Elevate Your L&D Programs With Mentorship And Connectivity

I've gotta say when, when Zach and my colleague Gisele came to me and said, Hey, we, we think
we should do a, a webinar on mentoring and connectivity and how to rethink that within the learning
space. It was an exciting opportunity. Cause I got to think about who were people in the 10 KC world
that are innovating this and who've inspired our mission and our product. And I think Krista, and
as, as one example, Manisha, um, Andrea, uh, we, I was like texting him. I'm like, you've gotta come
onto this webinar. And we pulled it together. And so here we are today. Um, to, to all my panelists,
thanks for joining. And I'm gonna do intros in a second, but I gotta say, there's one thing you'll
take away from today. I, I pulled together the people I love to nerd out with on mentoring,
connectivity, future of work. And we're gonna get to just banter and kick off and dive into all
different details over the next like 50 minutes. So, although it's a panel and it's a webinar, it's
gonna be super informal. So as Zach shared, ask questions, challenge us, uh, ask all those spicy
things that you might be thinking of. We'll try to get to them throughout the call, but I can
promise you I've got panelists here who bring all different types of perspectives around mentoring,
networking, connectivity, and we're gonna dive into it all. Um, so with that, I'll do a quick intro
of myself. I'll set a quick agenda, and then we'll do a round table of intros of my, my panelists.
Uh, so, uh, by intro, my name is Dave and I'm the co-founder of 10 kc. We're the world's largest
diversity founded mentoring, networking, and skills development platform. So we have the great
privilege of working with, uh, everybody here that's, uh, on the call in a variety of ways, as well
as over 200 organizations around the world to help them build, deploy, and measure the best
mentoring, connectivity and skills development programs. I think now, um, you know, as we're
approaching the three year anniversary of George Floyd, which is an incredible time for us to
reflect tomorrow and think about how we're doing against diversity inclusion, uh, it's a really
important time for us to think about mentoring and connectivity in in bigger ways. I think also,
while we're on this virtual conversation, I think many of us are also bringing people back into the
office in different hybrid working arrangements. And that too is another compelling reason for all
of us to think about how we best scale and create these human connections that are so important to
the future of work and to our learning strategies. And so that's what 10 KC gets to do. So we get to
do every single day, uh, with, with so many different organizations around the world. And today
we're gonna nerd out on all this, and we're gonna ask our panelists really tough questions to think
about how they're solving this in, in their respective workplaces. So, um, with that, uh, I'm gonna
do a quick, uh, round table. We're just gonna go in, in the order. Um, and I'd love, uh, for the
intro to not just, and we'll start with Krista with you first, but for you to share your intro, but
also, you know, as you think of mentoring and connectivity, you know, what does that look like at
Aimco and how does that actually, how does that look over the next 12 months? So just a quick
snapshot on that, and we'll do a round table around the room. So Krista, uh, break the ice and, and
say hello. Yeah, thanks. Thanks Dave. And, and thanks for the invite on the panel. Um, so like Jay
said, uh, my name's Krista Christelle. I'm the Chief Human Resources Officer at Inco, which stands
for Alberta Investment Management Corporation. So we are a, uh, multi-asset investment management
company with about 170 billion in assets, um, Alberta for, for my American friends, Alberta is, uh,
a province in Canada on the west coast. Uh, and, uh, I am based in Calgary, uh, which is, uh, I
always like to say it's the, some people say it's like the Denver of Canada, where the Texas of
Canada depends on which way you go. Um, so, you know, in the next 12 months for us, we are highly
focused on connectivity. Um, and connectivity for us comes in a number of different ways. Uh, it is
mentorship, it's it's group interaction, it's just, you know, all of those things of like, how do we
ensure collaboration, which is one of our organizational values, and really what tools can we use to
ensure that, you know, our nearly 700 employees across our six offices are able to connect and
collaborate with ease. So that's what's on the agenda for us. Thanks, Krista. Manisha. Hi there. Um,
so Manisha Berman, I'm the C H R O for CI Financial. I've spent, um, the last 20 years or so working
primarily in financial services. And, um, along with consulting, both in HR and roles in the
business. I've been at CI for a year, um, and then also spent several years at B O N R B C, which is
where I met Dave. And we began our journey together around introducing mentoring and connectivity
and pushing on the diversity agenda from several perspectives. Um, here at ci, we've been on a
tremendous growth and transformation agenda. Agenda. We went from not existing at all in the US to
over a thousand employees over the past two and a half years, 28 acquisitions, and 400 billion in
assets under management across the borders. We are both a wealth and asset management company. And
when you do that, when you have that magnitude of change, transformation and integration, it's so
important to really push hard on the culture agenda and leverage networking and mentoring to build
relationships and move from multiple cultures, multiple firms, to really one company thinking.
