Case Study: Biopharma

Mentor Effectiveness Training

Global Biopharmaceutical Company

In 2015, a leading global biopharmaceutical company known for their interest in embracing a diverse workforce and inclusive culture reached out to Menttium for support. Their goals included knowledge transfer, accelerating the learning curve and overall engagement. Their plan was to pair all of their sales associates from a specific line of business with their highest achieving sales leaders to engage in a mentoring partnership. Once the pairs were in place, the real work was about to begin, but what makes a great mentor? What makes mentoring effective? How does a partnership start strong and maintain momentum? The organization posed these questions to Menttium, and the results were powerful.

2

Hours of Training

Business Case

The sales function from the cardiovascular line of business carefully developed a mentoring practice to support sales associates by matching them to senior sales high performers. Their leaders developed mentoring as a strategy to support their overall talent development goals including focus on knowledge transfer, job performance and leadership development. Working in partnership with Menttium, they chose Mentor Effectiveness Training to support the skillset of their mentors. As part of the planning process, Menttium identified the following objectives for their training session:

  • Role definition and clarification of expectations
  • Explaining the “what” and “how” of mentoring best practices
  • Providing insight into listening and critical questioning versus problem solving
  • Sharing foundational trust building and giving and receiving feedback tools

Mentoring Strategy

To achieve their objectives, the organization’s leaders knew they needed to add structure to their program and needed to enable their mentors to be effective from day one. Menttium conducted Mentor Effectiveness Training in New York during the company’s national sales conference. The group maximized ninety minutes to the fullest with an interactive training session. Now, in year two, the same group of leaders has requested the next level of training including Mentee Effectiveness Training. Seeing the full value of the training for one end of the partnership, they are ready to maximize learning for both sides – mentee and mentor. Year two will therefore involve a virtual training session for mentors.

75

New Sales Leaders Trained to be Effective Mentors

Impact

Participants reported the following program results:

 

  • Increased readiness to support a mentee
  • Better understanding of the role of a mentor and how to apply new skills to meetings with their mentee
  • Ability to leverage Menttium’s tools expedited the learning process
100

Sales Associates Supported by Effectively Trained Mentors