Program Examples
More than 150 clients benefited from different Mentoring Solutions. Here are 43:
These examples illustrate that one-size-fits-all will not work, because each situation is different. Each Program has different business reasons for starting, different kinds of participants at different career stages, with different needs and goals, which require different amounts of time and effort to produce different outcomes. Hence, different Programs must be planned for Mentoring, Skill Coaching and Knowledge Solutions. Each Program example below was carefully designed and implemented with input from key stakeholders.
Programs for Newer Hires. All new hires are not the same (fresh out of university or 1-3 years into the job) and thus need different programs – like we designed for Shell Oil as illustrated below. Some Programs must involve a two-stage approach to orient newer hires and get them prepared for a career path. Some require dual mentoring when the primary mentors lack people skills that a secondary mentor must provide. Some must involve the entire family when reducing turnover is a family issue. Below are results from our Mentoring Solutions:
1. Motivated summer Interns to become new hires at Brooklyn Union Gas.
2. Reduced high Turnover of “Fresh Outs” at Jet Propulsion Lab.
3. Started a career development pipeline for newer hires at Shell Oil.
4. Oriented Proteges at Norwest Bank (now Wells Fargo).
5. Ensured new Researchers got needed help at Eastman Kodak.
6. Prepared new Managers for a Paradigm Shift at Brooklyn Union Gas.
7. Created a Career Development Pipeline at Occidental Chemical.
8. Stopped "family turnover" at Allegheny Ludlum Steel.
9. Turned behind-the-counter Order-Takers into Sales Persons at Purdy’s Chocolates.
10. Overcame Inter-Generational Conflicts at Varian Associates.
11. At Shell Oil in Malaysia, we converted a "one-size-fits-all" Mentoring Scheme into 3 different Mentoring Programs for 3 types of Proteges, needing different kinds of mentoring for different purposes.
Programs for Career Expansion, Exploration and Development are needed to address different business reasons.
> Career Expansion Programs address turnover problems when high potentials want to leave because promotion in a de-layered organizational is not possible:
1. Knowledge Transfer and Group Mentoring got new products to market faster at AT&T Consumer Products Labs.
2. We turned a Money Losing Division into a Profit Center at Varian Associates.
> Career Exploration Programs enable individuals to learn about career path options and realities so they make the best decision for themselves and the organization:
3. We helped the Women’s Information Network promote Career Exploration at Sara Lee Hosiery.
4. Mentoring aided Career Path Exploration to reduce turnover within a Federal Government Department.
5. Cross-functional Mentoring facilitated Lateral Movement within the Ontario Public Service.
> Career Development Programs often involve learning core competencies needed to transition into a higher position in order to be successful in the new position:
6. Our Global Mentoring Program developed “oil riggers” for new positions at Chevron.
7. Public Sector Leaders developed Core Competencies in the B.C. Government.
8. We developed New Managers at Kaiser Permanente despite Los Angeles traffic problems.
Programs for Developing Leaders. Some Programs create a leadership development pipeline. Some rotate future leaders through current leaders to overcome “silo thinking.” Some Programs are linked to and support other programs, such as Talent Management, to enhance overall success.
1. Succession Planning used Rotational Mentoring at Winthrop Pharmaceuticals.
2. Technical Leaders developed Emotional Intelligence at NCR.
3. We developed Female Leaders and Executives for the Women’s Foodservice Forum.
4. Global Leaders provided mentoring for their replacements at SNC Lavalin.
5. Multi-tier Mentoring developed Leaders at Defense Supply Center Columbus.
6. Mentoring developed Emerging Leader Competencies at Darden Restaurants.
7. Knowledge Transfer and Mentoring supported Talent Management at Sony Electronics.
8. Mentoring developed core competencies in 450 Managers of White Castle Restaurants.
9. Mentoring developed Leadership Competencies within the Air National Guard. =====>
Programs that Improved the Person-Job Fit. Improving Person-Job Fit increases work satisfaction and performance, and reduces turnover enough to pay for these very different Programs.
1. Team Mentoring aligned Management and Union mindsets at C&O Railroad.
2. Mentoring made results-oriented Project Managers more people-oriented at Turner Construction.
3. Knowledge Exchange and Reciprocal Mentoring created Imaging Science Hybrids at Eastman Kodak.
4. Cross-functional Mentoring and Coaching promoted silo-busting so CSX Transportation became a High-Performing Organization.
5. Mentoring promoted a Paradigm Shift (learning to sell Solutions instead of Products) at NCR.
6. Mentoring developed better Project Managers at Varian Associates.
7. Coaching and Mentoring helped StarGarden grow and reduced costly “call backs” from clients.
8. Coaching and Mentoring improved delivery of Management Services Expertise at Eastman Kodak.
9. Knowledge Harvesting and Mentoring developed the next generation of Independent Researchers at AIL Systems.
10. Training and Mentoring grounded MBAs in the realities of modern banking at ScotiaBank.
Customized Mentoring Programs for the Diversified Workforce. Even though nearly all of the previously described Programs supported EEO or Affirmative Action or Diversity initiatives, the Programs below did this in especially creative ways. This underscores the importance of Collaborative Program Planning to create the right Program and motivate widespread support for it.
1. Mentoring made the “Valuing Diversity” initiative work at Dow Chemical.
2. New Accountants became part of the corporate family at Zittrer•Siblin•Stein•Levine.
3. Executives at AT&T learned from Subordinates about Diversity.
4. Mentoring stemmed high turnover of Women and Minorities in Exxon’s Sales Division.
5. Mentoring developed all levels of the Diversified Workforce at Pac Bell [now Pacific Telesis].