Thanks for joining Manisha, uh, and Chris. Hi everyone. Chris Fette, my pronouns are they them. And
I am a member of McKesson's Global Impact Organization. I am a senior diversity, equity and
inclusion manager, and I've been with the company about 15 months now. Um, I am calling in today
from Atlanta, Georgia. Uh, and I am really excited about some of the things McKesson is, uh, looking
to implement over the next 12 months. Um, one of the strategies we're focusing on is office as a
destination. Um, really looking at ways to bring folks into the office for unique and exciting
engagement opportunities. Um, we recognize that, you know, um, many companies will never return to
full-time in-office, uh, operations and McKesson is one of those. And so how do we reimagine the
locations that we currently have and, um, how those can work for us in a more meaningful way. Um, we
really wanna look at, uh, further adoption and utilization of the, some of the existing mentorship
and engagement programs we have. Um, and we want them to be employee resource led. Um, we think that
that is really the way to ensure that there is adoption engagement and amplification. Uh, and so
we're leaning heavily on our employee resource groups to help inform, uh, what the future of that
engagement should look like over the next 12 months. Thanks for joining Chris. Andrea. Brilliant.
Thank you so much Dave. And it's so great to be on the panel. Andrea Ensworth, I'm the director of,
uh, learning for Early Talents, which is a rotational program for two years. Currently I'm in Shire.
Uh, originally I'm from Hungary, and this, this is where I'm based working for GE Healthcare. You
might have heard the news. GE Healthcare actually has spin off January the fourth from the GE
mothership. I would say, and this is really exciting news for us, you know, if you're thinking about
a company which was 260,000 employee, now we are only 47,000 employee, uh, employees and, and
colleagues around about 60 countries. So our diversity is massive in every front. And that is, um,
something which is coming in our values as well as a new company. And this is one of the most
exciting, uh, parts. You know, you are not joining another team. You, we are actually establishing
our own existence. And this is how mentorship, um, comes into place. Um, if you are thinking about
GE Healthcare, you know, we are a healthcare company. Um, we are looking ourselves as a matech
company, uh, very entrepreneurial, you know, going on our own. And you know, what we are thinking
about mentorship and, and where we are pedaling towards Sue is really, you know, taking down the
boundaries, what we have between the silos of the different functions. So if you are thinking about
this is a global company, we have to give the opportunity for all of us to connect, um, you know,
virtually, that's so easy. And also, if you think about the power of, um, you know, the cross-
functional existence and how we all learn together from each other, that is another brilliant way.
Uh, one of the other pieces I would love to add here, and I hope that we have a chance to talk
about, is the reverse mentoring, because I love just talking to my kids. I have two boys, and they
are so savvy digitally, and I'm learning just so much. And this is what we are hoping to bring into
GE Healthcare as well, is to just reverse back and we can learn from each other and from all. So
thank you so much. There's yeah, there's so much there, Andrew. It's always amazing to hear from a
learning leader who's thinking of all these outside of the classroom experiences, because so often,
and I don't know if, uh, it's, it's awesome to see people introducing themselves on the chat, but
feel free to also include your LinkedIn links. The, uh, spoiler alert is so often we hear these
really random stories of people sharing LinkedIn and meeting new people and becoming like great
friends or colleagues. So if you want to grow your network, um, feel free to drop that in there. But
just going off, Andrea, what you'd shared around like learning leaders, I think we hear so often
from employees, you know, if I'm not in the classroom, am I really learning? But the reality is that
so much learning happens informally. It happens through going for a walk and a coffee with a
colleague. Um, and you know, I think more and more organizations are looking at creating offerings
within their learning, uh, or their LMSs that really include those informal offerings like mentoring
and networking. And so maybe I'm gonna turn this question Manisha. I'm gonna get you to answer it
first and then I'm gonna pass it to, to Chris, uh, at McKesson second. Uh, but how do you think, or
what would be your advice to learning leaders for what role mentoring and networking plays within
learning offerings? Like, what's the typical goals? Like why should mentoring and networking be kind
of a core offering within learning? Uh, so Manisha, maybe I'll have you go first and then Chris
second. Yeah, I mean, we all know this from school, um, and the theory of it, which is that most
people retain and learn more through practice and relationship than they ever would in a formal
classroom setting. Um, and yet often the effort, the investment, the time is still
disproportionately focused on the more formal training aspects, which through covid have also
become, um, became virtual. And so we've, we've distanced ourselves even more. And so if you really
want to ensure that the learning lasts, because as you know, retention is quite low when you come
out of a classroom setting, then equally and even more critical than what you teach in a formal,
what can be an artificial classroom setting is what you do afterwards. And that is supporting the
application, helping build relationships, setting up good mentoring so that people can really
process what they've learned and they've got a safe space to ask questions. Um, and then, and that's
really still only one aspect of learning, which is the formal requirements of a job. The other part
of it is all the things that you need to navigate when you're new to your career. And those things
are never written anywhere in a textbook, right? It's all the nuanced things, um, that you learn
over time in your career around how to navigate social situations, how to problem solve, all those
things, um, require ongoing mentoring and relationships. Yeah, well said. Yeah, everyone's kinda
looking for that magical textbook, and it's like, it doesn't exist, and it's really talking to
people getting to know each other. And, and I think even when we think about the different
generations in the workplace, I think the new generation doesn't have that same skillset of how to
have those human skills. And so it's more important for employers to systematically offer that. Uh,
Chris, uh, McKesson, and I'll let you jump in. Yeah, I, I mean, Manisha really said it beautifully.
