Gütersloh, 10/18/2019

‘Regional Mentoring Germany’: First Round Concludes

Young potentials benefit from the knowledge and expertise of experienced managers, enabling them to gain competence and perspectives for their professional career throughout the Group: This is the goal of the “Regional Mentoring Program”. Recently, the first round in Germany concluded.

Bringing together young potentials and experienced managers for the benefit of both sides is the goal of Bertelsmann’s “Regional Mentoring Program”, which – after a pilot project three years ago in France – is now also being implemented in other countries, including Germany. The first “Regional Mentoring Germany” was launched in September 2018 and consisted of 24 teams with participants from various corporate divisions. This twelve-month experience and knowledge exchange recently concluded with a closing event at the Creative Hub in the Corporate Center in Gütersloh.

The mentors from senior management were paired with mentees, who were nominated by local HR departments and needed at least two years of professional experience and the same amount of time within the Group. As part of the program, the mentors supported the young potentials with various issues through regular one-on-one conversations or phone calls. The personal development, knowledge transfer, and reflection on their own actions stood in the foreground. The mentors also benefitted from this exchange – for example, by getting valuable impulses and perspectives from the younger generation or feedback about their own work. In addition to the individual meetings of the teams, two “Mentee Days” took place in March and July of this year. The closing event on August 29 offered the participants an occasion to network with each other and provide feedback about the program. In addition, as part of the event a collegiate consulting took place while the teams were able to use this time for a personal exchange.