Published in Kingstown College Coaching Magazine 2020/2021
Diversity is about what makes each of us unique and Inclusion is the extent to which we feel valued and included.
AIB is a bank which is well known for the marketing campaign “We back Brave” which encourages clients and customers to realise their ambitions. Anne McComish, Chair of the Mentor Her programme at AIB, takes us behind the scenes of the initiative which drives the same sentiment within the organisation itself. This case study reveals the motivation, the approach and the results of this successful initiative.
“Helping women to realise their true potential to be the best that they can be”
I was immediately hooked reading this line: ‘Mentoring’, ‘helping’, ‘being the best they can be’. After 30 plus years in the Financial Services industry I understood the importance of mentoring and coaching in my own career, so a call out for volunteers to support this AIB programme and my immediate reaction was… Where do I sign up?!
Two years on, I find myself in 2020, chairing the Mentor Her programme along with a committee of five other senior leaders and successful women, all of whom share a passion for mentoring, coaching, learning & development and supporting the advancement of women leaders in AIB.
AIB and Diversity & Inclusion
AIB’s Diversity & Inclusion journey began under the banner “iMatter” with six Employee Resource Groups that make up AIB’s Diversity & Inclusion agenda, ‘Women’s Network’ being one. And it’s out of Women’s Network that our Mentor Her initiative was conceived, starting as a pilot programme in 2018.
Our ambition for Women’s Network is to raise awareness, educate and share insights and learnings from within and outside AIB to all employees, creating a network that is for both men and women to support the advancement of women in leadership in the Bank.
“Meeting up with my fellow mentees reminded me that we’re all continually learning and trying to figure out what the next steps are. This was really eye-opening because sometimes I used to feel like I was the only one feeling that way.”
Why Mentoring?
Our Purpose at AIB is to back our customers to achieve their dreams and ambitions. Our people are our key resource and that’s why our strategic pillar of ‘Talent & Culture’ is at the heart of delivering on this purpose – having the right talent, skills and capabilities within the organisation to fulfil AIB’s purpose and execute the bank’s strategy. Mentoring aligns perfectly with this. And by mentoring our people we in turn back them to achieve their own dreams and ambitions in their careers with the bank.
So, why a programme that is specific for women?
At AIB we’re committed to improving gender balance at senior levels, creating a workforce that has a broad and diverse mix of talent, skills and experience. Gender balance is not only the right thing to do but it is also critical for the success of the bank and an important factor in succession planning.
As well as having 50% of positions on the executive committee occupied by women, AIB was found to have the joint-most gender balanced boardroom in Ireland in the second Balance for Better Business report issued in November 2019, with five women on its ten person non-executive board.
Research has shown that women often face further challenges in their careers such as imposter syndrome, work-life balance, lack of confidence, and lack of female role models.
In 2018 the 30% Club completed a study, ‘Making The Change Count’, of women in Financial Services in Ireland. The study found that in the sector, four levels down from CEO, women represented 54% of the population, but at CEO level, women only represented 13%.
Research has shown that women often face further challenges in their careers such as imposter syndrome, work-life balance, lack of confidence, and lack of female role models.
Mentor Her is designed specifically to guide, challenge and nurture women in AIB to believe in themselves and achieve their highest levels of performance. Built on accountability, collaboration and trust, the programme supports the advancement of women leaders in the bank and is a huge contributor to embedding a diverse culture in our workforce.
What do our mentees want to achieve from the programme?
“I lacked confidence in myself and my abilities. And now I can genuinely say it has been a year of immense learning for me.”
There are so many benefits for both mentees and mentors on the programme but some of the common themes that emerge from our mentees are:
- Confidence to put myself forward
- A sounding board outside of my friends at work
- To gain more respect in a male dominated environment
- To have my thinking and assumptions challenged
- Renewed career direction and clarity
- Building a network
How does Mentor Her work?
“From the get-go, when filling out the application form I was forced to start thinking about myself, my career and where I wanted to go.”
Mentees
From our business services and support teams across AIB Group, applications are invited from women across all levels of seniority within the organisation from all AIB locations. Applications are individually reviewed in detail and scored based on evidence of self- development and self-awareness.
Mentors
We’re very lucky to have a great wealth of engaged mentors, both male and female senior leaders across the organisation, who so willingly volunteer their time and expertise and share their personal experiences with their mentees.
Another success of Mentor Her is attributed to the personalised approach and time and effort put into matching mentors to mentees – no use of algorithmic matching or AI! Successful applicants are carefully matched to mentors based on the mentee’s requirements, business experience and goals for the programme.
Applications to the programme open in Dec – Jan with the programme running from March to December each year. When surveyed, 91% of our mentees stated that the matching process worked really well. Mentors and Mentees can choose to continue their mentoring relationship after the programme ends and many go on to do so – a testament to the power of the programme.
A Continuously Evolving Programme
Each year the programme is evaluated, enhanced and evolves through feedback and insights from the participants. Some of the further supports that have been introduced include:
- Peer Networking, peer to peer learning and a nurtured the sense of community are at the heart of Mentor Her. At our Mentor Her events we host external speakers, discussing topics to complement our on- line learning resources. (98% of mentees surveyed stated this enhanced the programme.) However, COVID19 took our events programme virtually in 2020, with the development of a ‘Women in Leadership’ programme delivered through six interactive modules.
- Guides for Mentors and Mentees. To provide guidance on how the mentoring relationship should work introducing coaching and mentoring models such as The Wheel of Life, GROW and the use of Powerful Questions.
- Buddy System. Introduced in 2020, a number of graduates from our 2019 programme were allocated 10 – 12 mentees. They meet as a group to support the development of networks with the ‘buddy’ acting as an advisor to ensure mentees get the most out of the programme.
- Mentor Her Academy. An on-line portal of resources and learning for applicants introduced in 2019, the Mentor Her Academy utilises the learning material already available in AIB, but packaged for our Mentor Her It includes a discussion board to allow mentees and mentors engage, share articles and insights.
- Spotlight AIB has identified behavioural and technical capabilities developed in line with the Bank’s career structure, organisational values and purpose. The Academy focuses on one monthly spotlight topic and provides on-line learning aligned to the topic.
- Mentor Her Mentor Her Media is currently in development which will contain videos of interviews with Senior Leaders in the organisation discussing their individual careers and what mentoring has meant to them.
How do we measure Mentor Her’s success?
The benefits our mentees, mentors and in turn AIB get from the programme are far too many to list and these benefits continue to be realised long after the formal nine months of the programme are finished. However, using pre and post programme surveys, in just nine months the improvements in confidence, direction and skill sets are significant.
Mentor Her has been nominated for Diversity & Inclusion awards in 2019 and 2020 at the CIPD Awards and in the 2019 Women in Finance awards.
Since 2018 Mentor Her has had 155 participants and the Mentor Her Academy has been made available to all 297 applicants to the programme. Reflecting on what we have achieved so far, I am reminded of the phrase “When eating an elephant, take one bite at a time.” While our numbers are currently small, we are making a difference, one step at a time.
Mentor Her 2019 Pre and Post Survey Results
[table “4” not found /]By Anne McComish, Chair of the Mentor Her programme at AIB
Anne McComish is Head of Finance Report and Communications with Allied Irish Banks, and is Chair of the Mentor Her Programme