I think the thing that I would like to add here is ensuring that there are individuals who you feel
comfortable enough being vulnerable with, and, and that trust does not often come in the classroom
setting. In fact, very rarely will it come in that classroom setting. And sometimes it takes
multiple engagements, multiple, um, connections, mentors to find those individuals who you can truly
show up as your authentic self with and who you can share the challenges that you may be facing. Um,
oftentimes it shows up in people with similar lived experiences as you, um, but sometimes it
doesn't. And sometimes you need to, um, explore multiple options to really find that support
network. Um, and so I would certainly encourage those who are looking to establish that type of
mentorship, um, to, to seek out multiple, uh, forms of communication and engagement, um, with as
many people as you can, um, to really find that right fit. Yeah, really, really good points. And I
think creating more spaces for people from different backgrounds and different departments to feel
comfortable to have their people, you know, and, and not to leave that to serendipity, I think is a
really good d and i lens that we gotta hold hold top of mind. And so Zach, I think we're ready for
our first poll question. Uh, so we're, uh, we'll, we'll launch this. What percent of employees find
it easier to find a job externally than internally? And this is from a recent Deloitte survey. And,
uh, we'll, we'll speak about this in a, in a little bit because I think as most people know, the
majority of opportunity happens through connectivity and relationships. And oftentimes that actually
isn't that easy to do internally, even though a lot of times leaders think it just happened. You
know, that's how they got to where they are today. And so why don't every, why doesn't everybody
else just do it the way they did? But it's just not, actually, doesn't actually work that way. And
so, uh, when it comes to finding jobs internally or finding, finding the right people internally,
uh, it'll be interesting to see how it's actually easier to meet people outside of the company. Uh,
and the poll will come in a second, but as we do that, I'd, I'd love to kind of move to our next
question. And, uh, Chris, or actually, uh, Christal have you go first, um, and then we'll pass it to
Andrea. Talk to us a little bit about the role of connectivity, because you know, you, Krista, you
talked about this in your strategy and Andrea, you talked about breaking down silos, and I think
many organizations talk about mentoring, mentoring all day, but connectivity is kind of a different
version of that that is often kind of forgotten. And so talk us through kind of how you think about
that and what that actually looks like. Yeah, so I mean, and thanks for that Dave. Connectivity for
me is, is also paramount, you know, when we talk about vulnerability and transparency, which then
leads to individuals feeling engaged and, and, you know, a part of something for me that's
connectivity. Um, and so when I look at it is we want right from, um, you know, from the recruitment
phase, if we're bringing someone in that's new to the organization in through that onboarding piece,
um, I think a lot of our emerging talent, which is like our students and our, you know, our, our new
professionals, they need to feel connected. Everybody needs to feel connected, but in particular,
you know, potentially where there's new professionals, um, and, and we wanna get them enveloped into
who we are as an organization. And so that's gotta come in a lot of different ways. Um, you know,
think about, you know, you have introverts, extroverts, those who may be cautious to speak up, and
we've gotta find different ways for individuals to feel like they can speak, um, they can find, you
know, a friend at work immediately. And what are the ways in which we're gonna do that. So we come
right out of the gate, um, right through, you know, potentially a recruitment process into
onboarding and really start to look at how we weave, um, opportunities for connectivity early in an
employment relationship. And then most importantly, how do we maintain that? Uh, I did some, uh, you
know, mentoring with a, a new professional a couple weeks ago, and we were talking about what makes
success, you know, what, what will enable this individual's success? And, you know, it was ask every
question. You can find an opportunity to say, Hey, can I buy you a coffee? Um, you know, find an
opportunity to say, you know, reach out, whether it be through, um, you know, like 10 KC or, or
sorry, that's 10,000 copies for everybody on the call, uh, 10,000 copies or even just through, you
know, teams or however you communicate at work. So for me, connectivity can come in a variety of
formats, but that the end result is engagement in the organization. It's learning like every
opportunity, every tidbit has an op learning opportunity. And really then depending on the
organization, you know, just further alignment to, to values and, and kind of that path forward for
the organization. Yeah, like accelerating. I love what you said around like, how do you accelerate
people to have those right conversations? Cause I think often CHROs directors of learning are like
telling people to do it, but then when you actually measure at the end of it at all, especially from
a diversity lens, it's like usually not really that good unless they're of course the squeaky wheels
that just email everybody in the company. And so it's, it's using, I know Chrisy, you've done an
incredible job using technology to scale those and make sure that everybody, no matter where they
are, what background they have, they have access to it. And so Andrea, maybe I'll pass it to you.
