A Customer Contact West: A Frost & Sullivan Executive MindXchange Preview
SESSION ABSTRACT
Strategically designed mentor programs engage high potential executives in the skills of behavior management and leadership development aligned to the organization’s vision in current and future growth strategies. Effective mentoring programs are the result of vested buy-in by committed organizational leaders to dedicate and sustain genuine focus to see the program and executives succeed.
KEY TAKE-AWAYS
• Proven ways to design clear communication
• Insight towards selecting the right mentors and mentees
• Blueprint to building effective goals, guidelines, and directives leading to sustainable mentor programs
INTRODUCTION
As leaders in your organization, you have the responsibility to bring out the best in your employees. It’s lonely at the top, and we have to remember that. It’s our job to accompany our leaders and future leaders with trust and consideration as they accomplish things for the first time for them. This can be accomplished with strong mentoring programs.
Mentoring can be broken up into five different program types:
1. One-to-one mentoring
2. Group mentoring
3. Reverse mentoring
4. Job fit related mentoring
5. Short-term or goal-oriented mentoring
Resources that Maximize Mentor Program Results:
• E-Learning Courses: Strategic Talent Development and Employee Engagement
• Cross-Functional Alignment: Best Practices in Building Functional Expertise
• Digital Presence: Technological resources that enhance accessibility, portability and interest to key learning experiences
• Guidance: Effective monitoring and evaluation of success metrics
TAKE-AWAY
• The road to success comes from vision, clarity, and culture, so make sure to establish effective goals for your organization, your mentors, and your mentees
• Establish a mentorship program that can be sustained, and keep high-performing talent:
o Engage and retain high potential leaders
o Establish partnerships across the enterprise
o Align employee performance to the business goals
• To sustain a coaching culture, it has to be integrated in your evaluations for managers and leaders
Both mentors and mentees benefit from being a part of a mentorship program. Mentors gain enhanced coaching skills, reverse mentoring, and recognition within the organization, while mentees receive leadership exposure, one-on-one coaching, and behavioral modeling.
IMPLEMENTATION GUIDELINES
When selecting the role models and leaders for your mentor program, intuition and consistency matters: “When in doubt, rule them out.”
BEST PRACTICE
As a mentor, you must model positive leadership behavior. Be credible, set and share expectations for yourself, and demonstrate self-discipline and self-determination. Humility is everything, and as you become a more influential mentor, you will learn and listen more than you progress in success.
When looking for the right mentors, check for these qualities: coaching qualities such as dedication and self-awareness; advisor qualities such as being intuitive, attentive, and persuasive; and critic qualities such as discipline and poise.
When looking for the right mentee, check for these behavioral traits: confidence, intelligence (including emotional intelligence) and ambition.
FINAL THOUGHT
Commit to meaningful relationships between the mentors and the mentees. As you mentor future leaders, you will find great joy and achievement as you see your mentee grow into a more capable person.
Described by colleagues as the epitome of the perfect mentor, Bruce is a highly skilled coach and team-builder. He is currently Director of Customer Service at Lane Bryant. Previous positions include Managing Director: Collections, Macy’s and Managing Director: Customer Service, Macy’s. Bruce holds a Masters of Arts degree in Organizational Management from Ashford University.
