Consortiums

There are always ways to be noticed and make your point.

The idea came up of being able to both involve more apprentices and having some groups of apprentices working closer together. In some ways this is not completely new in that we have always had some co-operative projects involving several apprentices, and when the residential centre was operated they joined as a group and progressed as a team. The principle difference in this development is that some groups will be selected from the beginning to be a part of a permanent or near permanent consortium group, and these will be involved in joint projects rather than having their own projects. This does not replace the 1 to 1 mentoring, and for many this will still be a more ideal approach. Consortium groups may find life somewhat easier as they will be able to share research and planning tasks out amongst the consortium and have the comradeship and advice of fellow consortium members. The size of the consortium groups will vary depending on the projects we can see coming up, and the geographic location.

There will still be some individual mentoring and each apprentice will have their own individual agreements, so its not a unification of what is being done. We also expect some people who start on this method to want to switch to 1 to 1 and for some on 1 to 1 to likewise feel that this may be more suitable for them.

The initial concern of some is that they will lose their individuality, and have to comply with a group, perhaps not having their views heard, or heard and discounted. This is not necessarily all bad as it will make people look at how to handle a group situation and how to get their viewpoint considered. Clearly we will be monitoring this. Another concern is that of becoming the odd one out within a group, and again we will be watching for this and handle it if it arises.

This is being run in conjunction with the Unicorn fellowship, and all the initial consortium groups H3 Mentoring will manage, so as to establish a working model and resolve any operational problems before some other mentors become involved later. One of the reasons why the Unicorn Fellowship wanted to develop this was that particularly in the USA all 1 to 1 mentoring is fully utilised, although we can still take on some USA apprentices now, this involves them in greater travel. In the future as the number of consortium places grow, there should be more scope for local mentoring, but this could take several years before this point is reached. It is unlikely that any other mentors will take on consortiums until after the first two years.

If you particularly want a consortium place, then proceed as you would for any mentoring role but tell us as the point when information is provided prior to the meeting that you would prefer to be a part of a consortium.

It its the consortium involvement that is exciting you, more than mentoring then also take a look at the JVC's (joint venture consortiums) organised by Property Club International, if you are in the UK you should join ABAN for free and you will then be able to see this information  as well.

H3 Mentoring is a division and trading name of H3 Search Ltd, a UK company. H3 Search Ltd has New Atlantis Trust status and most of its activities are exclusively marketed through NAISC. It does not provide consultancy services to the public or to organisations or businesses that are not in some way closely connected with what is now called the New Economic Model. See www.naisc.com for details on this.