Business Management: Using Mentoring to Develop Talent

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Business Management
Managing an organization requires planning, implementing several strategies to maintain, effective work process, and competitiveness. Employees remain an organization’s most prized asset, whose output spells success or doom for the organization. Therefore, it requires employers to protect and improve their employee performance through several programs aimed for such purposes. As a Human Resource Manager of an American International Group branch located in Long Island U.S., managing and motivating staff entails a fundamental part of my work, which entails creating programs for developing talents in employees, creating job designs and implementing new strategies to tackle issues emanating from the workforce.
Using Mentoring to Develop Talent
The success of any business relies heavily on the pool of talented employees at its disposal. May research studies show that successful employees feel uncomfortable in their positions and would consider leaving their organizations (Brooks). It is essential for employers to develop and maintain their talented employees if they have to succeed in the future. Mentoring is one of the development tool used at AIG to develop and maintain talents. However, the recruiting process undergoes a thorough scrutiny of the candidates to ensure only top talent manage their way into the system. This makes it easy to contour them into the organizational practices and culture (McCluskey).
Every employee including new recruits is a member of the Sustainable Mentorship program, aimed at developing and enhancing employee skills and competence on a yearly basis. Each employee has a mentor to help him/her develop both technically, mentally and psychologically. The mentorship program at AIG utilizes an experience-oriented approach, where the mentees collaborate with experienced mentors who aid in developing and spicing their talents (Briggs). The company applies a mentor selection strategy by using software that matches the needs and skill deficiency of the employee with the right mentor.
The mentorship program also aims to develop leadership skills in every employee. This is essential in decision making, especially since it is an insurance business that requires helping clients make appropriate financial decisions. Therefore, workers in each department collaborate to form peer mentoring cooperation. This mainly aims for newer employees who require learning and developing the organization’s culture. This is essentially important since employees share failures and experiences, which encourages the less proactive ones to feel motivated (Brooks).
The company identifies and develops talents with leadership potential who are potential replacement for employees nearing retirement, or about to go for transfer or get promotions. This is possible by involving them in sensitive matters concerning the running of the business (McCluskey). These includes inviting the employees into board meetings, even when the issues are above their capability, to learn how to solve issues, influence decisions, solve conflicts, and gain consensus (Brooks). Additionally, there are programs that entail involving such employees in negotiations. This is important in the insurance business where getting some skills is only possible through observations. The development of such talents is important for the company, which has a plan of increasing its branches worldwide from 130 to 200 by 2030. These employees therefore make an important part of the expansion plan to operate the new branches.
Additionally, the company has a successful evaluation program where employees undergo periodic ratings to assess their performance. This provides a performance metrics, which the mentors use to coach their mentees to improve (McCluskey). Outstanding employees get rewards, which sometimes involve promotion or vacation holidays. The company operates an exchange program where employees from different branches go to work in other branches, including oversea stations. Some less experienced employees may assume a higher role in another branch through the exchange program, coming back more experienced and determined. The employees also attend seminars, workshops, and discussion forums to remind them of the organizational goals, plans, best practices, and demands on employees.
Job Design
The design of jobs within the organization follows a structure that ensures maximum output from the workers. The organization has placed tasks that are interrelated and require similar organization into several departments. These departments accomplish with specific g...