SUPPORTING YOUNG PEOPLE FROM LOWER SOCIO-ECONOMIC BACKGROUNDS INTO CAREERS IN THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES THROUGH MENTORING

1 SKY IMPACT UPDATE

Make a Difference Mentoring 2019 Our Mentor Training Programme trains industry professionals in coaching and creating inclusive cultures.

The impact that we have on the young people and the professionals who take part in our programme, and the businesses that sponsor it, is really important to us.

This report compiles feedback that mentors and mentees on the Make a Difference Mentoring programme shared with us through a mid-point check-in and end of programme survey.

2 WEEK 8 FEEDBACK At mid-point during the programme, we asked mentors and mentees to complete a survey to let us know how they were getting on and if there was anything we could do to support them

Out of 48 pairings, we received 33 responses from mentors and 33 responses from mentees 3 LEARNINGS FOR MENTORS Make a Difference Mentors were invited to 4 workshops and a roundtable session, to explore:

- The causes of under-representation and barriers to entry within the creative industries - Using open questions and setting SMART goals - Unconscious bias and concepts of social and cultural - Coaching techniques, the GROW model and the difference between telling, mentoring and coaching

4 MID-POINT CHECK-IN Mentor progress so far...

Mentors commit to meet their mentee at 78% of mentors and least 8 times during the 16-week programme. 81% of mentees have 61% of mentors were on track or above, having had 4 or more sessions reported that their with their mentee. 28% were just one meeting behind and sessions are going 11% had achieved 2 meetings.

89% were holding all of their meetings either well or face to face (ideal!) The remaining 11% are mixing face to VERY well face with phone calls.

5 WHAT ARE MENTORS WORKING ON WITH THEIR MENTEES?

“Creating a CV that summarises her “Hard skills wise, we are starting to focus on relevant experience - as she has so developing her understanding of professional much! - in a way that sets her up for practice within a visual effects / design success in the world of work.” environment, as well as developing her knowledge of software.” “Interview training, updating her CV and networking- both in person and “Her SMART goals and journey towards digitally.” SCA job applications.”

“Improving her soft skills & giving “A creative brief that we got to from her a good understanding of how talking about what he would like to get marketing at Sky works.” out of this scheme.”

6 DEVELOPING A PIPELINE OF DIVERSE TALENT FOR SKY

At mid-point check-in:

81% 61% of mentors of mentees were interested or very & interested in applying for a job at 63% of mentees Sky Creative or Sky Media had spoken about careers at

Sky in their mentoring sessions 15% were possibly interested and 4% were not currently looking to apply for a role at Sky

7 MENTEE FEEDBACK “We are focusing on meeting designers and “My mentor has been great! Personal editing my CV and website so companies such development has really helped me think about as Sky would hire me!” how fit into the working world and what I’d like to be producing.” “Even though my mentor is not in the field I “My mentor and I are currently working on would like to go in, he planned a day to meet Sky designers from different backgrounds and I getting me to understand the different jobs have been offered work experience at and roles that people have at Sky, allowing TV.” me to see the smaller details about how projects are tackled and the overall “So far we've discussed long term goals, strengths responsibilities that they have” and weaknesses, and job interviews.”

“I think my mentor has given me a clear path “Every time that I do go into Sky I have a very to follow, as well as practical inspiration and eventful day that always makes me want to look insight.” more into advertising and marketing.”

8 HOW HAS CREATIVE MENTOR NETWORK SUPPORTED MENTORS AND MENTEES?

J and S

Mentee expressed concerns about mentoring being task focused and not 1:1. Mentor expressed concerns about the mentees poor communication via email.

S and E

Mentor was rematched due to original mentee pulling out of the programme after the launch. Esther has moved to a university outside of London and finding it difficult to travel to Sky campus.

R and A

Mentee was initially not available for mentoring sessions during work hours.

N and J

Mentor had concerns about mentees motivations to be on the programme do to their general attitude in sessions - not being very vocal.

