How TD Bank Financial Group uses group mentoring to ensure diversity.
Group mentoring is a key development and career enhancement strategy employed by TD to ensure that there is opportunity for upward mobility for visible minority employees and other key groups, such as senior women. Through up to eight sessions annually that bring VPs and AVPs together with staff in pre-executive positions, leadership development is supported through networking, the sharing of personal stories about career progression, and open discussions regarding the challenges and opportunities of visible minorities.
“Their stories were truly inspiring, yet full of practical advice that we could apply to our own careers,” comments one promising leader on the benefits of learning from the experience of her senior colleagues.
Mentees are identified in part through development plans that are owned by the employees with the support of management. According to Beth Grudzinski, VP Corporate Diversity, these are “living, breathing documents that evolve over the course of the year” and support the organization’s commitment to focusing on “the pipeline” when it comes to building a more diverse leadership.
The bank recognizes that facilitating internal networks is an effective way to eliminate barriers for employees to rise up within the ranks. Ensuring diversity in their external candidate lists is another. When both of these are put into practice, the results speak for themselves. Over a three year period, they saw a 67% increase in visible minorities at the VP level and up.
