Mentorship/Coaching Program
GSD has two goals in designing the mentorship/coaching program: building a talent pipeline of skilled and diverse professionals and removing barriers to entry-level and secondary employment.
By creating this mentorship program blending on-the-job experience with in-classroom and virtual learning, and supporting mentors with professional skills development, networking, career navigation, and mentorship, GSD has helped many young people begin and advance their careers.
Using a structured approach, GSD creates learning plans and benchmarks. This allows us to add responsibilities to people with already full plates, GSD recognized the importance of engaging supervisors directly to help them understand that mentorships are strategic investments in the future of the company, and that increasing representation and diversity within the company’s ranks is a benefit.
GSD works with leaders to help develop more formal and robust support structures. This includes designing new programming and facilitating communication among supervisors to foster peer learning and mutual assistance. Managers can have their own program and receive structured training from workforce experts that coach them to adopt better supervising techniques and strategies. GSD will also prioritize inclusivity, identifying managers who advocate for their teams, embrace differences, and are skilled team builders who can provide in-person support to team members.
The profile is shared with HR colleagues, supporting forecasting and recruitment needs and ensuring those traits are taken into consideration in hiring decisions.
Mentorships are among the oldest forms of education, blending work-based and academic experiences to support high-performing skilled employees. While they have dipped in and out of vogue over the decades, their value has not changed. Mentorship programs, done well, lead to well-trained, loyal employees who are more likely to stay with the organization and grow in their roles. GSD’s mentorship program has been a transformational experience for many young people starting out their careers. As importantly, the mentorship program will create significant change within an organization, from hiring practices to corporate culture. While the program was created to build a new pathway for entry-level employees to learn and grow, equally important has been the associated changes in defining the role of a supervisor and strengthening supervisory talent. GSD’s high-quality program, where mentors are supported holistically in their learning and development and where corporate practice is intentionally inclusive, is an exemplar, showing how the model can work for nontraditional mentorship occupations and how companies can meet their talent pipeline with diverse talent.
The GSD formula includes:
An initial assessment with HR Director or a Senior Manager
Understanding the current situation/frustrations
Define the high-level goals
Outline expectation
Utilize the COACH plan (Candid Objective Achievement Confident Habitual)
Take Action
To get started please contact us to learn about the next steps.