PLATO & Business Mentoring

Plato Ireland is dedicated to the successful development of Ireland's indigenous small and medium enterprise (SME) sector. Plato offers owner managers a business support forum where they can tackle the challenges and issues of today's business world.

Having competed the comprehensive PLATO training programme I was a group leader for the Dublin programme, supporting a group of 10 business owners/ manager via monthly meetings, sourcing materials based on the groups needs; facilitating introductions to appropriate advisers and/or networks; and providing ad hoc accompaniement and support over the two tear period of the programme.

I am currently completing my “Learning Log” for a qualification in Business Mentoring. The log is based on my experience as a mentor to both individual organisations and, via PLATO to groups.

Business Mentoring Theory: Focusing on current challenges and issues facing the self-employed and how the business facilitator/mentor can support those involved to overcome the barriers and inhibitors encountered.

Business Mentoring Process: Drawing on organizational theory and practice this module should identify perspectives on the group process, group dynamics and individual behaviour

Business Mentoring in Context: the core components of the effective management of organizational principals and in the context of the Plato Network the entrepreneurial personality

Sustaining the Mentoring Relationship: building an understanding of strategic planning including analytical skills to formulate, explain, implement and evaluate the strategies that create, maintain and sustain the Mentoring relationship

Based on my review of academic & professional research into the area, aligned to my own experience – both with PLATO and working with individual organisations; I prepared a model of what Group-based mentoring would require:

What is the Logical Framework (LogFrame)?

Having worked with a number of NGOs & project-based organisations during 2008, I have designed an MSExcel-based integrated planning tool - based on the LogFrame:


The main concept of the LogFrame is “means & ends”. The better the means and end linkages between each level of aims (the matrix), the better the programme design. By definition, each programme has an “if-then” or “means-&-end” logic embedded in it.
o If we produce certain results under certain conditions,
o Then we can expect to achieve certain other outcomes

The LogFrame has the following advantages:
- It brings together in one place a statement of all the key components of a project (this is particularly helpful when there is a change of staff)
- It presents them in a systematic, concise and coherent way, thus clarifying and exposing the logic of how the project is expected to work
- It separates out the various levels in the hierarchy of objectives, helping to ensure that inputs and outputs are not confused with each other or with objectives and that wider ranging objectives are not overlooked
- It clarifies the relationships which underlie judgments about likely efficiency and effectiveness of projects
- It identifies the main factors related to the success of the project
- It provides a basis for monitoring and evaluation by identifying indicators of success, and means of quantification or assessment
- It encourages a multidisciplinary approach to project preparation and supervision.


The MSExcel tool allows for all aspects of the LogFrame planning process, that is to say good-decisions around objectives, activities and resource (time, money & things) optimisation, to be captured in a sinlge, integrated tool.


Advantages of the Integrated LogFrame tool include:
1. Defining the objectives in the most concise, manageable way – SMART


2. Directly linking the objectives to outputs (results); inputs (resources), ensuring that the activities (who) are Measurable & Achievable

3. Activity & resource-based planning to better define the Relevant, Time-bound responsibilities of participants & partners in the programme – and the resources (that, combined, make up the budget) available to the programme


5. An integrated Project Plan – aligning objectives to results (outcomes) to activities to responsibilities (who) and to resources (time-money-things).


6. It also integrates the LogRisk register into the same tool – reflection risks & assumptions:
• A Risk is a definable, but unknowable event that we presume WILL occur. – as a result additional activities and resources will be required in the programme to monitor &/or mitigate these risks
• An Assumption is a definable, unknowable event that we presume will NOT occur, and so additional resources are not immediately required in the programme, although these assumptions should be monitored as part of Monitoring Indicators


7. And finally the tool allows you to “link” the programme LogFrame to the MDGs and, inn this case the Irish Aid donor priorities – aligning programmes to both strategic goals and donor priorities

What is “programme”?

Programme is the term used to describe the consolidated approach to an NGOs projects, partners and participants (a project being “a planned endeavour, usually with a specific goal and accomplished in several steps or stages”). From a practical perspective there are two types of Programmatic approach:

Ways of working: this is where the approach draws on and shares appropriate management practices & policies that enable the efficient delivery of the NGO’s supports & services

Type of intervention: is where a shared understanding of the beneficiaries requirements allows suitable, sustainable, successful development interventions to be designed and implemented where the challenges of poverty alleviation are similar

The focus of a programmatic planning process is based on a participative engagement with partners & participants, where possible, facilitating a bottom-up approach to planning that maximises reflection, research & discussion – which provides the basis for good decision-making.

Planning is the processes of reflection, research and discussion that allow the organisation to make “good decisions”.


Good decisions are those decision made with the best information available at the time. It is only with hindsight that the organisation can determine if “good decisions” were the right decisions.

Good decisions can be made around resource requirements & optimisation over longer & shorter time periods plus key activities, risks & dependencies that will impact on the progress towards meeting the identified objectives.

Good decisions made at the outset here will allow for good plans to be prepared and these plans will form the basis of project funding (dispersals & accounting), monitoring (progress), evaluation (achieving objectives) and impact (success of projects, programmatic lesson learning, etc.).

