An internal mentoring programme supporting employee engagement and career development
Following an employee engagement survey, an international organisation wanted to address some of the lower-scoring questions relating to growth and development. The organisation decided to offer employees a 12-month personal development programme. Unlimited Potential worked closely with the organisation’s UK team to design and facilitate a bespoke mentoring element to the programme. This ongoing initiative has resulted in growth and development for staff and increased employee engagement.
An international organisation was concerned about levels of employee engagement relating to growth, development and career progression. One of its international branches had implemented a personal development programme, connecting staff at all levels with the senior leadership team – with a positive impact on employee engagement. The organisation wanted to try the same approach in the UK.
Unlimited Potential engaged closely with the client to fully understand its requirements; it was important that our offer was tailored for the organisation, positively impacting its business performance. Our deep understanding of the client and our expertise in leadership development helped us to clarify that linking senior leaders with people across the organisation was the answer – helping all parties learn and develop. We subsequently designed a tailored internal mentoring programme to help the organisation achieve its aims.
We invited the senior leadership team to become mentors for the programme. We trained these mentors in mentoring skills, helping them fully understand the importance of their role in the mentoring process. In parallel, the programme was advertised to staff, asking for applications from anyone in the organisation keen to get involved. From these applications, the organisation selected 16 mentees who were hungry to learn and grow. We ran a workshop for the mentees to help them get the very best out of the programme.
Next, we matched the mentees with mentors and ran a ‘connect’ session to help the pairs work together effectively. Once we had set the tone and pace, the mentoring programme launched.
Now that the programme is running, it’s important that it maintains momentum. To monitor and encourage progress, we survey the mentees and mentors quarterly. We also hold regular coaching calls with the mentors which we also use to identify any hot topics or issues. We explore these themes with all the mentors at a quarterly check in – supporting the senior leaders to learn and develop as the programme progresses.
The programme is still successfully running. Mentees continue to meet with their mentors regularly – meaning that senior leaders are proactively engaged with people’s development. Indications of the programme’s success are positive – mentees are achieving promotions and different roles in the organisation. Engagement levels regarding growth and development – and positive attitudes towards senior leaders – have improved in just a few months.
Unlimited Potential – life-changing leadership development
