Case Study – Howden Group Holdings Reciprocal Mentoring Pilot

About This Project

Supporting Howden Group Holdings implement a reciprocal mentoring pilot to build a greater awareness and understanding of inclusion through open dialogue, education and experience to enable them to continue to grow a sustainable business.

IN THEIR WORDS….

“We wanted to pilot a reciprocal mentoring programme to help create mutual awareness and understanding between mentoring leaders and mentoring partners to help build an inclusive culture.

Talentology partnered with us to design and deliver a high impact programme, which helped equip all participants with not just the skills, but the mindset to establish a strong relationship with equal challenge and learning for both the leaders and the partners.

Talentology really listened, interpreted and tailored the programme to the context of the organisation, and was instrumental in delivering a first-of-its-kind programme for us at Howden which truly moves the dial on inclusion where it matters. We have had so many participants tell us about the shift in how they think and are now moving to launch this wider in the business – with much interest already. Thank you, Katherine!” (Eva Lau – Group Head of People & Organisational Development)

WHY – THE CHALLENGE

After a series of mergers and acquisitions, Howden Group Holdings knew that Diversity and Inclusion were critical to their sustainable growth. Having previously focused on Diversity with the support of their established D&I Committee, they were keen to turn their focus to Inclusion, to understand how they can be more actively inclusive to attract and retain talent within the insurance sector. They wanted an initiative that would help build awareness of their impact, how they might adjust to become more engaging, broaden perspectives of senior leaders, challenge assumptions and breakdown barriers.

WHAT WE DID

Working in partnership and collaboration with the People & Organisation Development Team, we designed a Reciprocal Mentoring Pilot where sixteen participants: eight senior leaders (called Mentoring Leaders) and eight junior colleagues (called Mentoring Partners) were paired together to have mentoring conversations over a 6-month period. Two of the senior leaders (Richard Clapham – CEO, Dual at Howden Group Holdings and Andy Bragoli – Chief Executive Officer at Howden Insurance Brokers Limited) were the sponsors of the pilot to demonstrate the business buy-in to the initiative. We designed and facilitated various touch points throughout the pilot including a launch event, support sessions, a wrap-up session and evaluation to measure progress throughout.

THE OBJECTIVES OF THE RECIPROCAL MENTORING PILOT WERE:

• To get a better understanding of what “inclusion” is and what it means at Howden
• Give more junior colleagues access to senior leaders and to have an opportunity to speak up and be heard by senior leaders
• To get and hear different perspectives from two different generational groups across the organization
• Generate new/fresh ideas to make the organization a more “inclusive” place
• For more people within the organization to know more, be more and do more

The sessions were led by Katherine Ray – the Director and Founder of Talentology.

IMPACT – THE RESULTS

The pilot achieved all the objectives and more, as not only were eight strong relationships formed between senior leaders and junior colleagues, but each pair also produced innovative and pragmatic ideas to enable Howden to become more “inclusive.” The Top 3 ideas that were chosen were:

• Power of the People – creating an engaging D&I statement to rival competitors
• Elevating the Curve – creating a formal process for recruiting individuals from lower socio-economic backgrounds into the organization
• Howden Ambassador – identifying ambassadors who internally and externally can market its initiatives and provide a window shop view to prospective employees and clients

These ideas will now be taken to the D&I Committee and aligned to any other activities already underway within the business to be implemented.

Howden are now planning on how to roll this initiative out more widely across the organization, so that more individuals across the business can have these important and invaluable conversations to move Howden Group Holding to a more inclusive workplace.

Both the Mentoring Partners and Leaders gave a NPS of 100%

OVERALL, WHAT DID THE PARTICIPANTS HAVE TO SAY?