9 PROGRAMME EVALUATION Following the showcase, we asked mentors and mentees to provide us with feedback of their overall experience on the programme

Out of 48 pairings, we received 30 responses from mentors and 29 responses from mentees

10 IMPACT ON DIVERSITY AT SKY

WE ASKED MENTORS: DO YOU AGREE WITH THE AGREE DISAGREE FOLLOWING? I have a greater awareness of how diversity and inclusivity can benefit Sky 100% 0%

I am more aware of the issues facing young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds and the barriers they face when entering the creative industry 100% 0%

I feel more equipped to nurture others from diverse backgrounds 97% 3%

I feel more confident inputting into a diversity strategy at work 90% 10%

11 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 73% 90% Agree that mentoring a young person has Agree that the programme has made them more made them feel more enthusiastic about aware of new audiences and attitudes what they do 67% 70% Agree that mentoring a young person has Stated that participating in the programme helped them build confidence in their own has helped them develop their ability to ask skills and knowledge open questions

12 MENTORS: WHAT WAS THE MOST VALUABLE THING ABOUT THE PROGRAMME? ”The sessions for Mentors - Highly informative “Great to be able to help someone and I felt I was and eye-opening.” really able to give some good coaching when my mentee was applying for jobs and she has come to me “Meeting someone from a very different with lots of questions with is great. I also think I really background and trying to understand how I could developed my listening skills through the project.” help them develop new skills.” “Meeting other colleagues in the business and “The sessions about networks and cultural capital understanding where they face challenges” were fascinating and helped me better understand the disadvantages that affect some of “Realising the wealth of experience I had and the mentees.” hopefully being able to make a difference.”

“I developed skills in using open questions and “Meeting a young person with completely different life encouraging autonomy and consideration where experiences than myself.” perhaps before I might have defaulted to instruction before giving someone enough of a “Gaining a more detailed understanding of mentoring

chance to do something on their own.” techniques.” 13 SOME OF THE EXPERIENCES MENTORS ARRANGED FOR THEIR MENTEES: ”She came to Sky and did a session on podcasts “She went on a shoot for Festive Football and should and a session with Sky creative.” also be going to some of the post-production work being done for the campaign.” “We had a couple of introduction sessions and a morning shadowing someone in the broader team “My mentee gained work experience with the who plans online video.” production team in News, Soccer AM, Monday Night Football as well as with presenters.” “They shadowed my team for an afternoon going through creative campaign deliverable.” “My mentee spent half a day in a recording studio for a radio ad - and she even recorded her own demo!” “He shadowed my team for a day in the development of an U35s podcast.” “I ended up setting up about 15 coffees for her over a couple of days. She had some great conversations “I introduced my mentee to our in-house Visual and one of the people I got her into contact with then effects team (as she had expressed an interest in arranged another day for her to spend a day at Sky VFX) and arranged for her to experience their way Creative meeting and shadowing creatives.”

of working for a morning.” 14 PROFESSIONAL CONNECTIONS

Gatsby Foundation research shows that young people who make 4+ professional connections while still in full-time education, are 5x more employable.

39% of Make a Difference Mentoring mentees made 4 or more professional connections through the programme 32% made 3 connections 29% made 1-2 connections

86% of mentees now have a better understanding of the different roles and career paths within the creative industries. 86% feel more comfortable talking to people in a professional context as a result of the programme

15 IMPACT ON MENTEES 83% 79% Agree that mentoring made them more Found that mentoring helped them see setbacks likely to put themselves forward for new and and criticism as opportunities to learn from challenging situations and develop themselves 86% 89% Agree that the programme has made them Feel more confident reaching out to people more driven to create career opportunities in a professional context and take initiative for my own career

development 16 FOLLOWING THE PROGRAMME, WHERE DO MENTEES WANT TO WORK?

17 MENTEE FEEDBACK ”The experience has made me more sure of this career path and made me more confident about “MY MENTOR WAS my future in the creative industry.”

“My experience at Sky has had a huge impact in ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. the sense that it’s showed my parents that there is ways you can get in to such places and work HE WILL DEFINITELY BE and meet the right people.”

“I enjoyed learning something new every week. A LIFETIME The skills I gained through this programme really made things way more clear!” CONNECTION. THANK

“Really enjoyed the fact that my mentor took time YOU.” to understand my career vision, and from that set me up with people that she knew for me to get advice.” 18 WHERE CAN WE IMPROVE? SUGGESTIONS

“I FEEL MORE ● At the beginning of the programme, share Sky’s diversity strategy with mentors and outline what opportunities there are to get CONFIDENT involved in it. Revisit this in the roundtable discussion. INPUTTING INTO ● Ensure that work experience / shadowing is compulsory for mentees during the A DIVERSITY programme. Encourage mentors to get feedback from their mentees around their STRATEGY AT experience during placement.

● Dedicate time in sessions 2 and 3 for WORK” mentors to reflect on how their experiences (90% AGREE, 10% DISAGREE) could feed into diversity strategy at Sky.

