We recognized that many high potential managers needed to further develop their business acumen skills, expand relationships with senior leaders, and improve knowledge of company strategy.  

Mentoring circles were launched with three primary objectives: 1) strengthening enterprise business acumen; 2) developing professional and career insights; 3) expanding capabilities of and building relationships with diverse talent. Mentoring circles provide a way for senior leaders to go deeper in their organizations to build relationships with high potential leaders and recognize diverse talent, and to scale the impact of exposure to leaders and creating better visibility to top diverse talent.

A mentoring circle involves a mentor working directly with 10 to 12 high potential mentees with strong diversity representation. Mentors provide organizational business acumen, share insights and key lessons learned throughout their career. Circle members combine their energies and experiences to learn from one another and build their internal network.

In order to assess effectiveness and continuously improve the mentee experience we survey participants before, during, and at the end of each circle. Mentoring circles typically lasts 6 to 8 months.

Each mentor is encouraged to invite guest speakers from across the enterprise, subject matter experts to share industry hot topics, clients to share experiences, and leverage internal and external resources.

Mentors are assigned a partner from the Office of Inclusion and Diversity, provided a mentoring circle playbook and granted access to an on-line repository that includes process maps, best practices, and tools. Mentee participation is tracked and documented as part of their formal development plan.

Within the first four months there are 448 associates being mentored by 44 mentors. There have been several role expansions and promotional opportunities for participating managers.