Over five years in the making. Over 200 Costco mentees, and, by extension, countless employees, positively impacted. More than 40 mentors invested. And the Transformation is still unfolding–in a Big Way!

How do I know this? I was the founder and the leader of the Mentee Ring program at Costco from its inception to September 2022.

Why create a program at all? I have realized that most every organization wants to continue to develop their team and workforce to address low employee engagement, upskill employees, and teach the company culture. But how do we do this? The secret lies in what I call Leveraged Mentorship. Why? Because one-on-one mentorship simply can’t scale to meet the individual needs of your employees.

What breaks my heart is the picture I have in my mind of a ladder where the first rung is just too high for the typical employee to reach. So, what is that employee’s on-ramp to mentoring if your senior leaders don’t have the time to mentor the masses? To find the answer, keep reading.

You see, about seven years ago, I had an idea. As you well know, there’s great power in an idea (especially when it’s implemented)! My idea? To create a Mentee Ring program at Costco. Over a 9-month period, a circle of mentees and mentors would come together monthly for learning, growth, and networking. The time investment was minimal—just a couple of hours or so each month. The Mentee Ring would be mentee-led (this way, discussions center around what most concerns the mentees). The mentees lead in their own self-development with such transferable skills as communication, career development, and more. Mentors share their own relevant experiences, including teaching the importance of company culture–through story-telling.

The WHY behind this idea was personal. With a heavy heart, I recognized that many of my colleagues had untapped potential and no mentor to help them. Many didn’t see themselves as leaders. I had many hugely transformational mentors who saw my potential (even when I didn’t yet see it). They helped me overcome the limiting beliefs that were holding me back–they helped me find my “voice”.

A quick aside. My breakthrough moment all started when I won a Cancer contest. I know–you may be asking: What is a Cancer Contest? Because if it hadn’t been for my mentor, Craig, challenging me to “get uncomfortable,” I wouldn’t have won second prize. I laugh when I tell people that some people get 15 minutes of fame, but I got only 30 seconds, since my prize was to cut a 30-second ad that invited others to get Early Detection for Breast Cancer. The ad was shown in the Seattle market on The Doctors and Dr. Oz TV shows.

As a breast cancer "Thrivor", I’ve learned a lot about resiliency, and I REALLY want to pay that forward! I wouldn’t have been able to do that without a mentor in my life. What I learned that changed everything for me was that we all have our own voice. When we choose to use that voice to serve others, we serve ourselves as well.

The challenge I faced was how to re-create this mentorship opportunity on a wider scale within an organization as big as Costco. I knew I couldn’t make it overly complex, and it had to be simple and easy to understand. What I came up with is what I call the 4-R’s:

-- Relationships: Participants get out of this (or any other) program what they put into it. Realistically, if they give their “all” they will get much MORE out of a Mentee Ring than they put in. They have the opportunity to build lasting relationships up and down the organization.

-- Recognition: All employees are hoping to be recognized for their hard work and accomplishments, and the Mentee Ring can provide that platform. We have many examples of mentees who invited members from their upline management to their presentation in the ring meeting, and as a consequence their managers saw them as leaders within the organization.

-- Reigniting the Culture: Like the oral tradition of storytelling to ensure the history was handed down to the next generation, the mentors’ primary goal is to share the stories that encapsulate the corporate culture. Since those stories highlight company beliefs and behaviors that are so essential to its success, passing them onward helps to reignite the culture.

-- Ripple Effect: Like a pebble in a pond, mentees’ growth is an ongoing journey that not only brings them realization and transformation, but also positively affects anyone within their circles of influence.

So, ultimately, one’s success isn’t just about “climbing the ladder”. Rather, it’s about BUILDING the ladder together. I call this Mentee Ring program “leveraged mentorship”. Because not only is it efficient in terms of time invested by all, but it also helps the individual mentees see themselves in a larger, more expansive way. Where they can leverage their learning to reach a higher level, namely, reaching for their potential–the potential that the mentors see in the mentees but that the mentees may not see in themselves yet. By helping employees start to see their potential and ignite their interest in continued self-development (all via the Mentee Ring forum), they are fulfilling all three of their goals:

-Upskilling

-Networking

-Developing Leadership skills

Fulfilling these three goals will inevitably propel their future career advancement because of the added value they bring to their organization.

As I mentioned earlier, I want to pay forward the transformation that I and others have experienced with mentors, but there is a catch. I’m sure you have heard of this phrase: ``You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make them drink.” Well, it turns out that an old farmer told my husband that he surely could make them drink. The answer? Put out a salt lick. I love to observe nature and then use those metaphysical principles to illustrate wisdom in other areas. So in this case, the analogy is that we all want to transform but no one can do it for us.

But what we CAN do as leaders, managers, and mentors is to dangle the proverbial salt lick of curiosity out there and invite mentees to participate, especially if they are uncomfortable, and yet yearn to learn and be even more valuable to their team and company. Having them join a Mentee Ring is the equivalent of the salt lick where they can then start on their journey to realize their own growth and transformation.

What was the process I followed to set up the Mentee Ring Program at Costco?

-1) Create a “pitch deck” with the goal of showing superiors the value of being intentional within our Mentee Ring program and that it is a leadership development program.

-2) Share the “Why” behind the program and develop the messaging for how this program was complementary to all of the other mentorship and training options.

-3) Sell the benefits to the mentors who would be investing time into growing the mentees.

-4) Establish the framework and rhythm of the program meetings.

-5) Sign-up the mentees through a formal application process.

-6) Train the mentors and mentees on their roles.

-7) Kick-off the program. On Day 1, gain agreement from the mentees on program norms.

-8) Encourage Coffee Connection one-on-one meetings between members of the rings prior to the first group meeting to build rapport and to start meaningful conversations.

-9) Ask the mentees to do some self-reflection on the transferable skills that they believe will be important for their future career growth.

-10) Assess the mentees on their individual motivators, best environment for doing their best work, strengths, and more.

-11) Create a culture of celebration of the mentee's growth and accomplishments.

-12) Survey all participants to get advice for how to improve the program.

If you, too, want more engaged employees who are learning new skills and embracing your corporate culture, I’d love to share my story with you. It’ll be a true Win-Win!!

For now, enjoy my complimentary 20 Mentorship Questions That Matter.