Danske IT Mentorship Programme
Diversity & Inclusion is an important focus area for Danske IT since the past few years. This includes encouraging better representation of women across the organisation, including management & leadership levels. Its reported that despite an equal percentage of women STEM graduates , the representation drops to 34% at an organisational level and less than 25% at managerial & leadership positions & even lesser than 1% in the C-Suite.
All of us have a role to play along with women professionals themselves, to create and nurture opportunities that can help us overcome stereotypes, deep rooted bias, social norms and responsibilities that deter women from realising their full potential.
The Diversity & Inclusion council at Danske IT designed a Mentorship Programme for women colleagues to focus on four specific categories
Senior colleagues were invited to register as Mentors & in its first phase 16 colleagues participated as Mentees. The Mentors were matched based on the specific requirements expressed by the participants regarding the aspects they wanted to focus on. A series of 12 meetings were recommended over a period of 6 months based on the mutual convenience of the Mentor / Mentee pairing.
Some of our colleagues share their experience with the Programme in its first phase.
Loyson Paes , Our Learning & Development Lead & D&I council member who collaborated on the Programme shares his perspective
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"Mentoring has been in practice long before it was even coined as a term. Every successful personality we know, has not only benefitted from mentoring but has also shared the highlights and the lowlights of their journey with others on a similar path. Their stories serve as inspiration and also a ready resource on what has been tried and tested before.
Shazia Siddiqui , HR business partner and partner to Loyson in designing the programme shares, “ Mentorship offers a less formal and free flowing approach to grooming professionals in their career path than a formal?& structured classroom session. Mentees get an experienced?sparring partner who can help them navigate through understanding their gaps and build on their professional capabilities.
Mentorship Programme is just one of the many steps that organisations can take to nurture a supportive environment for women and provide them a level playing field. Sensitisation programmes for leaders, Maternity support, Returneeship initiatives so women who have taken a break from careers to support family needs can easily slip back into their careers are some of the other steps which can contribute immensely to increasing representation of women at all levels.
After the initial trial, we are excited to make this Programme available to all those interested in working with a mentor for a period of 6 months every year. Both mentors & mentees are free to continue working towards their goals if mutually acceptable.
As always we are keen to learn from other organisations who have successfully worked through programmes like these and seen it translate into tangible results. Please share in comments, how you are supporting colleagues in their growth journey.
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Director- L&D and Corporate Affairs at @ Exzellenz Career Shapers
2 年Congratualtions Loy Bhai Loyson Paes and congratuluations to Shazia as well. Nice programme, all the mentees must maintain a written record of all the interactions and there should be some common meeting of all these people some time. The biggest challenge in these processes are 'keeping the momentum alive' and 'staying professional with the process'. that may benefit them more. Congratulations to you...for making the world a better place. We love Danske because of you... ??
HR Business Partner, Organization Development, People, Performance and Culture, Change Management, ACC ICF Certified Coach
2 年Privileged to have worked on this program