Cause you've done a lot around breaking silos and I think especially with the spinoff to that, you
know, tiny 45,000 person company or something that you were saying, uh, you know, it's gonna be an
important time to keep that going. So talk to us about your connect, how you think about
connectivity, and then we'll share the answer in a second. Yeah, no, this is brilliant, and I love
how Christo was, uh, talking a little bit about onboarding, right? And when we are thinking about
onboarding, what is important for us as well to recognize that it's not just the early talent who's,
who's leaving the university and doesn't have that really special book to say, yeah. How do you get
connected and in covid DS on virtual settings, you know, what can I do to get to know people and,
you know, my own team. And even, you know, as you said, what we are really trying to focus is to
break down those silos and the silos of the country, silos of the rooms in a sense of, if you are a
finance individual, you are working together with our supply chain, with our operations, with our
engineers, uh, how do you establish this connection? And more importantly, you might have had a
networking event, you went out a happy hour, you met with somebody. How do you keep up that
engagement? How do you keep up that relationship and lots of people, you know, try to do it on MS
teams, as Christa was saying. Um, but, you know, 10,000 coffee is, is a way for, for us to have that
engagement and, you know, have that transformation. But you can actually easily, you know, with a,
with a button and with with tag with your phone just to stay connected and it doesn't feel like a
burden because that's another piece is what I feel. Um, you know, we talk about, uh, survey
fatigues, it's connection fatigues as well. I mean, how many way of technology can you get engaged
with your team, with your team members, and how can we help you to get the best? Um, so, you know,
there are so many things here that we can, it kind of dwell into is to say, you know, the common
activity is the way how we remain active. You know, how do you build a new relationship and, you
know, keep those relationship together and the value, you know, lots of people, if you talk to Gen
Z, the first question they ask, why should I do that? You know, what's in it for me? Um, and that
has to be a purpose. Yeah, well said. So the the poll answer is the 57%. And, uh, you know, I think
what's important here is it's even, I know 90% would be really, really bad, but, uh, you know, more
than half of employees find it easier to find a job from your competitors, from other organizations
than they do just to move internally. And, uh, you know, I think at a time when the companies like
Microsoft, as they do layoff announcements, the same press release says, oh, we're still hiring. Uh,
I dunno if you noticed that, but it's one of the first times ever that we have press releases that
have layoffs. But in the same press release, it's also saying, we're still hiring. We're looking for
those key skill sets. It's important for any organization, no matter what stage they're at in this
economic environment, to make sure their top talent can find it easier to at least find a job at
your own company than, than somewhere else. And connectivity and mentoring is a, is table stakes for
that to happen. Um, we're gonna load the next poll question as I I move to the next, uh, the next
question because we're gonna talk a little bit about inclusion here. Um, and the poll question is
around, you know, male, male executives are what times more likely to hesitate to have a one-on-one
meeting with junior women than men? And I think this is an important topic as you're answering the
poll question, uh, because connectivity that, uh, Krista and Andrea just talked through doesn't
happen on its own. And when we look at different people from different backgrounds, if we just hope
that they all get access to networks to be successful, whether, whether you're a new hire like
Manisha had described, the reality is, is they don't happen equally. And this is just from a gender
lens. But of course this gets even more complicated as we think about so many different elements of
inclusion, whether it's introverted or extroverted, or whether it's even different, uh, people of
color and, and many other barriers that, that people face in the workplace. And so, Chris, uh, as
somebody who's innovated so much on diversity and inclusion, I'd love for you to comment on some of
the considerations that you think people on this call should consider as they try to solve how all
of their employees get access to networks in a democratized way. Yeah, thank you for that question.
Uh, it's a big one. And, uh, I do think that it's so very important and when, when possible
measuring, um, the results and measuring the level of access is also super important. But a lot of
these things are happening in these informal affinity based conversations. You went to this school,
I have an affinity to that school, so I'm gonna engage with you and, and take you under my wing and
mentor you. Right? Um, so how are we creating more of those organic experiences? And I, I talked a
little bit about ensuring that we're amplifying voices, partnering with our employee resource
groups, um, early and often, and ensuring that anything that we build, um, has them at the center
and forefront of helping us to craft and create these programs. Um, always, always, always having
executive sponsorship for these, um, employee resource groups is so very important and ensure that
they are amplifying their involvement and engagement. I, I can't stress that enough. Um, making sure
that they're actively engaged and present and that they're leaders, the leaders, leaders, you know,
the leaders, um, direct reports have an understanding of how important these resource groups are.
Study after study, survey after survey shows that they're our most engaged employees. Um, so how do
we, um, continue to amplify those voices and create programs that highlight the skillsets within
those groups. Um, one of our ERGs, I just tangent tangential story here, created a free agency
program. Um, they, they built and made this themselves to ultimately go and develop their own
skillsets to take on stretch assignments. Um, such a unique way of getting their name and, um,
experience out across the organization to take on more, um, work. So, uh, I think that's what I
would share. I love that. And so I'll thanks for sharing all of that. And I think, um, it's been
amazing to see how McKesson's leveraged technology to scale the impact of leaders through things
like office hours and other, other functionalities. Obviously a, a a shameless plug on some of the
10 KC toolkits, but I think it's really important to leverage technology to scale these kinds of
conversations in effective ways. And so this poll, I guess is kind of a trick question for everybody
here because the, the right answer is actually 12 times. And so that fewest people answered b I know
we're like tricking you with our highs and lows, thanks to Giselle for making, you know, making sure
people are paying attention. But male executives are 12 times more likely to hesitate to meet with
their female colleagues. And Manisha, maybe I'll have you kind of jump in here because you've scaled
kind of networking and connectivity programs across tens of thousands of people. You've also been
somebody that I've been able to, you know, buy a coffee or sometimes wine and be able to pick your
brain on all these strategies. So maybe talk us through kind of, when you have a stat like this,
like 12 times more likely to hesitate, how do we scale networks so that everyone, or where are some
of the tactics in place that you've done that have actually worked? Yeah, you know, I think Chris
has covered it off really well in terms of combining it with leader, good leadership and
programmatic strategies. I remember being at, um, at, I participated in the diversity inclusion
steer co at, at a previous organization, and I remember the leaders, you know, sometimes it felt
like we were railing against the problem and admiring the problem as opposed to solving the problem.
