The Challenge
- Segment: Large enterprise
- Industry: Consumer goods and retail
- Location: Multiple countries in the Americas
- Programs: Cross-business mentoring for leadership and career development, in recurring cohorts
A multinational consumer and retail group is made up of several distinct business units. Its talent team wanted more places where employees from one part of the group could meet and learn from colleagues in another. Mentoring became one of those places, with leadership competencies and each person's development needs shaping how participants prepare.
In our program, we bring together mentors and mentees from different business units.
Mentoring program administrator
Running a program like that takes coordination. Every cycle, the team recruits mentors, collects nominations and confirmations from the business units, and reviews possible matches with talent and development colleagues. Participant information, learning priorities and the mentoring journey all have to line up before the first relationship begins.
The audience shaped the approach as well. Participants work in more than one language, so the team looked for preparation materials people could follow comfortably. It also wanted content that reflected the different jobs mentors and mentees take on.
Why Chronus
The group uses Chronus to keep participant profiles, connection plans, learning content and program reporting in one place. It also keeps its own judgment in the process: the talent team still reviews each proposed match, adding what it knows about participants to the platform's workflow.
Learning content was a specific priority. The team chose resources for mentors and mentees separately, then added shared resources both sides of a relationship can use. Those choices tie the program's development goals to the practical work each pair does together.
Reporting shows what happens after matching: meetings, messages, completed tasks and participant feedback. The team reviews that activity next to what mentors and mentees say about their experience, then uses those conversations to prepare the next cohort.
Executive satisfaction is central to the decision to keep going.
I know they were very happy with the program, and that's why we continue with Chronus and keep driving it.
Mentoring program coordinator
The Solution
A cohort rhythm the business units can follow
Each cycle follows the same path: recruitment, a short registration window for mentees, a few weeks of matching, and a final check with each business unit before launch. Administrators also review participant communications, profile fields and how returning participants enroll again before each cohort opens.
Preparation built for each role
A small set of courses sits inside the mentoring journey. Mentors get a course on preparing for the role. Mentees get courses on setting effective goals and on growing through discomfort. Both sides share courses on how mentoring differs from coaching and sponsorship, and on starting a mentoring relationship well. Before publishing, the team worked through who sees each course and where it fits in the journey.
Connection plans that keep pairs moving
Connection plan activities give each pair concrete steps to work through, and pairs schedule their meetings in the platform. Reporting then shows administrators how much activity each relationship has, alongside the feedback participants leave.
The Impact
The group's program reviews show active relationships, satisfied participants and career movement:
- About 30% of the previous year's mentoring cohort moved role, through a promotion or a lateral move
- 91% of mentoring connections recorded activity over the previous year
- 96% satisfaction among survey respondents in the current round
- Every respondent to the recommendation question, more than 50 mentors and mentees, would recommend the program
- Every rated mentoring meeting came out helpful or better, most of them very helpful or a breakthrough
Across the program, participants have scheduled more than 400 meetings, completed more than 1,700 tasks and spent more than 300 hours in courses. The current round has more than 140 mentoring connections under way, and more than 85 people who completed a connection, mentors and mentees alike, described the experience as positive. Every participant in the previous cycle was still with the group when that cycle was reviewed.
The team welcomed the survey results and asked for deeper reporting. Its aim for the next cycle is to keep engagement high and grow it.
