What is the role of tutoring in a Business Startup Process? It is a well-known and widely accepted fact that tutoring is a good method to steer and support people in their learning process. This is also true in entrepreneurship. New entrepreneurs need tutoring and mentoring, and sometimes this is also the case with older and more mature entrepreneurs.
What is the purpose of tutoring and why is there a need for tutoring?
All of us need performance evaluation and feedback from it. It is hard to develop and make things better if we don’t get any feedback. One of the roles of a tutor is to give entrepreneurs realistic and relevant feedback – what has been done, how it went and how to do things better. These are simple but important topics for tutoring discussions. Tutor has a duty to comment our plans, not just what has been done but also what we aim to do in the future. Are our plans realistic and do they lead us in the right direction? A good tutor is able to look both backward and forward, and he helps the entrepreneur to see in both directions. In this role the tutor is focusing on developing the business (direction).
Self-assessment is a highly important ability for entrepreneurs. It is essential to be able to evaluate oneself, the performance and the feedback received. Marketing is very important for a new business, but not all entrepreneurs are able to do good marketing – the rest of us are struggling with it more or less. If we belong to the latter part, we should do self-assessment and try to find the reasons for average or poor marketing performance. What should we do or think to be able to change this? Do we have an attitude problem or is there something that we need to change in our attitude or behavior? A tutor has a demanding task to challenge the entrepreneurs in this area. We do not always want to see in us thing that need to be changed, but a good tutor can be a catalysator for self-assessment! In this role the tutor is focusing on developing the entrepreneur as a businessperson (understanding).
Third reason for tutoring is simply to provide a possibility to talk to somebody and to be heard. Entrepreneurship can sometimes feel like a lonely journey. Startup process is very intense and often social contacts are neglected due to the huge amount of work. People in this situation often have a great need for to explain their plans and their feelings and fears and express concerns about the future. A tutor does not have to have the right answer to every question, but he needs to listen to what the entrepreneur is carrying on his/her shoulders. In this role the tutor is focusing on supporting the individual (sympathy).
Let’s respect the role of a tutor! Let’s respect those who are willing to tutor us! And let’s think if it is possible for you or I to become a tutor and help a fellow entrepreneur!
Mr.
Jouni Suonpää
The Founder and Chairman of NEBA (North European Business Academy)