Concierge and Consulting Ltd
"Mentoring has a huge positive impact on me as I have learned to appreciate the social care model which I have amalgamated with the medical. I can with confidence now understand therapeutic strategies
that includes mentoring in order to be effective. My leadership has developed by adding a dimension that I had not previously considered. Personally, I find the whole process nurturing and fulfilling".
An Article written by one of our Mentors for a more in depth account of his experience as a mentor.
Simon Lydiard | FCIPS | Department for Transport,
Please see an article written by Simon Lydiard FCIPS, Department for Transport, Deputy Director Group Commercial Services, Group Procurement Strategy, providing an insight of his personal experience and journey as a mentor on the pilot programme. We are pleased that, we will see Simon continue to mentor and remain a part of the Leadership Academy programme.
We appreciate the hard work and efforts made by our mentors and we are fortunate enough to have some of them agreeing to stay on for a further year! Some of our mentors have been with us for the entire 8 years and continue to be a core aspect of such a robust disabled leadership porgramme. You will only volunteer 8 hours of your time, online, however, the benefits from the learning experience, the networks and the shared good practice that each Mentor takes away continues to prove itself invaluable.
If you are interested in applying please contact; The Leadership Academy Executive for an application or for further information;
Katrina.morris@disabilityrightsuk.org
Or please see our downloadable programme information above.