Mentoring

Working with Young People

KKI helps young people to change and start directing their lives

Much of this work is done pro bono with the Princes Scottish Youth Business Trust (PSYBT) where Kevin is an after-care advisor. It builds on youth work experience gained through the Scout Association, where Kevin has been a leader since 2001. David Aaronovitch commented in the Observer that 'Something happens every time a child learns a new skill and says "I can do this"’. That is true of both an eight year old going away from home for the first time and a twenty-eight year old giving an investor presentation.

It is particularly interesting to be both a management trainer and a cub scout leader. Many of the team games are directly transferable, and it is a useful rule of thumb that the typical sedentary middle manager will have a similar physical capability to the average 8-9 year cub scout. It is also apparent that things like team role preferences (such as described in the Belbin test) are already well defined at a young age. You can see some quotes and outcomes in the box to the right. KKI has three types of activities aimed at different age groups:

For young people who are undergoing the transition from junior(primary) to senior (secondary) school, there are confidence-building exercises, primarily outdoors,such as simple map reading and team games. These are mainly one or half day programmes, but we can also offer the famous (to Edinburgh Cub Scouts at least) all weekend 'Fellowship of the Rings' programme of some 15 interlinked, themed, activities.
For teenagers, KKI can provide individual career mentoring sessions, team building activities, business games & competitions (Dragons Den, or the Simulated Stock Market) outdoor activities and ‘edutainment’
For students, post-docs and older teenagers we can act as a mentor for those interested in starting their own business.

We have worked with charities, schools, local authorities and universities, with young people from 8 to 30. KKI is particularly interested in working with young people who have shown determination in overcoming challenges of background or health.