Adam McCoy

▶0:00IntroWelcome to the Built by People podcast, where we share the stories and insights of the world's top HR leaders. Join us as we dive deep into the minds of HR executives, uncovering their strategies, challenges, and triumphs in shaping today's workforce.

▶0:38HostI'm excited to welcome Adam to the Built by People podcast. Adam, thank you so much for joining us today. And as a starting question, I always love to ask if you could share a little bit more about your career journey.

▶0:48GuestThanks, Dave. I'm certainly excited to be here as well. I got my start actually in HR shortly after I graduated college with United Airlines as an Really developed a love of working with frontline folks in that role. You can't not really when you're working with so many hourly folks, but worked my way up from a generalist all the way up to the director of HR at O'Hare. That aged me considerably, but then came back to Denver, worked for an electronics company here, was an expat in Europe doing some HR work, which was fantastic. Then dabbled in financial services HR and now in public equity HR based in Broomfield.

▶1:27HostSo, Adam, can you share a specific challenge you faced in the realm of HR mentorship that highlighted the need for a structured mentorship program within your organization and community and why that was crucial to address that challenge?

▶1:42GuestAbsolutely. I think that in a time when I was at United, we were restructuring HR and we were bringing in a lot of new folks. Some of these people had a lot of potential. We were really finding some great talent and I think they needed some direction. There were certainly some of them that felt like they were really certain on what their career path was going to be, others a little bit less. That was one time where having a program where we met with folks on a routine basis, we introduced them to different leaders, we did it in a very intentional way. And I think that helped both in some retention, but also helped with helping people to understand how corporate America worked. Some of these folks, these were their first big corporate jobs. And so I think it did a lot to both strengthen the HR muscle, but also show these folks that we were interested in them and their future.

▶2:37HostAdam, could you talk about what steps you took to develop and implement that mentorship program?

▶2:45GuestYeah, so I think the first step that we took and what I would say I would recommend to viewers are certainly to get executive buy-in, right? I think it's easy to think that we as HR folks can make all of this happen ourselves. We've got great ideas, but if we don't have executive buy-in, that can be a failure point. When you think about mentorship programs, they can be as formal or as informal as the organization's culture allows. But if you have executive buy-in first for what you want to accomplish and what the executive's role could be in this program, and then I think the next step is to really understand who might be available, who might be great mentors, and how are we going to match them to a mentee? Again, I think that can be as formal or as informal as the organization is interested in. For us, and I've done this in a couple different organizations, and I'm thinking of another organization where we did this in a very casual environment where we had almost sort of speed dating, where we had the group of mentees meet the mentors. Frankly, it was in an outdoor setting, so it was even more kind of relaxed and very organic. Some of those relationships still exist even to this day, and that's 15 years on.

▶4:03HostAdam, could you share any significant obstacles you encountered during that process of forming the mentorship program along with how you overcame those challenges?

▶4:13GuestI think one of the challenges that I certainly remember was when a mentee and mentor relationship went south. I think that we have to be ready for that. It's going to happen, right? There will be a mismatch. I think having, in this case, we had a few extra mentors in our pocket and we ended up rotating a particular mentor out, said we would match them in a future round, which we did. And that relationship ended up working out just fine. We used a backup mentor to help this mentee who just had a little bit of a personality conflict. The piece that makes this successful is how you view the obstacle and how you let some organic solutions come to the surface. Of course, We could have said, you guys need to stick this out, but I think in this case, we knew that we would have greater success in the long run if we just made a change. And we did it in a way that respected everyone, but I think that's an obstacle that certainly people could encounter. I think the other obstacle that I've encountered as well is when the mentee sees you more as almost a therapist. And I think it's important for anyone trying to organize a mentorship program to understand the difference between mentorship, coaching, therapy. I think it's a fine line, of course, but I think it's something to be aware of for sure, because it could creep in.

▶5:37HostAdam, talk to us about some of the outcomes you've seen materialize from the mentorship programs. Why do you believe those results are significant for both the mentors and the mentees involved?

▶5:49GuestYeah, I can draw on some very personal reflections You know, for at least one of these situations, I'm still in touch with a mentee that I first met probably 10 years ago-ish, maybe 9 years ago, and I've been a part of her career journey, and she's actually changed jobs twice to better opportunities, and seeing someone grow and be successful as a mentor, I don't know that there's much better than that. When you see someone actually being successful right in front of your eyes and knowing you played some part in it, I think that is certainly something that's so rewarding. I think also I've seen mentors become even better leaders when they jump into this as an opportunity to give back and they perhaps weren't sure how this was going to play out and what they were going to get out of it. When they get fairly far into it and they realize not only the relationship they're building with their mentee, but how they're honing their own leadership skills and how they're having an ability to give back. I think that as we progress in our careers as professionals, we have a responsibility to do that. And I think this is one great way that I've seen people and I've seen programs be very successful. And certainly some of the successes that I've seen, I think I'll also throw in just as a For myself, early in my career, I had a mentor who actually was the person that pushed me towards HR. I wasn't originally in HR, I was in operations, and he said, hey, have you considered this? I can make a couple calls and get you introduced. He did that, and within a matter of months, I had my first offer to be an HR professional. I remember that to this day. We're still very close. That's 20-plus years ago. I think that's the power of a mentorship relationship.

▶7:48HostAdam, reflecting on the totality of your experiences, what are the key lessons you've learned from implementing the mentorship programs, and what advice would you offer to others looking to establish a similar initiative?

▶8:02GuestI think the first piece I think that anyone needs to consider is what do you want to accomplish? Right? I think when you build out what the program is designed to do, what do you want, maybe as the organizational leader or talking with the leadership team, what do you want to accomplish in this program? Then I think it is thinking about who's going to help you accomplish that. Is it just a sort of this mentor-mentee relationship? Do you need to build in other support around that program to be even more successful? I think that having a good frame is important before you even begin to start executing on the program, on who might be involved in the program, both as mentors and mentees. I think it's also important to not over-engineer the relationship itself, right? I think every mentor-mentee is going to have— their relationship is going to be somewhat organic. There are textbooks out there on how to build a proper mentor-mentee relationship, but I think that The organic nature of that relationship is what makes it special. If one relationship, they decide to go down this path, but in another, they decide to go down this path, I think that's fantastic. As a, something to avoid, I just wouldn't want to see people get into that over-engineering. I think that's a pitfall that people could fall into.

▶9:25HostAdam, what parting advice would you like to share with our community?

▶9:29GuestI think that we all, as professionals, no matter where you are in your career, we've been in a place where we've needed guidance. You can get that guidance from your manager, you can get it from your partner, other people in your friend network, but I think there's a time when you need some professional guidance, right? And having a mentor-mentee relationship depending on where you are in your career, whether you, if you're young in your career, if you are looking to change careers, I think seeking out a mentor who can do that for you, who can help you understand the implications of your career choices, but also help you navigate. Maybe there's some political issues you need to navigate. And if you're a mentor, you know what it was like to be that person. Right? And you know what it's like to feel like you can help someone maybe avoid a pitfall you fell into. And so I feel like one of the things that is certainly a principle for my career at this point in my job horizon is giving back. And I think that's why this topic is so passionate for me and one that I think a lot of people could could be successful at. They just have to jump in and try it.

▶10:52HostAdam, thanks so much for joining us today on the Built by People podcast.

▶10:55GuestThanks for having me today.