And one of the questions I asked is, cuz there was always a HR needs to build more programs. And I
actually am a big believer that there should be a strategic programmatic approach and you need to
keep doing that. But the question I asked is, how many of you are personally mentoring a person, um,
of color, a woman, someone more junior, and very few were. And so, yes, of course we absolutely have
an accountability to design grade programs, refresh them, put them out there, you know, amplify
them, scale through technology and tools like 10,000 coffees. But leaders also each need to take
personal accountability. And the reason, I mean, that's important for many reasons, but what I've
observed, um, is that sometimes with the more formal programs you need to do it, but it can feel
artificial. The mentoring relationship can feel artificial. It's like, you know, a forced marriage
or forced speed dating, like sometimes the chemistry happens, sometimes it doesn't. But if a leader
is personally reaching into his or her organization, observing people on the job, more natural
relationships can be fostered. If they're personally making accountability that I'm gonna host this
many sessions, um, over this period of time and inviting people, noticing people doing well,
noticing where a voice is not heard and they wanna help amplify the voice and ask them what they
think, if they're just doing that habitually on an ongoing basis, then that's gonna really amplify
the results of all the tools and the technology and the programs that we put out there. Yeah, really
well said. I, um, I know we have a a lot of other fun, uh, poll questions for everybody here. Uh, so
I think on, on the next one, which will kind of lead us to our, our next conversation is predictor
of performance. And I don't know what everyone's feeling here, but you know, we put a lot of work
into hiring the best talent. Where did they study? What skills do they have? What's their
experience? Because the more we can hone in on that, the, you know, the better they're gonna perform
and the better the teams are gonna be. But, uh, this is a, an interesting stat around predictor of
performance that I think as you start to compound some of these insights around inclusion and around
hybrid work, uh, this might be a bit of a, a surprising one for everyone. Uh, but which of the
following is the strongest predictor of employee performance of these five? And maybe as, as people
are filling that this out, I'm, I'm gonna go around the room, I'm gonna go Krista, Chris, Andrea,
and then mania. What advice do you have all of you have implemented and innovated, you've leveraged
technology, uh, what is some of the advice that you'd give to some of the l and d and talent leaders
on this call as they're considering if and how they're gonna solve some problems with mentoring or
connectivity in the next 12 months? Any like hot tips, advice, stories, therapy comments? Uh,
Krista, we'll start with you. Yeah, I mean I think it, this is one where I like to call it the
sandwich approach. You absolutely need executive and senior leader buy-in and they've gotta lead and
demonstrate. Um, and I think this is where, you know, not just going to mentorship or championing or
connectivity one level, this is like a kind of multi-level. Um, I, I'm a huge fan of reverse
mentorship and reverse connectivity. So that's why I call it the sandwich, which is, I think it
needs to start with our, kind of our emerging talent, our newer professionals, and then really marry
that up with our senior professionals and, and just start to ebb and flow that through. So I guess
if you were to say, like, what my advice is is, you know, rally the senior troops, I, I don't think
it's very challenging to rally the more junior staff. I think they're, they're looking for it. Um,
one of the things that we do is, um, and you know, again, we're talking about nobody likes forced
dating patterns. Um, so I think that there's different connectivity, either virtual or in-person
opportunities to create some natural connectivity. Uh, 10,000 coffee says allows you to do that.
What are you interested in, what do you wanna learn about? Um, but I would say just I think get your
executive involved, get your senior leaders involved, get your vocal folks involved and really allow
it to be organic. Um, however, with some good programming behind. So, so I can't say that enough.
