Start an engaging mentoring program in your enterprise with the help of our experts…
Reduce your turnover rate by optimizing the integration and engagement of your employees with mentoring !
Create an inclusive workplace by launching a turnkey mentorship program for equality, diversity, and inclusion.
Get fast and easy access to mentoring with our wisdom package
Create a self-help community based on shared knowledge.
Find valuable advice from our experts, mentoring news and resources for your mentorship program.
Free resources to help you set up and manage your mentoring program.
For 20 years, the Internet has been transforming the way people and businesses live, work and collaborate. Far from slowing down, the changes are accelerating. Today, Medtronic is a global leader in medical technology. The company contributes to human well-being by applying biomedical principles to the research, design, manufacture, and distribution of devices that relieve pain, restore health, and extend life expectancy.
To bring their mission to life through their employer brand, Medtronic France has set itself the goal, by 2022, “to make diversity and inclusion a priority and a shared value within the company. “To do this, four working groups were created at Medtronic France to implement a strategy that would promote inclusion, diversity and equity: Disability, Women/Men, Origin, and Generation. The Elo team spoke with François Ferraris, Business Analyst at Medtronic France and head of the “Generation Committee” to learn more about their diversity and inclusion efforts using a virtual mentoring program.
The pandemic has only accelerated the digital transformation of Medtronic France, which like many companies, had to seek new technological tools to ensure effective remote collaboration of staff. Although familiar with technology and occasionally trained in digital, the older generations have been confronted with issues related to working remotely and the use of new technologies. Thus, more than ever, Medtronic had to adapt the way it was providing support for this specific group of employees.
“With the rise of new technologies and the shift to digital, we needed a solution to facilitate intergenerational collaboration and start-to-finish management.”
The Generation team then considered Reverse Mentoring to support the older generations in their digital development.
WHAT IS REVERSE MENTORING? “Reverse mentoring, or reverse mentoring, involves assigning a junior mentor to an experienced employee, rather than an experienced mentor to a junior employee…” – Adecco
For François, Reverse Mentoring is a collaborative approach based on the exchange and transfer of knowledge. It is a solution that promotes cohabitation between generations to facilitate creativity, innovation and mutual support.
“In the summer of 2019 we launched our first pilot including 10 mentors and 10 mentees.” In order to have a representative sample of the entire company, François’ team made sure to recruit mentors and mentees from different backgrounds, seniority and roles.
The pilot was fully organized and monitored by the project team and lasted 6 months. To ensure the success, in-house training was offered to mentors and mentees to better understand their roles and their positive impact on diversity and inclusion within the organization. In reality, this test phase allowed the project team to become familiar with the recruitment processes involved in a Reverse Mentoring program and to identify best practices in regards to the larger scale launch of their program using the Elo platform.
“The success of this pilot has motivated us to continue our project and extend the program to all of our French employees (over 800). To do this, we needed a digital solution adapted to our needs.”
Ready to roll out the reverse mentoring program to all of Medtronic France, the project team was looking for a mentoring platform that would simplify the launch and management of the program. The Elo mentoring platform proved to be the perfect choice to support their mentoring initiative.
With a scalable vision for their mentoring program, Elo met many of the criteria of Medtronic France’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. “We were looking for a mentoring platform that was agile and scalable to our needs.”
WE HAVE CHOSEN ELO FOR :
As a turnkey solution, Elo allowed François’ team to receive the support needed to roll out the mentoring program on a larger scale. The matching algorithm available on the Elo mentoring platform facilitated the pairing of mentors and mentees. This is a key feature that empowers mentees by allowing them to choose the mentor(s) who will accompany them in their mentoring goals. In addition, Elo‘s user-friendly interface was a must for the generation team. It had to be intuitive and easy to use for both younger and older generations. Furthermore, the support and guidance of Elo‘s mentoring experts greatly facilitated the deployment of the mentoring program internally.
Launching a mentoring program means recruiting efforts. François’ team put in a valuable effort. Thanks to a well-established communication campaign, their Reverse Mentoring program was able to welcome more than 80 mentors and mentees in two months.
The work done prior with the pilot project allowed us to better understand the needs of mentors and mentees and thus adapt the recruitment campaigns to the reality of future mentors and mentees. Moving from LinkedIn publications to more traditional emails, the enthusiasm for the program was quickly felt.
In addition, with the help of “start-up cafés”, François’ team made internal presentations to democratize mentoring among the various departments of the company. Having recruited higher level executives to help spread the word, they became the best ambassadors of the Reverse Mentoring program.
Their initiatives don’t stop there. “We still wanted to send goodies to participants so that they, in turn, can promote the program and create a community around mentoring.”
With over 40 matches and over 84 mentors and mentees, their mentoring program with Elo is growing. But François’ team doesn’t want to stop there. With a longer-term vision of diversity and inclusion, the Generation team plans to continue their recruitment efforts to increase the number of mentors and mentees enrolled in their mentoring program.
All in all, the François team has now a powerful tool to promote diversity and inclusion within Medtronic France. Motivated, determined and enthusiastic, the team has opted for a digital solution that will enable them to foster collaboration between generations and thus accelerate innovation in healthcare. A project that is essential for the good of the organization and the achievement of their mission.
ADVICE FROM FRANÇOIS :
If you want to implement a Reverse Mentoring program in your organization, include it in your employees’ personal and professional development plans. You can also launch a community (or communities) to maintain motivation.
Interested in launching a virtual mentoring program? Discover Elo, the turnkey mentoring platform that makes it easy for organizations to launch and manage a mentoring program. With over 20 years of experience in the mentoring world, our experts are here to help you every step of the way. In addition, program coordinators, mentors and mentees benefit from personalized coaching.