19 WHAT WE HEARD FROM MENTORS IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING, OUR SUGGESTIONS WHAT WOULD IT BE? “Make it spread out over a longer period. It make it really ● Increase the length of the programme to 5 months pressured when I already don't have a work/life balance. ● Share information with mentors and mentees about why Not enough time to really get to know someone either.” they have been paired ahead of first meeting ● Encourage phone/video calls between in-person sessions “Sky to provide even more explicit employment ● Invite HR/Careers team to induction sessions for mentors opportunities” and mentees, to explain what opportunities are available and then recap on this at the roundtable ● Now that the careers site is launched, encourage mentees to sign up for notifications immediately “Mentees should be more encouraged to drive the ● Provide mentees with suggestions around what they can relationship with mentor. I found that I was making ask of their mentors suggestions, rather than requests coming from mentee.” ● Encourage mentees to share what they’re working on with their mentor with other mentees on the programme for inspiration and motivation "The mentee I was paired up with was so diligent and ● Creative Mentor Network has revised the criteria we use hardworking, but I didn't feel that she lacked the contacts or to select mentees and they must have attended a state means to get into the creative industry.” school and meet at least one of the following: eligible for Free School Meals, Parents Occupation (low-income roles). 20 WHAT WE HEARD FROM MENTEES IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING, OUR SUGGESTIONS WHAT WOULD IT BE?

“Create more meetings/workshops with all the ● Host networking sessions at Sky for mentors and mentees on mentees and mentors in the same room to gain a the programme across both cohorts new perspectives and hear experiences from ● Invite mentees to Creative Mentor Network’s quarterly series of each other. Similar to the 'mingling' in the 29th events (beginning January 2020) Oct Sky Showcase” ● Look to host informative events at Sky for Make a Difference mentees and other young people in our network during the programme

“The idea of what is considered to be creative ● Open up the opportunity to join the programme to more teams needs to be explored a bit more. Nine times out at Sky of ten, when people talk about it, it’s to do with ● Improve clarity around who the opportunity is for (not only arts and media... there needs to be more of a those in traditionally creative roles) push to widen what is considered to be the ● Ensure that the full of roles within Sky and the creative spectrum.” creative industry are communicated to young people during school visits and recruitment for the programme

“Longer mentoring programmes for better ● As well as extending the length of the programme, introduce exposure of industry” more opportunities for mentees to attend networking events at Sky ● Make work experience / shadowing at Sky a compulsory part of the programme 21 FUTURE IMPACT After receiving many applications, Make a Difference mentee Dalia Kebire has been appointed as Creative Mentor Network’s Youth Trustee. From December 2019, she will be sitting on the Board of Trustees and feeding into the direction of the organisation, providing invaluable insights from a youth perspective.

22 KEY LEARNINGS FOR CREATIVE MENTOR NETWORK

WHAT WE WANT TO IMPROVE ON HOW WE WANT TO CHANGE?

Filing every space on the programme in ● Work on the run-up activity, including posters around Sky campus and a advance and creating a sense of promo evening competitiveness over spaces ● Get mentor ambassadors involved in the promotion of the programme - such as an ambassador panel at the promo evening

More buy-in from mentors to achieve ● Include all workshop dates in the application forms, applicants must higher workshop attendance commit to attending at least 4 of the sessions ● Split the start dates of the programme so that it doesn’t run over the summer period, mentors and mentees have told us that running the programme over the summer has made it difficult due to holidays and team commitments

More cohesion in the group - both for ● Set up a WhatsApp group for mentors and a seperate one for mentees mentors and mentees ● Run mixers for mentors and mentees ● Set up department-specific info days so mentees can gain insight into more areas of the business - this was organised by mentors on the programme, but Creative Mentor Network could be proactive and take the lead in setting these up at the beginning of the programme ● Use mentor training session 1 for mentors only to bond as a group, introduce mentees following session 2

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DEVELOPING A PIPELINE OF DIVERSE TALENT FOR SKY

Our KPIs were for 70%+ of mentees to sign up to the Sky Creative mailing list and 20% of mentees to apply for a role in the organisation.

24 MAKE A DIFFERENCE MENTORING 2020 50 mentor and mentee pairings, 5 months per cohort

PROPOSED TIMELINE DELIVERY January - February ● Recruit young people, focussing on applications from West London ● Promote the programme internally at Sky ● Open up mentor applications with a deadline set for mid-February ● Assessment Centres for young people held at Sky March - July (Cohort 1) ● This cohort is most suited to applicants who have already left full time education as it runs over the exam period July ● Social for mentors and mentees across both cohorts, held at Sky campus June - November (Cohort 2) ● This cohort is suited to students and school leavers following their exams (August isn’t counted in the 5 months as many people are away during that period) October ● Roundtable: mentors and mentees across both cohorts, plus HR/Careers team December ● Showcase (both cohorts)

25 THANK YOU!

CONTACT: [email protected]

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