Breaking Barriers: PMI's Journey to Cross-Cultural Engagement with Mentorloop
with Michelle Lagrave,
Global Leadership Development Lead, Integrated Talent Management, People & Culture
Philip Morris International
What Philip Morris International loves most about Mentorloop:
- The continuous, quality of feedback 'Sentiment' provides
- Live Program Coordinator dashboard
- Multiple mentoring relationships running at the same time
Quality Mentoring 'Sentiment' Feedback
From no visibility to full transparency
Mentorloop’s Sentiment system ensures PMI can collect honest feedback from their mentors and mentees at key moments throughout the program.
87% Participant Satisfaction
Positive feedback from mentors/mentees
Another successful year of mentoring, feedback was consistently gathered from mentoring participants with some incredible qualitative feedback to match.
We aim to build mentorship capabilities which will in turn help our leaders and future leaders to motivate, guide and inspire
MentorRead More
Every interaction is a two-way discussion, I learn from Exa and he seeks to understand how to apply our discussion and feedback in his context.
MenteeRead More
Jessica is a great Mentor, she gives thoughtful inspiration helping me overcome some doubts at workplace. I really enjoy chatting with her.
MenteeRead More
Sigrun has been an amazing guide and supporter throughout the program. She has generously shared her knowledge and expertise with me and motivated me to think out of the box and develop my skills. She has always been patient, encouraging, and respectful, and I have learned a lot from her.
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Having a mentoring program helps to cultivate a growth mindset. Not only does it promote diversity, but it also empowers our people to drive transformation and create positive change.
Before Mentorloop
Before Mentorloop, there was no efficient way for the people of PMI to engage across cultures and functions in a safe space.
Program Impact
Mentoring creates unique opportunities and the ability to connect people across the organization, as it “opens up new horizons” bridging gaps between different backgrounds and experiences.
An organization should not underestimate the importance of these mentor-mentee conversations in bringing the voice of employees forward, and thus giving the space to people to be themselves and challenge the status quo.
Mentoring also provides an excellent opportunity to pay it forward, thus creating a “ripple” or “cascading” effect that strengthens us as a company and fosters a culture of collaboration.
Without a structured mentorship program in place, our potential could be severely hindered—slowing down knowledge transfer and skill development and leaving employees feeling disconnected and undervalued.
iGrow plays in our organization’s success, mentorship provides a sense of support, and encouragement, and creates opportunities. We must recognize the pivotal impact of mentorship on succession planning—allowing us to identify and nurture potential future leaders.
Having a mentoring program helps to cultivate a growth mindset. Not only does it promote diversity, but it also empowers our people to drive transformation and create positive change.
iGrow is a global mentoring program for all PMI employees that’s driving a culture of inclusion and development, helping grow a diverse community of talent. Effective mentoring programs benefit the mentee, the mentor and the organization by promoting a development culture, increasing knowledge sharing, driving performance, and expanding networks.
The iGrow mentoring program focuses on developing cross-functional relationships and aims to empower employees to refine their interpersonal and leadership skills in a safe environment, also creating a sense of community and belonging.
Internal networks are critical to accelerate performance. Job-focused, information-rich networks have a tremendous impact on improving your potential to be promoted to, and succeed at, the next level within the organization.
We seek to:
- Create a culture of development
- Drive employees’ engagement and retention
- Foster productivity and performance
- Increase cross-organizational communication
- Provide a low-cost development opportunity
- Drive self-awareness
- Expand internal networks and build new relationships
- Provide a safe space to work on interpersonal capabilities
- Increase vision of and visibility throughout, the organization
We aim to build mentorship capabilities which will in turn help our leaders and future leaders to motivate, guide and inspire.
We have also built a community of iGrow mentoring ambassadors around the world, who help build a culture of mentoring in their market, region or function.
These ambassadors have played a critical role in inciting more than 2600 people to enroll in mentoring this year across 79 different locations. An incredible hunger for mentoring!
Looking to the Future
Next year, we plan to expand the iGrow program as the thirst for mentoring grows at PMI. We are looking into designing a global mentoring framework and handbook.
We will use iGrow as the overarching global brand of mentoring at PMI, with smaller, niche mentoring programs under it. We plan to heavily invest in creating a mindset and culture of mentoring at PMI.
Michelle Lagrave
Global Leadership Development Lead, Integrated Talent Management, People & Culture, Philip Morris International
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We have also built a community of iGrow mentoring ambassadors around the world, who help build a culture of mentoring in their market, region or function.
These ambassadors have played a critical role in inciting more than 2600 people to enroll in mentoring this year across 79 different locations. An incredible hunger for mentoring!
– Michelle Lagrave, Philip Morris International
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What does a Mentoring Program Coordinator do?
Being a Mentoring Program Coordinator is an incredibly rewarding experience that positively impacts the lives of many. And while mentoring programs don’t fully run themselves (even though Mentorloop can do a great deal of the heavy lifting!), they do require a point of contact that can steer the program in the right direction for the organisation that is running one.
Building Quality Feedback Into Mentoring Relationships
This is Part 8 of our 10-part series on the 10 Key Qualities and Habits of a Highly Effective Mentor.
In this post, we’ll look at how mentors can successfully build quality feedback into their mentoring. Quality feedback is priceless because it clarifies expectations, helps people learn from their mistakes, and builds confidence. It also allows mentees to more effectively take what their mentors say and turn it into action.
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