That's what I would say because if it's just, I mean, if, if you're just kind of working it through
the mid-level or the lower level of the organization, you're gonna struggle to give it a voice. Um,
and you need some champion faces and and champion leaders in it. I love that. And one of the things
that we're gonna come back to cuz we're Chris, you're up then Andrew, then mania. But make sure we
don't forget, I think to come back to the, what you said Krista around, like it needs facilitations,
but it's this balance of facilitating with organic nature and I think mm-hmm. A big headline that
everyone's looking at right now is the Chief Diversity officer of Uber and what happened in that
conversation. And I think there's a lot to learn around how we still need to help leaders have the
right conversations with people. Uh, because if we just leave it to hope or even some of the most
skilled diversity and inclusion professors, it doesn't work. So we do need to make sure these
conversations are organic but still facilitated. So I love what you've shared there. We'll come back
to that, Chris, uh, over to you. Yeah, uh, Krista really did cover a lot of great points there. I
think what I find really unique about measuring and deploying these types of programs is that we
have an opportunity at every stage of an employee life cycle or a phase to understand where they
are, how they're performing, and to look for those hotspots. Um, so, you know, that is one luxury I
think that we have in this space, um, is actually having access to data and then looking at ways,
uh, I loved what Krista said early on about onboarding, getting employees engaged from day one or
even at the recruiting, um, component, getting them plugged into any of the affirmity groups or uh,
e r g groups that you have within your organization from the get-go, getting them plugged into, um,
a network, a a community is gonna allow them to feel that much more, uh, uh, of a b a sense of
belonging, uh, from day one. And then I would also say, uh, find ways to ensure that you're
leveraging technology, um, because it is very challenging, um, to build these programs from scratch
if you're not utilizing, uh, something like, uh, 10,000 coffees, which allows them, allows your
employees to have the opportunity to meet with multiple people across geographies, to Andrea's
earlier point across business units, across the enterprise, um, and, uh, get that wide breadth of
experience, um, to hopefully find, uh, the, the true network that they need, uh, to advance their
career for the long term. Amazing. Chris and Andrea, I'm gonna pass it to you, but we're just gonna
do a quick poll. I'll, I'll share, share the results. Uh, okay. So almost, almost the winner, uh,
but it's, it's network. So, and you know, on theme of our networking and mentoring webinar, but uh,
a network is a five times better predictor of performance even more than these others. And for any
of these stats, if everyone wants to nerd out on these, we can make sure that just like hit me up on
LinkedIn or, uh, we can, we have a lot of this, the, these data points, but a networker, a network
is actually one of the best predictors of performance. And so you can't really solve for that when
you hire people, cuz obviously their network's usually fairly low when they join the organization,
but the day they start, how do you accelerate the right connections? And that doesn't mean be like,
Hey Chris, go meet everybody in McKesson. And Chris is like, okay, do you want me to just start
emailing everybody or what do you want me to do? Like how can we actually create technology, which I
know has come up with, uh, a few of our panelists because you can use data through platforms, like
10,000 coffees to accelerate the networks, but do it super deliberately. Cause no one's got time to
just email hundreds of people and go for coffees all day, then they're probably not gonna hit their
goals. So, uh, anyways, that's the poll question. Andrea, over to you. And then Manisha. Thank you.
And I would just be bailed on that because one of the pieces, what I have recognized is everybody
has a great idea of, you know, let's start the mentorship program, but nobody's really thinking
about what happens if actually that works, right? So you start, and I don't know how many of our
audiences have started this way, but you start with an access spreadsheet and you have people who
want to have mentorship. You know, you have people who sign up and you connect them, and then down
the line you are getting hundred and 200 and 300. And then what happens when these programs are
working beautifully and you need to, you know, go for, for thousands and this is where technology
comes into place. So I would really encourage everybody to not to look at, you know, the next couple
of months, think about if that works, you know, what am I gonna do and is there an opportunity to
start now? Because you can do pilots on these technologies, you don't have to have thousands of
people. You can start with 30, you know, link together. So that's one of the, the piece that I would
really encourage us, uh, to do. The other piece is you touched on network and on connectivity,
right? Uh, sometimes maybe we just put ourselves in a, in in a box to say, oh, this is an mentoring
program. A lots of people don't know what mentoring program is. And it comes in all shapes of form,
you know, forms. So maybe we have an opportunity just based on listening to, to all of you, is to
say, you know, this is a connections, um, do we really need to label it to, to make it work?
Because, you know, it depends on us. Yeah, I love that. Excel spreadsheets really great, not so
great for mentoring programs, but you know what the reality is. And we have, we work with over 200
organizations around the world at 10,000 coffees and you know, the best clients are actually the
ones that have done Excel a few times, which I know everyone on here has. And so for, for any of the
participants, feel free to give us a sh share on your chat story, any, uh, therapy comments or
trials and tribulations of your Excel spreadsheet matching. If, if you run that or people in your
org do it, but we can, we can have a support group on that. Uh, manisha you up over to you. Yeah, I
I've seen the Excel spreadsheet programs and as well, and I, and I agree, I I think that, um, I
would, I'd recommend really thinking about your employees in segments because I think if it is, uh,
who wants, and we, you know, everyone has done this at some point, but if, if it's, uh, who wants
mentoring and who wants to be mentor, then you will get that kind of growing demand. Um, so I would,
you know, a lot of times I find respectfully to HR professionals, myself included, we fall in love
with our own programs and we have to actually start with what is the need of the business, um,
what's the need of the clients, how is this, what's the outcome that I'm after? And, um, I don't
know that we can be totally democratic about it. I think we actually have to make some sharp
