Building confident middle management through workplace mentoring and coaching

Firstco is an engineering consultancy working on critical infrastructure, including airports, railways and data centres. Established in 1998, the business has grown significantly over the last five years and now employs 85 people.

As the organisation expanded, its owner-directors recognised that the systems and leadership structures that had supported earlier growth needed to evolve. The priority was clear: create a more consistent, scalable approach to management, mentoring and coaching, while protecting the strong people culture that had helped Firstco grow.

The challenge

Firstco has long valued learning and development. Many colleagues have built long careers with the business, and mentoring has been an important part of its culture and values.

As the business evolved, Firstco saw an opportunity to make that strong foundation more consistent and visible across the organisation. An earlier approach gave every colleague a mentor, helping establish mentoring as a clear part of the employee experience. In practice, however, some pairings did not always develop into the productive, purposeful conversations Firstco wanted to encourage.

The organisation introduced an opt-in model, while continuing to give each new starter a mentor from another department to offer a broader perspective. It also created a dedicated website page listing the mentors available across the organisation. These steps strengthened choice and awareness, while highlighting an opportunity to build greater engagement with mentoring across the business.

At the same time, Firstco was introducing a new middle-management layer. This was an important step in preparing the business for its next stage of growth, creating a clearer structure for leadership responsibility and decision-making.

The accreditation programme gave Firstco a practical way to identify where its existing culture and commitment could be strengthened further. The focus was on embedding mentoring and coaching with greater confidence, consistency and clarity at every level of the organisation – building on an already solid base rather than starting from scratch.

The accreditation journey

Firstco joined the ABM Workplace Mentoring Accreditation Programme pilot to understand where its existing culture was strong and where its approach needed to mature.

The programme began with feedback across three levels of the organisation: the senior leadership team, middle managers and employees. Senior leaders and employees responded positively. Middle managers did not.

That difference proved valuable. It revealed that senior leaders had historically driven mentoring and coaching directly with teams, often bypassing the new middle-management layer. As a result, middle managers did not always feel involved in the initiative or clear about their role within it.

The findings moved the conversation from a general sense that some things could work better to a clearer view of strengths, gaps and priorities. Firstco held follow-up workshops with middle managers and employees to explore the issues in more detail and agree practical next steps.

The workshops showed that middle managers needed greater clarity on their responsibilities, more confidence in how much time to dedicate to mentoring, and stronger skills to lead and support others effectively.

Turning insight into action

Through the Workplace Accreditation programme the leadership team recognised that it needed to change its own behaviour as well as introduce new support. Giving middle managers room to lead meant creating space for them to lead, rather than continuing to resolve every issue from the top.

Firstco introduced a practical package of support:

• A manager handbook setting out role expectations, responsibilities, policies, procedures and best practice.
• Coaching sessions for middle managers, delivered with support from the ABM.
• A mentoring programme for new managers, pairing them with experienced line managers as they grow into their roles.
• Clearer expectations around the time managers should dedicate to management responsibilities.
• New development routes including train-the-trainer activity and peer-to-peer mentoring.

These changes are helping Firstco give managers clearer support and make mentoring and coaching more consistent across the business.

The outcome

Firstco achieved the Established level of the ABM Workplace Mentoring Accreditation Programme. The organisation sees this as an important milestone, not an end point.

The accreditation has provided external recognition of Firstco’s commitment to investing in people. It also gives the business a credible proof point for recruitment, public-sector tenders and conversations with prospective customers.

More importantly, it has sharpened Firstco’s focus. The business has a clearer view of where it is performing well, where it needs to improve and how it can continue developing its middle-management capability.

Its immediate priority is to strengthen the middle-management layer, so managers understand their roles, have the support they need and can lead consistently. The longer-term ambition is to progress towards the highest level of accreditation.

Looking ahead

Firstco’s experience shows that a positive culture alone is not enough. As an organisation grows, mentoring and coaching need clear structures, role definition and leadership behaviours that allow responsibility to move through the business.

For Firstco, the programme has helped turn a broad ambition into an actionable improvement plan. By giving managers clearer tools and support, the business is strengthening engagement and creating a firmer base for consistent delivery and sustainable growth.

“We have the right culture and ambitions in place, the execution was behind where we needed it to be. The programme gave us a clearer view of where we are strong, where we are not, and a plan to improve.” Andy Morgan, Director/Owner

About ABM Workplace Mentoring Accreditation

The ABM Workplace Mentoring Accreditation Programme helps organisations assess how well mentoring and coaching are part of their culture, leadership and people practices. It provides an independent view of strengths and priorities for development, helping organisations build confident leaders, stronger managers and a culture that keeps improving.