New Mentoring Programs Offer Support for Employees

By John Salow, Training

One of the goals of Olsson’s 2022 Strategic Plan was to assess our mentoring program. A working group of 11 members was tasked with interviewing employees, analyzing other companies' mentoring programs, and researching mentoring best practices.

This research resulted in several themes and recommendations; one recommendation addressed developing new mentoring initiatives by focusing initial efforts on new Olsson employees and employees who are assuming new roles in the company, developing group and peer-to-peer mentoring initiatives.

In response to these recommendations, the Talent Development team has been creating and testing two new mentoring programs.

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These mentoring programs are the Preparing Emerging Professionals (PEP) Talks group mentoring program and a Team Leader Mentoring program for new team leaders.

PEP Talks

PEP Talks is a group mentoring program for new employees entering the workforce for the first time. The program provides a way to learn more about Olsson, discuss topics relevant to starting a career, develop relationships with employees across teams, and provide a place to ask questions. Group meetings are held in an office and are led by two mentors from that office. The program lasts six months and involves lunch meetings that include discussion and a networking event.

This program was initially tested in the Omaha and North Kansas City offices in the last half of 2022 and is now being tested in Lincoln, Overland Park, and Dallas/Fort Worth. The goals are to roll out this program in all offices and develop a remote worker program.

Team Leader Mentoring

The Talent Development team is also testing a new onboarding program for team leaders, and mentoring is a component. In the Nebraska region, seven new team leaders have been paired with experienced team leaders to provide them with additional support as they make the transition into their new role. For this effort, both parties set up regular meetings to check-in, cover questions, and discuss best practices.

Team leaders in the mentoring program had the following to say:

“This program has been a great step for Olsson and our culture!”

“I enjoyed meeting people, both younger staff and experienced professionals.”

“It was great to hear advice from many perspectives.”

“I really appreciated the open environment where I could ask any question without judgement. The program allowed me to ask questions about being an engineer that I didn’t learn in school.”

“Even in this short time frame, (this program) has opened the door and allowed me to connect with other team leaders on different topics, and made some difficult business conversations much easier.”

“One of the most valuable parts for me has been spending time with other team leaders and running ideas by them. I think we can accomplish that each meeting.”

Throughout the rest of 2023, we will continue to evaluate the need for additional programs. If you have any suggestions on how mentoring could address a need in the organization, please email mentoring@olsson.com.

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