National Mentoring Month is a great opportunity for us to highlight the importance of mentoring and the positive impact it has on the personal development of our teammates.
This year, we are marking National Mentoring Month, which highlights the benefits of mentoring programmes and raises awareness about the power of positive working relationships, by sharing a Copart success story.
As part of our Copart Cares đź’™ CSR commitment, we actively encourage the personal development of all teammates, and our ongoing mentoring programme has proven an extremely effective way of building skills and knowledge for both the mentor and the mentee.
At Copart, we understand that everyone learns in a different way and that it is important to offer a range of training techniques to meet individual needs.
Mentoring is used widely across our business to support and complement our other training programmes and is particularly effective for providing new teammates with a fully comprehensive understanding of our business and their role.
For both new teammates – and existing teammates seeking career progression – having a mentor provides increased confidence, a wider support network across our business, and access to the invaluable experience of a knowledgeable and long-serving teammate.
The mentor also receives many benefits associated with their own personal development, providing them with management/leadership experience, strengthening their communication skills, and exposing them to new and different perspectives.
Mentoring has also proved a great success when used in conjunction with our Copart Apprenticeship scheme.
We’re proud to have made significant investment into our apprenticeship schemes. To date, we have supported over 120 apprentices to learn new skills, gain industry recognised qualifications, and receive potential progression opportunities within Copart.
At our Operation Centre in Sandy, Bedfordshire, Yard Operative Sam Davies has benefited from having the support of a mentor as he works towards his City & Guilds Team Leader Level 3 apprenticeship qualification.
This apprenticeship is aimed at teammates taking their first steps onto the leadership ladder and provides them with a range of skills, techniques, and methods to manage people and projects, develop relationships, and deliver results.
Acting as mentor for Sam is Simon Merrills, Yard Manager at Sandy, who has a wealth of knowledge to share, both from his role at Copart and his previous management experience within retail.
“Being Sam’s mentor has not only helped him to progress within the business, but it has also helped me to gain the experiences I need for my own development.” said Simon. “Seeing Sam achieve what he has makes me proud to be a mentor because I have helped him to progress within Copart. It’s been a very enjoyable experience and working one-to-one with Sam has given me an insight into how I influence other people. I really look forward to mentoring other teammates to help them progress in the future.”
For Sam, the hands-on experience provided through the mentoring programme has proved invaluable for his personal development, as he explains.
“The most beneficial part of having a mentor is having someone that is there to support me and answer any questions I have.” said Sam. “Simon has given me sound advice and a real insight into different management styles, as well as the freedom to manage the team under his supervision. It’s been an invaluable experience and has helped to develop my career towards a future management role.”
Lee McDonald, General Manager at Copart Sandy, added:
“Mentoring has been excellent for Sam’s personal development and has helped both Sam and Simon to learn new skills. Sam can now competently manage the team in Simon’s absence, and I have gained a teammate who wants to progress and is certainly on his way to a future promotion.”
Discover more about National Mentoring Month on social media: #MentoringAmplifies and #MentoringMonth