By Shannon Sullivan, Axiom Consulting Partners
January 17, 2012
What is your organization doing to build a bench of ready, capable, and fully engaged women leaders?
Qualcomm Inc.’s answer to that question is detailed in "Developing Women Leaders Through Grassroots Mentorship," an article I wrote for Workspan magazine. In short, Qualcomm was looking to accelerate the development of their exemplar women leaders and inspire them to more fully enroll and engage in the organization. As a starting point, they developed a women’s mentorship initiative to serve the needs of a diverse group of up and coming women leaders.
You may been a part of a formal mentoring initiative that fell short. Typically, the HR department leads the match of mentors and mentees based on some artificial construct – assumptions, resume comparisons or answers to a questionnaire. The personal connection is missing. The women executives at Qualcomm took a more customized, two-pronged approach where relationships and chemistry were key. They also decided to take a holistic approach to mentorship that could account for the various dimensions of women’s development and growth – both professional and personal.
The article provides much more detail about the mentoring program and the successful results. Jane Mack-Baker, Qualcomm’s vice president of employee relations, and one of the original 15 women, summed up the experience: “It’s amazing to see how a relatively small grassroots initiative can impact so many. These women have seen the benefits of mentorship and are sharing their experiences and the tools with others. I am very proud to have been part of this.”
I believe that the unique approach taken by Qualcomm, a world leader in next-generation mobile technologies, in building a women’s mentorship program can be implemented in virtually any organization.
Do you agree that it’s worth making purposeful investments in the women in your organization so that they can contribute even more to your organization’ success? And what programs do you see working well, or falling short?
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