While there were various mentoring programs (internal & external) throughout the company, we did not have a low-cost, one-on-one mentoring program that allowed associates to self-nominate.

Leadership Development Exchange (LDE) is a six-month mentoring program where participants attend sessions in the corporate headquarters, connecting them to senior leaders and covering a variety of leadership topics. The program started in E3, Ecolab’s women’s employee resource group, and has been adopted by the Global Talent and Organizational Development team. 

LDE is open to all Ecolab associates (women and men) around the globe; however, the sessions are all held in person and the travel can be challenging for some.  For this reason, the E3 ERG also offers two local options, One-to-One Mentoring and Mentoring Circles, available at an increasing number of the 14 local chapters located throughout the globe.

One-to-one mentoring is a 12-month program pairing mentees with internal senior leaders at a minimum of two organizational levels above the mentees, and is completely customized to the individual goals of the mentee.  Mentoring Circles is a 12-month program pairing a diverse group of mentees with a set of two “power mentors” each quarter. There are four groups of power mentors who are experts on specific topics. Mentees learn about the topic during the first month of the quarter, gaining direct experience from the mentors during the second month, and finally reviewing what was learned and deciding how they will use that knowledge in practice during the third month.  The cycle repeats for the next quarter. 

Now in its third year, the programs have doubled in size, with more than 250 participants in total and a significant increase in executive-level participation as mentors. We have tracked improved engagement scores, increased career velocity, and a higher retention rate in participants compared with non-participants. 

Lynne Monticello