Plans are the documented outputs and actions associated with “good decisions”. As a result it is better for an organisation to have good planning (reflection, research & discussion) that achieves “good decisions” than to have Plans based on poor decision-making. It is these good-decisions that build the organisation's & programme's (projects, partners & participants) capacity

Capacity is the optimisation of the three primary resources available to any organisation – Time; Money & Things. Capacity is built through improving the quality of decision-making within the organisation so as to better optimise these three resources towards the achievement of the organisations objectives {Plans})

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

A final blog entry for 2008 to wish you all a very merry Christams. I was looking for an interesting quote or phrase to reflect on this season - and thought of the new years' eve party from "When Harry met Sally" - so have a fantastic 2009...

"I love that you get cold when it's 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you're looking at me like I'm nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it's not because I'm lonely, and it's not because it's New Year's Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."

2009 will be the International Year for the following:

International Reconciliation Year: The General Assembly, recognizing that reconciliation processes are particularly necessary and urgent in countries of the world which had suffered or were suffering, situations of conflict that had affected and divided societies in their various facets, on 20th November 2006 proclaimed "2009 the International Year of Reconciliation" (A/61/L.22).

International Year of Natural Fibres (IYNF) 2009: To raise awareness of natural fibres, to promote efficiency and sustainability of the natural fibres, and to foster an effective international partnership among the various natural fibres industries

The International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009): This is a global effort initiated by the International Astronomical Union and UNESCO to help the citizens of the world rediscover their place in the Universe through the day- and night-time sky, and thereby engage a personal sense of wonder and discovery.

And it will be the Chinese year of the Ox in 2009.

Activity and Resource Based Work Planning

Having worked with a number of large and small organisations over the years I have come to understand that there are only three (3) primary resources available to any & all organisations - no matter what their size, sector in which they work, funds available to them, number of employees, etc. These three resources are:

Time: the people available and their knowledge,skills and attributes
Things: the physical, logistical, technological resources that are available to us
Money: the financial resources that give us flexibility to buy additional time (e.g. recruitment, over-time, training) or things (additional tangible resources) should we need them

Drawing on this understanding I have developed, and successfully used a work planning tool that looks to make the optimum use of these three resources when prioritised against organisational objectives (i.e. work plans, business plans & strategic plans):

The planning tool looks to address the key questions that any organisation should look to monitor as it goes about it normal working period (be that daily, weekly, monthly, etc.):
- What are we (as a team)working towards?
- What am I (as a team member) working towards (contributing)?
- Are we on track? Do we need to change anything?
- Are we doing the right things?
- Are we making best use of what we have (time, money & things)?
- Do we have all that we need?
= And is it all working together?

Volunteering Code of Practice

Comhlamh is a Irish member and supporter organisation open to anyone interested in social justice, human rights and global development issues. One of these issues is volunteering and Comhlamh leads an initiative called Volunteering Options (http://www.volunteeringoptions.org/) which includes a comprehensive website, a volunteer’s charter and a Volunteer Code of Practice for Sending Organisations -

I was recently asked to review the experience of a number of signatories to the code (VCoP) to see what lessons could be learnt and opportunities idenified - both for the code and for the signatory organisations. The structure of the VCoP review mirrors that of the existing audit approach that has been adopted – building on the investment already made by all signatories to the code.

A set of questions – drawing on the VCoP; the Self-audits; Donor perspectives & my own experience - formed the basis of the review which was conducted as a series of one-2-one interviews with the volunteer coordinators from the participating organisations:



The answers from the participants allowed for a “point-in-time” assessment (audit) PLUS an opportunity assessment in relation to opportunities to strengthen the overall organisation’s management processes. By extension, these opportunities can be categorised to allow the lesson learnt from the review to be consolidated and shared among Comhlamh members.

When looking at programme quality, we focused more on “ways-of-working” and this was categorised for the purposes of the under four headings:
Organisation: Assessment of VCoP Principles against organisation requirements (e.g. strategy; resourcing; planning; etc.)
Volunteer: Assessment of VCoP Principles against volunteer responsibilities (e.g. use of Comhlamh Volunteer Charter)
Programme: Assessment of programme (proposals/plans) & policies/procedures for alignment with CoP principles
Partners: Assessment of VCoP Principle against in-country partner responsibilities (e.g. within MoUs; etc.)



Undertaking an exercise like this also allows us to try and learn about the broader Development Agenda of sending organisation. Via the identification of broader development items based on the "Application of CoPs" assessment.

You can learn more about Comhlamh by reading their strategy document here

eCommerce for Success

The "eCommerce for Success" programme provides incremental & applied learning approach for both your own personal development as an entrepreneur and for the development of your business, combined with an interactive, participative programme that allows you to build on your own business ideas and experiences


The programme helps you to understand how visitors to your website will behave and how to design your website to influence that behaviour, helping you to develop strategies and tactics to encourage these visitors to become customers


The incremental learning builds on earlier sessions of the programme and drawing on your own business…

…to define what it is that you need from the internet to develop and grow that business…

…helping you to match your available resources (time; money; 3rd parties; equipment & facilitates; etc.) to your eCommerce plans

Throughout the programme there are practical session on how to get the best return for your investment in eCommerce (the internet & your website)


You will be provided with tools & working papers that we use to build your own eCommerce plans – for both you (personal development) and for your business (enterprise development)


And we draw upon research, from Ireland and Internationally – including research that you undertake as part of the assessment of you and your business' capacity to deliver on these eCommerce plans


What participants said…