Mentoring isn’t an option at IBM (No. 17 in The 2012 Fair360, formerly DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity). It’s a heavily weighted performance metric that is critical to the company’s talent pipeline, especially when it comes to senior management. Specific mentoring goals, in particular those with a cross-cultural and cross-gender component, must be met by managers. This expectation is conveyed to all employees from day one as part of the corporate culture.
Ron Glover, IBM’s vice president, diversity and workforce policy, human resources, started nine years ago with the company. He was told flat-out that he needed to not only get a mentor but also become a mentor to at least three employees. The success of his job depended on it. “[Executives and leadership potentials] are assessed annually against a set of competencies through the Business and Technical Leader Process, and one of the competencies has to do with this ability to manage cross-culturally and globally,” he says.
