Some 101 senior government officials have benefited from mentoring under the innovative National Business Initiative (NBI) and Eastern Cape government mentoring and coaching project. Run over three years the project has seen early retirees from the private sector work with public sector managers.

Diversity is understood to enrich the mentoring relationship and NBI project executive Ruth Troskie reflected on this at a recent gathering to thank mentors and business for their commitment to the project. "We believe the diversity around age, race, gender and environment has strengthened the success of the project. Retirees serving as mentors were mostly in their early 60s whereas the managers they worked with were almost half their age. We targeted retirees who had worked extensively at a management level during careers in the private sector. Given South African polarities the mentors were mainly white and the public sector managers were mostly black. Adding to the diversity was that many mentors were men while some of the mentees were women."

"The different approaches of the public and private sectors in terms of the ways they operate, brought an additional element of diversity to the project. The intended personal growth and development which the programme aimed to provide public sector managers has been enhanced through this diversity and we congratulate both mentors and mentees for their openness to the programme which has added immense value to their experience" added Troskie.

The event was sponsored by Old Mutual which also provide mentor and mentee training through is training subsidiary Ilima Trust. Training is essential to the success of the project as it outlines the nature of the relationship which is emphatic that the role of the mentor is to through incisive questions facilitate the mentee arriving at their own solutions to the areas they wish to perform better in.

NBI's CEO André Fourie commented that NBI had been extremely proud to engage with government in this way and he congratulated all involved for the exceptional results achieved. He also thanked NBI members and the private sector for its generous contribution to the project. The funding model used was for every rand the public sector contributed, the private sector contributed 50c. "This illustrates private sector commitment to the project of good public sector governance," he said.

Particularly PricewaterhouseCoopers was thanked for its contributions in kind at the start up of the project, Mercedes Benz of South Africa for sponsoring office space. Numerous companies provided staff to serve on the working committee which supported Troskie in her role as project executive. Nationally, Xstrata and Barloworld had contributed significantly, Fourie said.

Mentee Jacob Ndaki of the Office of the Premier commented: "From my perspective the programme is a good thing for all government employees and that we should take advantage of it. My mentor empowered me to feel confident using a computer."

Makhaya Zokoza of the Department of Economic Development and Environmental Affairs said: "The programme has given me many things. We have had a session on communication and the importance of people having heard what I have requested and the importance of follow up. It has been a wonderful opportunity with the mentor to explore taking what has been communicated through to a task delivery. The programme has turned out differently to what I expected - I thought it would like a teacher coming here to make sure I had done what was expected. It is all about my expectations of myself and self regulation."

"It has been an invaluable exercise to be mentored by a very experienced person who has helped me with all sorts of things, including my leadership skills. We have also looked at issues like recruitment and what to look for when recruiting new employees. He helped me to develop confidence," said Khayalethu Nqini of the Department of Safety and Liaison.

Zoe Chakadama of the Department of Public Works said: "The programme has really assisted me in sitting back and looking at the work I am doing and seeing whether everything is working as it should. What often happens is that you work and work and you don't have time to step back and review. I view mentoring as an opportunity to find clarity with what needs to be done, and having someone to listen to you and pay attention just to you is of great value."

The NBI would like to thank all the companies supporting this important initiative.