have reciprocal learning between
two or more individuals. This has
gained a great deal of traction and
has helped us relative to diversity in our pipeline, bench strength,
and the sense of connection and
engagement in the organization.
Sponsorship has been more of
a natural byproduct of different
people engaging in various relationships, typically someone at a
more senior level who has direct
influence over somebody’s upward
mobility and opportunities. This
could be around visibility, opportunities to collaborate with one
another, and validating that they
are a high-potential candidate in
talent-management reviews. We are
looking at opportunities to become
more intentional about that, and
our employee network groups have
really done a good job in granting additional access to individuals
who are serving in leadership roles
who wouldn’t have naturally been
showing up like that in the past.
Coaching sometimes is an internal
opportunity. It could be an external
type of executive coach around different, specific skill sets an individual needs to focus on.
GLOVER There are not bright red
lines of differences between these
in the organization, and you’ll hear
terminology used interchangeably by the people who are engaged
either as the beneficiary or the person driving it. Mentoring has probably got the longest history in
the organization. If you become
of DiversityInc Top 50
With Formal Mentoring
an executive, you are assumed to
be required to engage in mentoring of people within the organization. This is beyond the practice
of diversity; it’s just a fundamental practice for talent management
within the organization.
When I arrived at IBM about
nine years ago as an executive, I
was told I needed to get a mentor.
As an executive, you are always
expected to have a mentor at the
next level of the organization. I
was also told you will have at least
three mentees and you can’t vol-
unteer or un-volunteer for that—
that’s an expectation for you. I
was encouraged explicitly to pay
attention to mentoring diverse
people in the organization as a way
to help share some of my expe-
rience and maturity … A part of my
evaluation at the end of the year is
a function of how well the people
I’ve mentored have progressed in
the organization. My boss evaluates
across his entire organization.
RON GLOVER, IBM
A part of my evaluation
at the end of the year
is a function of how well
the people I’ve mentored
have progressed
in the organization.
