The purpose of the Global mentoring program was to support the professional development of our people. Another important goal of this cross-organizational program was to break silos and build bridges inside Metso Outotec. We strived to do this by matching Mentees with Mentors that were often coming from different areas of business and different locations.
Jan 3, 2022
Accelerating growth via Global mentoring program
I’m Anna Rassi and I work as a specialist in the global talent and development team in Helsinki, Finland. I work with a wide range of talent and development topics, such as employer branding, onboarding, mentoring, and organization culture. HR communications is also a big part of my job. I get to be a part of very different types of projects and this makes each day different. What I also love about my job is having a network of supportive golleagues from around the world. Most importantly, I find it meaningful to get to support the growth of our people. And speaking about growth, today I want to tell you about our Global mentoring program 2021, which I ran together with my colleagues.
“Metso Outotec is such a big organization, and this program provided the opportunity to jump out of your own team and department and understand the complexities, and at the same time appreciate the beauty, of what our company is all about.”
The amount of applications was something we weren’t prepared for. Within one working day, we received 160 Mentee applications from all over the world. We also received almost 100 Mentor applications. It became clear that there has been a demand for this kind of program in Metso Outotec.
After carefully reading all the applications and making the difficult decisions from all the excellent applications, enthusiastic mentees were selected, matched, and paired with experienced mentors and the 6-month journey began.
"With the help of my mentor I was able to track my best qualities, and more importantly areas to improve! Sparring with my mentor, while he has not given me any straight answers, he has guided me to find the answers myself. It has been great to tackle these topics, slice them into smaller pieces and create a clear development path for me to follow!"
The program started with a kick-off call full of Mentees excited to develop themselves and Mentors looking forward to sharing their knowledge and guiding their Mentees. The mentees made a personal development plan and the pairs agreed on a meeting schedule for the next 6 months. At the midpoint of the program, the participants came together to share their reflections, learnings, and best practices. At the end of November, we had a closing call to wrap up the program.
“With the help of my Mentor, I’ve accomplished to study and propose a whole new operating model for the territory I’m responsible for in Brazil. The implementation, although, may require a little more time to happen, but I felt very proud of the work I was able to do and how much I’ve grown just by doing it."
By looking at the feedback, it seems that together with the amazing participants, we have managed to bring different cultures and organizations together and helped people understand the complexities of our big company. The Mentees have been helped to understand their strengths and weaknesses and make action plans to develop those. The program has given the participants a chance to hear and be heard and share their experiences and knowledge. It has helped the participants to reflect on their careers and also to focus on the positive things, in the middle of a pandemic.
“Mentoring program and especially my mentor challenged me to evaluate and look at my options about my professional and personal aspirations, providing me some tools and the confidence to build my own roadmap, find the answers by myself, and to go after all those aspirations."
Thank you Mentors and Mentees for making this program a great one!