RBC has been working with the 10KC team for a number of years, and had the opportunity to pilot our newest mentoring feature, Development Programs before it officially hit the market. After a selection of RBC teams rigorously tested the feature for a few months, their learnings and outcomes are in! 

Development Programs are curriculum-based modules made up of mentoring interactions that span the course of a few weeks. The curriculum includes thought-provoking conversation starters and resources for mentors and mentees to kick-start their relationship. Pairs are assigned using our Smart Match algorithm, which removes any unconscious bias created during a manual matching process, and frees up the valuable time of program administrators. 

RBC piloted Development Programs with 3 different department leaders, and we spoke with each of them; Ali Najafi, Global Director, Diversity & inclusion, Natacha Savard, VP, Head, Training & Development Wealth Management Canada, and Jill Garner, Senior Manager, Diversity Programs, Technology & Operations, to learn about the successes and outcomes of implementing each of their programs.

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Ali’s Development Program focuses on providing valuable mentoring opportunities to improve advancement opportunities for RBC’s Indigenous employees in Canada. The goal of the program is to create stronger feelings of inclusion and support, and provide growth opportunities for this underrepresented group across the organization.

Ali spoke of how they used this as an opportunity to re-launch the manual mentoring program they’ve been running for 4 years on the Ten Thousand Coffees platform. 

“We are in the process of rebuilding the program onto a virtual platform, which will allow us to do all the things we’ve wanted to do and make it even more successful. We’ll be able to launch it across the organization, and help employees have more meaningful conversations by introducing curriculums and modules, which has given us real structure.”

After only a few months, Ali stressed that there’s no going back.

“After working with Ten Thousand Coffees, we realized how inefficient, laborious, and challenging it can be to manually run a mentoring program.”

Despite the informality of the mentoring discussions, Ali has benefited from the formal structure of the program.

“We have a very structured curriculum for colleagues to follow. It has details for conversation starters, and territories to explore, so that the participants can learn from each other. The technology takes a lot of guesswork out of the equation and democratizes access between colleagues, peers, and executives.”

As her business unit had requested more targeted career development opportunities, Natacha focused on upskilling as an outcome for her Development Program. 

Natacha’s goals were to formalize the existing mentorship program using the 10KC platform, build the participants’ network throughout different RBC departments, and give each participant upskilling opportunities. 

“Our goal was for employees to network so they can learn how associates at different branches and within different teams might do their jobs a little differently.” Natacha said. 

After running the program for a month, Natacha noted that the biggest difference between her manual mentorship program and her 10KC Development Program was how much easier it was to manage. 

“We have several mentorship programs but it’s very hard for us to manage them without support staff. Ten Thousand Coffees has allowed us to create a mentorship program without the strain on our team”

‍Here’s a snapshot of the early outcomes of her upskilling Development Program:

• 100% would like to be notified about future programs like this 
• 91% said the match was a valuable addition to their network
• 75% were very likely to recommend this program to a colleague
• 73% said this program helped them make progress towards their development goals

This type of feedback shows Natacha that the program is already making a big difference, and highlights where she can take the program next. Natacha also shared this quote from one of the participants;

 “This program added a new contact to my network and we were able to bond both professionally and personally. It felt MUCH more relaxed than some of the other sessions. I much prefer this style over all others.” 

Jill’s Development Program focuses on diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) mentorship, particularly for the women in the Technology and Operations (T&O) department. The program pairs women identifying mentees with T&O mentors and/or peers and aims to nurture a growth mindset, develop a sense of community, and improve access to career growth opportunities. 

For Jill, working with Ten Thousand Coffees gave her the opportunity to expand her group mentoring offerings to a more personalized format. “We’ve offered a mentoring circle for years but have never offered 1:1 mentor matching because of the manual effort that goes into that.”

With the Smart Match algorithm and minimal effort required by admins, Jill stressed that the experience working with Ten Thousand Coffees was much better. 

“The comparison between the manual efforts we make and using Ten Thousand Coffees is very stark. There's a lot of communication touch points that go into a mentorship program, and managing that manually is a huge amount of effort. We previously just put people together; and who knows what factors were taken into consideration subconsciously. The Smart Match feature eliminates the unconscious bias attributed with the manual matching efforts.” 

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Early outcomes:

• 77% adoption rate
• 97% pairings across different roles and business units

Finally, Jill had this to say about her experience creating the program.

“One of the best parts of the Ten Thousand Coffees program is that the curriculum is provided for you. It comes with discussion guides, resources, questions - everything you could need, so the mentors and mentees aren't going in blind to the conversation.”

With the help of a dedicated Customer Success Manager, all Development Programs are configured to suit the specific needs of each client, to ensure that the program meets our clients’ goals from start to finish. 

To start your own corporate mentoring program, get in touch with our team to see our Development Programs in action, or check out our product page to learn more.