“The pilot has been a great success”

“The value is in the conversations and I’ve seen and heard different perspectives personally and organizationally. This is not just box ticking this is about equipping future leaders”

“We shouldn’t underestimate how important this is to the younger generation”

“It was an opportunity to discuss wider topics around the workplace and engage with colleagues across the group. I am always interested to learn and broaden my experience and this was a great opportunity to do that”

“Before the pilot I thought I had a comprehensive understanding of D&I, however I have learnt a huge amount and definitely broaden my understanding of all the facets”

“I may have made many assumptions in the past and I have now learnt to be more open and inquisitive rather than assuming”

The short surveys sent out at the start, mid-point and end showed the following critical points:

Mentoring Partners:

• At the start of the pilot, they already felt confident in speaking up about the changes they would like to see at Howden Group
• At the mid-point of the pilot, there was an increase in their feeling that their views are listened to and valued by Howden Group’s leadership
• At the end of the pilot, they still felt confident in speaking up about the changes they would like to see at Howden Group and a consistent belief that their views are listened to and valued by Howden Group’s leadership

Here’s what the Mentoring Partners had to say about specific aspects of the pilot:

What has been the most positive aspect of being part of the Reciprocal Mentoring pilot for you personally?

“Ability to raise ideas and concerns and for senior leaders to listen these”

“To understood more about HGH as a business and exposure for ideas at senior level – senior buy in and sponsorship – access”

“To see how broader cultural & societal issues are looking to be tackled within our workplace and how this is being taken seriously by senior leadership”

What personal changes / actions have you taken as a result?

“Feel able to challenge views or perspectives of others and explaining inclusivity”

“Gained in confidence”

“I’ve directly interacted with my team to try and gain a broader understanding of the practical impacts of the current culture in Howden Group around D&I and to understand what actions I can take to improve it for them”

What have been the key benefits for the organisation?

“Events organised as a result of the programme e.g. EurOut and the Ben Pritchard event”

“Awareness for Respect from those who aren’t in the usual catchment and senior leadership awareness”

“Opportunity to present Scope partnership at D&I Committee meeting”

“Networking of mentoring partners – potential cross selling opportunities”

“Having an executive cohort who are clearly bought in to driving change means this should percolate down throughout the company”

How have you found the support and training provided throughout the programme?

“Excellent”

“Momentum kept up by check ins”

“Enjoyed hearing how other mentor relationships were going and to discuss sessions with the other mentoring partners”

“Very good, the structure provided enabled ideas to develop naturally”

Mentoring Leaders:

• At the start of the pilot, most mentoring leaders said they had a good understanding of what younger/more junior employees’ value and what’s important to them about inclusion
• At the mid-point of the pilot, there was an increase in their understanding of what inclusion is and that they are willing to contribute ideas to make Howden Group more inclusive
• At the end of the pilot, most mentoring leaders still have a good understanding of what younger/more junior employees’ value and what’s important to them about inclusion and a consistent good understanding of what inclusion is and willingness to contribute ideas to make Howden Group more inclusive.

Here’s what the Mentoring Leaders had to say about specific aspects of the pilot:

What has been the most positive aspect of being part of the Reciprocal Mentoring pilot for you personally?

“Understanding first-hand what it’s like to be in the shoes of someone different to me within the insurance industry”

“The very brief but interesting engagement into the thoughts and understandings of younger employees”

“Hearing all of the wonderful ideas and quick wins that people had”

What personal changes / actions have you taken as a result?

“I will be taking more time to listen to the views of the younger employees”

“Slightly altered behaviour and language to try and ensure a more inclusive atmosphere”

“Being more aware of language and actions used when talking about diversity and inclusion”

What have been the key benefits for the organisation?

“A wider spectrum of opinions”

“This process has begun a journey where the group listen and act on views of others not just senior managers”

“Very motivated individuals at all levels within the organisation – both at the top to hear and understand peoples’ thoughts and also within the teams who hopefully feel they are being listened to and action will be taken”

How have you found the support and training provided throughout the programme?

“Excellent”

“Support has been very good and guidance in certain areas was invaluable”

“The support and training were at the right level and was well balanced”

If you are interested in piloting a reciprocal mentoring programme in your organisation then get in touch by emailing info@talentology.consulting