Introducing the OMERS Ventures Inter-Portfolio Mentorship Network!
In my role with OMERS Ventures, I have the privilege of working with some of Canada’s best tech companies on their People strategies and programs. Across the portfolio, one of the biggest challenges our Founders face is providing their employees with development opportunities. While employee development is a key retention tool in a competitive talent market, it can be difficult for companies to put formal programs in place due to time, budget and resourcing constraints. While our companies strive to provide alternative development plans — stretch opportunities, cross functional projects, internships on other teams etc. — these may still fall short in providing the kind of development employees want and need in order to progress their careers. This impacts both the employee from a career satisfaction standpoint as well as the company when they find that employees are missing key skills as the business scales.
We wanted to help fix that. This week marks the launch of the OMERS Ventures Inter-Portfolio Mentorship Network. A program we created to match high performing and high potential portfolio company employees with senior leaders in other portfolio companies. Over the course of the program our Mentors will meet with their Mentees to share their experiences and insight, provide feedback and help them make progress towards their goals. Our hope is that each of the pairings continues to stay in touch after the official end of the program and will be able to count the other as a trusted member of their network.
It’s been incredibly gratifying to see how enthusiastically our portfolio has responded to this program. Within 48 hours of announcing it, we had filled our first cohort and signed up several people for the second cohort launching later this year. It’s a win on all sides as employees and senior leaders alike are recognized for their performance and impact on their companies and we’re able to help our Founders provide development opportunities they may not otherwise be able to.
We’re working closely with the Mentors and Mentees during this cohort to gather feedback and continue improving the program for future groups. We’ll share some of our findings and the impact the program has had on participants later this year. We are also busy creating additional development focused programs as we continue to focus on helping our portfolio companies grow and retain their talented employees. Keep an eye on this space to hear more about them as they launch!