decisions in terms of our employee segments. So for the broad employee base, there should always be
foundational programs for the broad employee base where you actually do open it up and many people
can access it, which is where something like 10,000 coffees can help or a spreadsheet driven program
can help. Um, and we then need to step back and say, what are some critical segments? Is it our
revenue producing people? Is it our leaders of the future? And do we know who the talent is? So I
would start with the question of what's my business objective and do I know my talent? And if you
don't know your talent, you need to start there. Um, I have seen, you know, examples where an hr, my
HR team will say that something is going really well and is really effective and then I'll talk to
the business leader and they're not seeing the value and that disconnect can happen if you don't
start with them and really understand what their needs are. Yeah, well, well said around the
disconnect of like whether results are working and I think with mentoring and networking in
particular, so many people are running them through their ERGs or BRGs on Excel spreadsheets. And so
is there impact? Are we reaching the right people? And until you, like, what gets measured gets
done. And the reality is like sending out surveys 12 months after a mentor match is like probably
not the best way to know if impact is happening. So of course technology can make that way more
dynamic in real time so that what the business leader and what the HR VPs are thinking of is
hopefully getting measured in real time so that they're, they're on the same page. Um, love that. So
we have a question that's been submitted and I'm gonna try my best to keep going on the q and a, um,
as as we go. Uh, but the question that came in is, does anyone have tangible examples of programs
that they've put into place that encourages male executives to lead with inclusivity in regards to
forming relationships with women, minorities, junior employees? Who wants to jump on that one? I
think all of you do. So Krista, do you wanna go first and then we'll, I see your hand up and then
we'll pass it around. Yeah, so I mean, going back to, um, twofold. One is, uh, we work, uh, you
know, really tightly with Catalyst around leading, um, in that d e I space and leading in that
development and champion, you know, women and minority groups, um, and are, we're fortunate we've
got a C E O who leads from that space. He's a a catalyst award winner in that space. But if I tie,
not Anne, but if, and if I tie that to our mentorship and connectivity programs, that is actually
one of the ways that we do drive our executives and senior leaders forward as examples of, you know,
kinda how to marry diversity with connectivity and mentorship. So, um, we aren't doing, uh, assigned
relationships, but we will do twofold. We allow, um, or encourage, I guess I would say our senior
leaders to select from a diverse group. So in essence, if you are a, um, you know, a non-visible or
a non-visible minority, um, we're going to say, look, you need to select somebody from our, either
our visible minority group or one of our diversity groups. And then vice versa. If you are, um,
depending on um, you know, the employee, they are gonna be asked to do the same. Um, we're
fortunate, our, um, our leadership is about, you know, 50 50 from in most diversity, um, uh,
examples. So we really drive that, you know, in, in people picking, they're basically not allowed to
pick loans of themselves. They need to go in and they need to find somebody who's going to add value
in their learning experience, um, because they're gonna bring, um, diversity of thought and
diversity of experience. So that's really how we do it. We do it right from, you know, not, not to
say you can't go out for a coffee with whoever you want, uh, but you know, basically we're looking
at how do we ensure we are connecting diverse thoughts and diverse experiences. Dave, I would have a
comment on that if, if, if I may. Um, yes please. So in in GE healthcare in g we, we are extremely
lucky because, um, you know, our leadership is, is really building those relationships without us
asking cuz you know, us meaning HR or the leadership development. However, I've worked with an
organization and what we tried was a little bit of a, a different in a way of we had, um, because we
ever sat in a virtual settings, we had avatars. So, you know, you kind of closed out some of these
biases of, you know, you being on NMS teams and you see each other or you know, the background of
the individuals. Um, so we put it in in more of a kind of VR settings where individual just mets,
um, and you know, you pick, pick up your avatar, you pick up your voice and it was actually quite a
fun way. And, um, at the end of, of this project was quite an interesting observation of people, you
know, having those aha moments and you know, the, the meaningful conversation they were having
without any biases because I think that's the key here is, uh, to avoid those biases. Chris, I I
feel like you've, you've done a lot to even like leverage technology to make it easy for, call it
allies to jump in, have coffee and other, but yeah, maybe you can share a bit and then we'll hop and
Manisha has a lot as well, but for the sake of time we'll just have you end and then I'll go to the
next, uh, probably the final question. Yeah, I think one of the things that is so very important and
I I both Krista and Andrea touched on this is that around that executive sponsorship component and
you know, talking about tangible ways to have them show up, I think it's really important to, um,
have small dedicated focus groups, uh, you know, for a lack of a better term, but have that senior
leader sit in with a very small group of individuals from, you know, any category you identify, um,
might need to have their voice heard or amplified and, and have very candid conversations, um,
ensure that they have that direct access, create those small and intimate engagements. Office hours
is a great way of doing that, uh, through their 10,000 coffees platform. Um, you can ultimately d
designate, we only want X number of individuals, um, to take advantage of this opportunity with this
senior leader and they really get that undivided attention of that senior leader, um, to, to ask the
questions that they need to to potentially, in many cases when you have active and engaged senior
leaders, um, they'll have an open door to connect with them even beyond that call, this is just the
introduction and then that creates that warm and inviting, uh, environment for them to reach out and
maybe schedule that direct one-on-one. Yeah, I love that. I think the office hours feature on 10,000
coffee a group matches leaders to very targeted groups. So you can, that's pan heritage month
leaders could actually target and meet with those from the employee networks. And what we've found
is we actually had the, the C E O of PWC talk about how the, every time they travel to different
