Maximizing Mentorship to Address Talent Challenges
Over the years, the supply management profession has gone through tremendous change. It’s emerged from a back-office transactional function to become a key strategic differentiator for companies in a diverse set of industries. It’s become more cross-functional, with organizations working to integrate supply management into more aspects of business operations. It’s become more digital, with technologies like automation, robotics, cloud computing, the Internet of Things and blockchain.
As a result, the skills profile has changed. In building a world-class supply management organization, it’s no longer enough to hire emerging supply management employees only for their analytical skills. More than ever, companies need individuals with the business acumen to break down silos and affect organizational change in an era of constant disruption — not to mention people with the skills to deploy technologies coming down the line.
It’s a tall order. In recent surveys like Charlotte, North Carolina-based MHI’s 2019 MHI Annual Industry Report: Elevating Supply Chain Digital Consciousness, executives listed hiring and talent development as their greatest challenges — bigger than rising customer expectations, forecasting and supply chain transparency. Baby boomers are retiring, and there aren’t enough young people entering the profession to replace those workers. These factors make it more important than ever for organizations to revisit their hiring and talent-development strategies.
A Two-Way Benefit
A two-pronged approach can help supply management organizations meet the immense talent challenges: work to hire the best employees, then provide cross-functional educational opportunities to quickly further their knowledge and broaden their experience. The more career fulfillment junior supply management employees experience, the better strategic outcomes they will create for their companies.
Over the past 18 months, executives have identified one key factor in talent-development strategies that’s getting more discussion but not enough action: mentorship.
A formal mentorship program can pay huge dividends for rising junior employees, who can benefit from leaders’ expertise. Many supply management leaders recognize the importance of breaking down business silos, and mentorship is a great way to help equip junior employees for that task. For example, a director who takes on a bright inventory analyst as a mentee can expose the employee to other parts of the business, from logistics to forecasting to procurement.
Mentorship also has benefits for leaders. Rather than just an act of goodwill to junior employees, it’s better viewed as an investment in the organization’s long-term health. It’s a chance to learn by teaching and challenging assumptions. In fact, “reverse mentorship” can be just as valuable as a traditional mentoring program, giving digital natives a chance to share their skills with senior leadership and help drive cultural change within an organization.
Mentorship can help transfer skills and institutional knowledge up and down an organization. It can improve employee retention and lead to greater career satisfaction — addressing many of the goals that today’s top supply management leaders share in their talent strategies.
Getting the Most Out of Mentorship
Like with any transformational initiative, setting up a successful mentorship program is easier said than done. It’s easy to create or assign mentor/mentee relationships, but more difficult to make them stick in the long run. Supply managers are used to fighting daily fires. They might recognize a need for more mentorship in the organization but find it difficult to prioritize it over the many other demands they face.
These tips can help organizations get the most out of mentorship. For mentees:
Make sure the match meets your goals. When asked to participate in a mentorship program, communicate what kind of mentor is best for you. Make it clear whether your goal is to broaden your subject-matter expertise into different supply management disciplines or drill deeper into one discipline. Make sure to establish a culture fit between you and your mentor: Do you share a commitment to work/life balance? What motivates him or her? What excites your mentor most about the field, and do you share that?
Only commit when you’re ready. Having a mentor can be a major boost to your career, so it might seem like a no-brainer to accept. That said, it’s important to ask yourself whether you can commit to the extra time and energy involved, or if you need more time.
Strive for open communication but respect your mentor’s time. Mentorship relationships work when communication is open and frequent — twice-yearly check-ins don’t make for fruitful matches. However, streamline your communication, so your mentor can provide feedback in an effective way. Avoid open-ended questions in emails. If the mentor is commenting on your work product, allow a generous response time.
Don’t be afraid to offer direction. Some mentorship relationships languish because a mentor is unsure how to provide the most value to the mentee. It can help to offer guidance so the mentor understands where his or her expertise and advice will be of most value to you.
For mentors:
Set expectations early. The best mentorship relationships have a tendency to evolve, but it’s valuable to define the parameters early to get off on the right foot. What will be the frequency of communication? What are you both looking to get out of the relationship? A regularly scheduled check-in call or meeting can help ensure the relationship stays active.
Consider working with a team. While executives are often too busy putting out fires to dedicate time to a one-on-one mentorship relationship, they have the most to contribute — and plenty to gain. One workaround is to act as a “primary” mentor in concert with one or two other “secondary” mentors who can offer subject-matter expertise and support.
Humility is crucial. As a mentor, your skills, knowledge and experience translate to leverage in the relationship — but that’s all the more reason to be humble. Make sure a mentee has time to prioritize his or her work. Avoid taking undue credit for a mentee’s ideas, and always be open to what you can learn.
A structured mentorship strategy can provide significant benefits — to a mentor, mentee and the supply management organization. The skills development, organizational alignment and sense of shared purpose are well worth the time investment.
Sam White is head of content for Argentus, a Toronto-based boutique
recruitment firm specializing in supply management.