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growBOLD with Mentoring: Perspectives from the BOLD Mentoring Program

By Ana Lucia Jardim Evans*

When naturalist John Muir took President Theodore Roosevelt camping, Roosevelt later referred to the experience as "the grandest night of my life". That single night under the guidance of Muir is believed to have inspired Roosevelt to protect the country’s natural resources in a way that still echoes his passion today.

Such is the potential power of mentoring: shifting perspectives, opening possibilities, and realizing potential. Putting its philosophy of growth and development into action, BOLD offers a mentoring program to its members at no cost. The program matches highly motivated and accomplished senior executives with up-and-coming professionals looking to advance their careers.  What are people saying about this program? We met with 3 program participants to find out more.

The value of mentoring to BOLD members

David Cragg, SVP of HR at Cytokinetics and a BOLD mentor, recalls his first experience as a mentee himself: “The father of a high school friend was an OD consultant for Mobil Oil. One day during a conversation, I got intrigued with the work that he was doing, so much that I ended up doing a few projects for him. I give him credit for helping me find my passion for HR early on, and we still keep in touch today ”.

Indeed, keeping in touch throughout the mentee’s life as well as supporting skill development are 2 of the characteristics that Nature magazine highlighted in the winning mentors of its 2007 Award for Creative Mentoring in Science. Others were:

• Appreciating the unique traits of the mentee
• Consistent availability
• Balancing advice with space to develop own insights
• Asking good questions and listening
• Celebrating accomplishments and milestones
• Building a community, connecting mentees with each other
• Sharing their professional networks

Mentorship: Red Flags and Best Known Methods for Mentoring

This article is authored by BOLD Member, Ron Sacchi, in preparation for the BOLD Workshop titled "Mentorship:  GoldMine or Minefield" on Sept. 1st, 2011.

1) Business Case for Program unclear:
Organization is unclear on business benefits the program would bring or more importantly how they would measure its success—as though it were a business.  Examples of business measurements:

• Decreased time to productivity for new employees (requires knowing a baseline for the current “time to productivity”)
• Positively correlating decreased attrition to the program (requires specific data which positively ties the two factors –attrition and mentoring—together)
• Application of mentor knowledge to mentee’s job (requires observation or behavioral analysis)
• Recession and environmental factors which may have contributed to Mentoring becoming a “solution” for development. Two consistently heard:
  Decreased spending on developmental programs and/or HR Programs in general; mentoring on the surface appears to be a “cheap” way to develop people.
  The “Employee Engagement Bandwagon” – because hiring in general has diminished, keeping high performers happy (beyond “pay for performance”)  in their current job has been a concern.

How companies succeed in a permanent state of change

By Ana Lucia Jardim Evans

In a recent newsletter, an OD professional association led the announcement of its new membership renewal process with the following quote: “Change is good. You go first.”

As BOLD goes through its own process of strategic change –working on its vision and mission for the future- we also open the dialogue with our members on strategic change management in the industry at the upcoming June 16 workshop entitled “What… More Change? How HR Can Take a Leading Role in Organizational Change”

FDA biopharmaceutical drug approvals increase despite slower development time

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has passed nearly twice as many biopharmaceutical drug approvals in the last 10 years than it did in the 1990s, a news release from the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (CSDD) has indicated.  From 2000 to 2009, 65 biopharmaceutical drugs got the OK from the FDA. In comparison, the 1990s saw 39 approvals, while the 1980s had 13 approvals, according to the CSDD study. Click here to read the full article.

The Games Companies Play

Corporate learning is evolving:   Here’s a Business Week article from 4/4/11, featuring examples of how companies are using games to simulate a work environment, help employees excel in marketing or customer service, and even educate and engage their board of directors.  One study reported that “Those using video games had a 14 percent higher skill-based knowledge level, an 11 percent higher factual-knowledge level, and a 9 percent higher retention rate than trainees in comparison groups”.

Issues, Trends and Possibilities for the Life Science Industry: Presentation Summary

For those of you that attended the February 17th "State of the Life Sciences Industry" presentation delivered by guest speaker James Sabry, MD, PhD, you have a taste of what some of the issues, trends and possibilities are for the industry. 

Members can access James Sabry's slides by clicking this link and entering the current username and password for the members-only part of the BOLD website.  Questions about the presentation or BOLD membership can be directed to:  info@growBOLD.com

Free Passes to BOLD Members for BayBio Conference April 20th, 2011

BOLD has been gifted with 10 free passes to the upcoming BayBio conference.  These passes are available to the first current BOLD members that register online.

BayBio 2011 Annual Conference: Powering Global Innovation

With Northern California regarded as a global innovation engine, theBayBio2011 Annual Conference will explore themes and topics that focus on fostering global collaborations in research, development and commercialization. BayBio2011 Annual Conference will feature a BioSpace Career Fair, Partnering Forum, Company Presentations and a dedicated Human Resources Track. The first 10 BOLD members to respond receive a free one day pass.

CBI Life Sciences Training, Learning & Development Congress, March 2011

 

Bio/Pharmaceutical and Medical Device
Training, Learning and Development Congress

Date:  March 21, 22
Location:   Hyatt Regency at Penn’s Landing, Philadelphia, PA

• Are you helping your leaders fill the knowledge distribution gap across your organization?
• Do you create training strategies that align development goals with business objectives? 
• Are you managing people and solutions that help accomplish learning objectives on an enterprise or global scale?

Health Care Reform Timeline Whitepaper

Some HR professionals in our BOLD member community have the responsibility for keeping current in healthcare reform and relevant timelines.  This paper, offered by Barney and Barney LLC, includes timelines that may help you achieve your department goals.

The Future of Health Care: Change is in the Industry....

By Ana Lucia Jardim Evans

In a not too distant future, we will know what is wrong with our body just by spitting on your Blackberry – this was the vision shared at the World Healthcare Conference in Dubai in 2010 by Steve Burrill, CEO of the San Francisco based Burrill & Co.

Today, doctors mostly react to patients’ symptoms. Tomorrow, they will preemptively treat the right disease. Personalized Healthcare is a vision shared by many.  David Ewing Duncan, journalist and bestselling author, recently released a Personalized Healthcare Manifesto funded by the Kauffman Foundation, which gathered views from science, business, government, patients, law, and the media.

Will your BlackBerry be your personal health diagnostic tool?

At the World Health Care Congress Middle East 2010, G. Steven Burrill, CEO of U.S.-based Burrill & Company suggests that the basic health care model has not changed much in the last 500 to 1,000 years.