Executive Mentoring Case Study

Menttium’s Executive Mentoring program provides your senior leaders access to an executive or c-suite mentor.

Leverage this program to accelerate your senior leaders’ ability to achieve business objectives and enhance their overall leadership capabilities.

Background

Benjamin was an Executive Director in a small biotechnology company when he was selected to participate in the Menttium Executive Mentoring Program. This program prepares senior leaders for continued growth and impact by placing them in a mentoring partnership with a senior executive.

Ben was tapped to create a new department in a fast-paced, growing biotech company. He was a strong business generalist; however, he felt his lack of deep knowledge on the scientific side of the biopharma industry was a gap to fill to be positioned for a larger leadership role. During his Menttium interview, Ben and the Menttium advisor identified leadership development areas he wanted to focus on with his mentor.

Focus Area

Ben was paired for a year-long mentoring partnership with Chris, retired President and COO in the Healthcare Industry.  Ben wanted to work with a mentor who was also a business generalist in a highly technical field.  He sought out advice from his mentor on influencing others, developing and building high performing teams, conflict management, and navigating organizational politics. Ben also thought he needed to build his technical expertise. Chris helped redirect Ben to focus on the organizational leadership topics. Chris also shared ideas for building relationships, specifically with technical experts, that would enable Ben to leverage their experience and knowledge to get to the best solutions for the company.

Leadership Impact

“I’ve really learned how to build meaningful relationships. My mentor has helped me learn how to interact more successfully with my team, my boss, my peers, and other senior leaders.”

Benefits to Your Organization

How it started – Feedback Month 2

“Chris has helped me focus on the right things. He was instrumental in helping me lead through influence vs. direct authority with peers and more senior leaders and in navigating corporate politics. My self-awareness is also growing. I followed his suggestion to implement a 360 assessment to get a better perspective on my leadership opportunities. I recently completed a self-assessment about my personal development for my boss and he commented that it was the most thoughtful assessment he had ever received. I attribute a lot of that to the discussions with my mentor.”

How it ended – Feedback Month 12

“Because our company was growing so fast during the 12 months of my mentoring relationship, Chris and I had a lot of things to address. Recently our small company was acquired by a large biopharma company, and I was a leader in the integration work. Chris and I discussed how I could apply different organizational leadership skills in this context and we worked through issues as they came up together. I also went through a direct supervisor change during our time together. Chris helped me navigate how to effectively manage up with a new leader who had a very different style from my former boss. This has allowed me to have productive discussions with my new boss around my career growth. She is thrilled with my progress.“

Benefits to the Mentee

“Chris has impressive experience and perspectives to offer and he is a great guy who cares. He was very thoughtful about my leadership challenges. He offered helpful ideas and thought starters to work through different situations. Chris almost immediately nailed my key development areas and we connected as he had gone through similar growth challenges during the course of his career. I have had other mentors over the years, but usually they were former bosses or people very close to my work or company. It was incredibly valuable for me to have a mentor outside my company who was singularly invested in me. He was influential and I look forward to staying in touch with Chris as I continue to advance in my career.”

Highlights

“I became a dad for the first time during this partnership.  Chris helped me realign my priorities to keep everything in balance during my paternity leave.  At the same time, I have become a stronger leader and contributor to my organization. I’m very happy with the partnership and wouldn’t change anything.”

Overall Satisfaction with Selected Mentor

“Chris and I were able to immediately build a connection. Given his experience, he was able to ask the right questions to redirect me to the areas I really needed to work on. Chris was able to get to the crux of an issue quickly.  He was a great listener and was very invested in our relationship.  He was always ready to jump on the phone when I needed him. We had so much in common and were able to relate to one another. Chris offered to keep in touch beyond the formal mentoring experience.  He really has been an incredible mentor; I am so grateful for the program and for my pairing with him.”

Context: Many of Menttium’s mentoring partnerships create lifelong connections with mentees and mentors keeping in touch over the course of their careers.

Outcome

Ben enhanced his leadership skills, helped his team navigate the acquisition by a large biopharma company and was promoted to Vice President. Two years after the partnership was completed, Ben and Chris still check in with each other as needed and feel they both gained a meaningful relationship that will endure.

95% Strongly Agree or Agree this Experience Strengthened their Job Performance

100% Strongly Agree or Agree this Experience Strengthened their Leadership Skills

98% are Very Satisfied or Satisfied with their Goal Achievement

95% Strongly Agree or Agree this Experience had a Positive Impact on their Intent to Stay at their Sponsoring Company (Retention Indicator)