So did the women who benefited from mentoring within the company express it.
Other words I heard about mentoring, coming from mentees:
- “With few meetings, a lot was achieved. I had the feeling to find my way in Danone”
- “I get the inspiration and confidence right after mentoring”
- “It helped me take decisions and understand the way forward”
- “High added-value feedback and advices on my career and my projects”
What is mentoring?
An agreement between two people sharing experiences to help with mutual personal and professional growth. Quite simple, natural, only needing trust and generosity, which is a lot!
Organized by the HR function or in a more informal way with a list of mentors posted on a website … mentoring can also be even organized with different companies, crossing mentors and mentees, as Danone has been doing for 4 years with IBM for example.
Who mentors who?
Generally speaking, the mentor is a more senior person within the company, able to bring different angles and share experience with a younger person through several meetings planned on a 6-months period.
We observed that while the mentee gets a lot from these regular meetings, the mentor learns a lot as well. Listen to some of them
- “It is an opportunity to review my own experience and capitalize the learning”
- “That is an opportunity to throw oneself into the reality of young leaders at Danone”
- “Very enriching to share on the managerial and personal sides, the feeling of having helped a manager thanks to my experience brings value to me”
At Danone, we are convinced that this approach contributes a lot to better understand each other between women and men and between generations as well.
Mentoring is part of the “trio gagnant” Networking-Mentoring-Training, program aiming to empower women to help them to grow as far as they wish; more than 200 women have entered the program since 2009.
THANK YOU for mentoring.
Leaflet for mentoring for EVE Le blog
Danone
