Don’t underestimate how hard it is for people to get together As of August, a few groups had yet to connect. Email chains went on for weeks trying to set up meetings. It was also summer, so many people were on vacation. It did cause some genuine frustration for some participants. Lesson learned: Designate a leader to organize the first meeting. (I don’t recommend asking the group to decide on a leader themselves. Just assign the role, and suggest it be a rotating responsibility so that it’s not onerous). Also, give the leader a way to organize the first meeting, such as an online scheduling tool. Be proactive in searching out potential problems We sent out an email asking for feedback two months after the program started. I was surprised when some people commented that they hadn’t connected, and disappointed that groups hadn’t reached out sooner. However, in retrospect, I understand why. The participants probably didn’t want to “bother” the organizers, and we hadn’t been proactive enough in reaching out. Lesson learned: Check in early and often, especially in the first few weeks. It’s much easier to correct course upfront, and participants will feel more supported.
Give direction to online discussion groups We created a LinkedIn discussion group for the cohort, and initially the participants showed quite a bit of interest in joining this group. However, other than a few introductory comments, the group was rarely used. Lesson learned: if you’re going to put an online discussion group in place, it makes sense to “curate” the group (e.g., ask targeted questions and give people discussion topics). However, this only works if your organizers have the time. My opinion is that our time would be better spent helping individual teams get organized and moving forward. This program is filling a need Despite the challenges, most of the feedback about this program has been extremely positive. Women are excited to have the opportunity to learn—and give back to others in their community. This is the only national mentoring program that focuses specifically on LGBT women, and although we still have a lot to learn, we’re already seeing some successful outcomes. Going forward I’m very excited about the potential for this program! The committee plans on launching another cohort in October/November 2016, incorporating all of the lessons that we’ve learned to date.
LENORE MACADAM is the Human Resource Policy Advisor at Deloitte Canada, and the National Chair of the LGBT Employee Resource Group. She is also a board member at Pride at Work Canada, a not-for-profit organization that empowers employers to foster workplace cultures that recognize LGBT employees. For more information, visit prideatwork.ca.
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Lesson learned: Clearly we need to be more prescriptive with structure upfront, with the caveat being that groups can always customize or deviate from the structure if they like.