CEO Commitment:
(View T/MC Power Point
version: Role
of Leaders)
* Make a top-level commitment to support
youth development as part of a diversity and workforce development
strategy..
If the leader does not
really believe in this strategy, there will be few followers
willing to make the extra effort needed for truly innovative work.
* Appoint senior manager as the
CEOšs personal representative (from
marketing or strategic planning). Involve people who have
responsibility for growing the company's business. These are
people who see opportunities where others see limits.
* Establish a forum (research
and planning team) to
review and prioritize involvement opportunities (What are the
needs? What are we doing now? What are we doing within a one-mile
radius of our facilities? What is the competition doing?
Link to Internet libraries where this information is available for
all employees, not just your planning team).
*
Use company web site, newsletter, bulletin board, advertising,
in-store marketing, etc to show why it is important for the
organization and its members to get involved in
mentoring-to-career programs. Profile employees, customers,
or friends/family members who are already involved with
tutor/mentor programs. Build web links to tutor/mentor programs
that already exist, or that already get funding from the
company. Link to the Tutor/Mentor Connection's PROGRAM
LOCATOR,
so you can help employees and customers find a
Tutor/Mentor Program in the Chicago Region This leadership role seems the most difficult
for organizations to take, yet it is the least expensive and has
the highest impact.
* Provide
recognition for those who become involved,
such as breakfast with the CEO. Profiling volunteers and the
programs where they volunteer not only recognizes volunteer
involvement, but shares examples of effective practice and
encourages others to volunteer, or provide financial support, to
the same organization.
*
Provide a forum for volunteers to network and share their
experiences within the
company and with others in the city. This encourages others to
become involved. It also builds volunteers for your strategic
planning team. Build a web page where employees can post
information about the places where they volunteer and ask for help
or share information. Companies with multiple locations in a
city or across the nation can help workers develop informal
relationships with each other. These can lead to greater worker
productivity and can impact diversity goals within an
organization.
* Encourage year-to-year growth
and improvement. No successful enterprise was built in a day, week
or even a few years. Why
should a successful mentoring-to-career program be any different?
A CEO understands this.
He/she encourages constant improvement in the enterprise.
The CEO who asks for a review of the company's progress and
results on the above steps shows that his/her commitment is a
priority. Each year as the CEO
and members of the organization look back at results they will be
amazed by the growth over a period of years in what they have
accomplished.
Use the OHATS
system to document the progress of your organization in
building knowledge, increasing public awareness, increasing
employee involvement and the flow of resources to tutor/mentor
programs. |