cities, they just set up an office hour. Cause it allows them to have very small kind of close
listening sessions with all these different people. And it's not, I think as leaders and executives
and people on the call can probably relate to this, as you get more senior, you get more re removed
from the real things that people are talking through. And I know 10, 10 KC we're about 70 people and
I feel that let alone people here that are running, you know, hundreds of thousands of people. And,
and so if you don't provide your leaders with structured ways to have those listing sessions, then
it's like these leaders are getting in front of people but comms has already kind of taken all the,
the spice out of the conversation and told them what to say and so you want to create those real
grassroots opportunities and office hours. Definitely d does that. I think just that, one of the,
the questions I wanted to go back to and Manisha this came up in and yours is around segments and a
lot of times organizations in learning, they create a one size fits all mentoring program. One size
fits all matching and program and great, they've solved mentoring. But the reality is that mentoring
or networks look diff differently for all different types of people. There's maybe like mass scale
that might be more connectivity and others that might be very sponsor driven for specific
communities. Um, Manisha, I think out of everyone here you've probably, and I might have this wrong
but I'm just gonna make this up anyways, I think you've reached like 30,000 people in your past
program with all different types of offerings. Maybe talk us through like the specific offerings
that you were able to set up and launch and how you were able to do that for the different segments
like you'd mentioned before. Cause I think allyship is built into all of those, it just looks a bit
different for each segment. Yeah, so I think, um, you know, what I find sometimes leaders will
debate you on is if you do segmented programs, they'll say, well why are you only focused on this
group? What about everyone else? And we don't want an A and a B class, et cetera. So I think if
leaders are feeling comfortable and confident that we've got the foundational programs at scale,
which you do need to cover your entire employee base so they do feel all are supported, then I think
you can start to peel out and, and develop things specifically for particular segments. So what do I
mean by that? Um, one example and it it's back to starting with business outcomes is in through our
acquisitions we know that we will drive more revenue if our client facing employees and biggest
revenue producers know who specializes in what area and what who they can bring to their deal team
to give our clients a more fulsome experience. Like, hey, this person's sitting in Wisconsin
specializes in this type of area, this type of client problem. So we are starting to build
relationships and you know, communities you've practiced Acra specifically for revenue producing
client facing employees so that not only are they getting, not only are we building a sense of
community and building culture cuz these are acquired companies that need to come together, but
there's a real business at bottom line impact coming out of it and the client is benefiting. So
that's one example and that's very targeted to client facing employees. You need to do targeted
programs for, um, for diverse employees. As I've said, we can do programs, but what I have sometimes
said to senior leaders is, can you think of one person in your line of leadership that is diverse
that you know has a ton of untapped potential that you are personally mentoring? And and many times
the answer is no, they've not, they're railing against the numbers, but they're not personally doing
that. So, um, that plus programmatic pieces of course. Um, and then your high potentials in people,
um, who you wanna build as successors and leaders. So the future, which at the end of the day all
three segments, there's overlaps between them, but those are some examples of things that you would
do that's more segmented. One last I Love. I love that. Yeah, go ahead. Um, I know that people have
been debating the return to work and coming back in the office and I don't think we'll ever go back
to five days a week and I personally had a lot of inertia personally pushing myself to come back in,
which I now love being back in on a hybrid basis. It's a bit of a myth that young people are really
tech savvy and just wanna be at home. What I found in speaking to our entry and junior employees is
they love the idea of being in, they want the energy, they want the mentoring, and if we don't give
them that, we fail and they fail. So, um, that's probably another segment I would really think hard
about is those junior and entry level talent because they need to learn those in-person skills and
capabilities. Yeah, no, I love that. And I think, uh, we are, I mean the, the shameless plug for 10
kcs we're actually just launching a, a return to work configuration. So that office as a
destination, as Chris had shared earlier, is like, it's not cool if you go to the office and you're
just on zooms all day, but how can you use smart matching so that when people are back in the office
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, they actually get to meet a new colleague or have a coffee with
someone. So we're really excited about that next chapter of our connectivity solution. Um, so this
final question, uh, you know, we talked about I think Manisha, what you'd shared is so helpful and
this is we're al almost about to wrap, which is everyone's harping on these problems and it's three
years since I think a lot of companies set these goals, but creating accountability when you
actually ask the leaders, it's usually not there and it's critical because I think as this poll
question, um, will show it, it's really important and, and Giselle, you're gonna have to text me and
remind me of the answer to this, but I think it's, it's, uh, the answer is B um, but if you create
mentoring and if you make it spec like specifically accountable to all of your managers and leaders,
which currently you might think they're, but usually they're actually not, uh, you know, you can
have incredible impact on, uh, on, on retention and actually increasing, um, some of that
visibility. Uh, so, uh, I know somehow we are at time and uh, I wanted to send a, like a huge thank
you to my panelists. I think as I said at the top when I got, when we had the opportunity to do this
webinar, I thought about who are kind of four people I get to nerd out on and, and uh, our first ask
went to these four people, so, um, pumped that we did it and thank you for joining and
congratulations on your, all of your results and for, um, finding time out of your very hectic
schedules to join us. Uh, so thank you so much and have a great rest of the week and happy Memorial
Day to anyone in the US.

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