Our thanks to Gemma Murphy, owner of ViewHR Limited, for an illustrative and personal testimonial on her experience as a client mentee of Dorset Business Mentors. Gemma first approached Dorset Business Mentors in 2015 and was linked with Katie Jones who has offered her time as a mentor through the programme since 2009. Gemma offers her perspective on what makes a good mentor and the role her mentor has played as she has developed her business.

““Hello - I’m Gemma Murphy, Director and Founder of View HR Limited, a specialist HR and Employment Consultancy supporting businesses and all types of organisations to manage their HR needs, support them through difficult HR situations and to develop business growth through their people. As a former HR and employment Solicitor at Lester Aldridge with good commercial experience, I felt there was a different way to bring HR to businesses with a pragmatic and human touch. We are all simple human beings after all!

So, in 2015, I had what I thought to be a good idea and started my own business. I was fortunate enough to have good operational and business experience through my time at JPMorgan and on its prestigious graduate scheme, but I felt that I needed a sounding board to challenge me on my thought processes and decisions. I have been fortunate to have had mentors all through my career, either in my workplace or externally. So with my positive experience of a mentor, I approached Dorset Business Mentors (Dormen, as it was then known) for a Business Mentor in my first few weeks of trading, and I was lucky enough to be assigned Katie Jones, an experienced executive coach and mentor, within 2 months of starting ViewHR.

Katie has been a blessing to my business but most importantly me as an individual and business owner. It isn’t the easiest thing to run a business, especially from the ground up and it is also a very lonely thing to do on your own! I think people underestimate that element of running a business and the impact it can have. By having a mentor, I had someone to support me with my business concepts and creation, to challenge me, to celebrate the small and big achievements and to help me focus on my growth strategy at times when I was ready. Katie also hasn’t taken it personally when I have said no to her suggestions or ideas as they didn’t fit me personally, but certainly made me challenge myself on exploring my rationale for my decisions! To be honest though, she’s never had a bad suggestion for me!

There have been times when I have just met with Katie for a chat, not thinking I ‘needed’ anything out of the session as the business had seemed to be going well and I had thought that a chat was all the session would end up being. However, I always walk away from those sessions having consolidated an idea I have had, challenging myself on a step which I thought was a simple ‘in the bag’ idea or just feeling more confident when I was doubting myself.

A good mentor when you find one becomes a trusted friend and ally. What do I mean by that? They are someone you are prepared to listen to, even if you don’t want to hear it, they support you even when you’ve made mistakes but then help you learn from it (sometimes you need to fail to best learn!), they guide you to make your own decisions and don’t tell you what to do. It’s not the role of a mentor to make decisions for you or to run your business for you, they are there to help you to run your own business independent and confidently!

Dorset Business Mentors has been a great mentoring programme. They recruit mentors of high calibre, who are trained and, while delivering through a professional framework of ethics and boundaries, are free to respond entirely to your needs . The programme team put a lot of effort into matching you with a mentor whose profile suits you, your business and client portfolio. Their mentors are business people with a high level of experience in business who can offer a fresh and objective insight, and challenge.

ViewHR has fortunately seen significant growth year on year and I now have 3 on my team full time and 1 part-time and we engage various consultants and independent service providers in running our business. We have exciting plans and growth ahead in 2021. I’d like to think that the growth of the business is down to my and my team’s hard work, determination and the quality of what ViewHR offers to its clients. However, I think running a business is a bit like a jigsaw and all of the parts need to fit together and be in the box for it to be complete, for me, Katie is a key part of my jigsaw and has become a life long friend too!

Thank you to Dorset Business Mentors for all you and the mentors do! ”

If you would like to learn more about the service Gemma and her team offer at View HR do visit the ViewHR website or connect with Gemma on LinkedIn - her posts are well worth following.

We would also like to thank Gemma for highlighting some important messages. The first is the experience of our team in selecting the right mentor to suit individual clients, the second is the calibre and experience of the mentors fielded by our programme. However, our focus is also on ensuring affordability and quality through mentoring that is effective for clients. We are therefore selective in the individuals we take forward for training as mentors - as effective mentoring is a learnt skill. We seek a high and broad level of experience (minimum senior management level attained in one or more sectors), and we monitor mentoring relationships to ensure their effectiveness. This approach gives reassurance and confidence to client mentees that they are in safe hands as they seek to develop, grow, or review their businesses.

Gemma Murphy - View HR Ltd