HELPING EMPLOYEES HELPS THE COMPANY: THE ROLE OF COACHING AND MENTORING IN ACHIEVING COMPETITIVE GROWTH ADVANTAGE

When Meetu Mehra graduated from the University of Toronto in 2003 with a degree in psychology and linguistics, she knew she loved working with people and wanted a career in which she could make a difference -- but like many new grads starting out, she had no idea of where and how she'd find that career.



And then she thought of Blinds To Go (BTG), where she had interned during school. In her experience with the company, she had learned about its commitment to developing its people and its strong focus on management training programs. More importantly, she knew the company has a policy of only promoting from within and offered young grads such as herself the possibility to rise quickly through the organization. She applied and got the job.


Today, Ms. Mehra is a fast-rising young leader at BTG, serving as the key development manager and market leader for the Toronto market. Her responsibilities range from coaching and mentoring new managers to training management trainees and going to university campuses to recruit other graduates.


"I think what has impacted me most about BTG is the opportunity I have to make my own decisions and make my own mistakes. Rather than learning what is right and wrong, I feel I have learned to think through situations on my own and reflect on problems when they occur, all the while feeling supported and not being punished for my mistakes. I don't think I would have been able to make as many mistakes, and thus grow, as much anywhere else," Ms. Mehra says. "This company is a perfect place if you see learning as lifelong. You have an opportunity to become part of huge family and build many strong relationships. You are coached by people who truly want you to succeed; people who want you to acquire skills to enrich not only your professional career but your personal life as well. Truly, your growth potential is limited only by you."


Rather than the exception, Ms. Mehra's successful career path is typical at BTG. In fact, stories such as hers are at the very core of the company's philosophy and growth strategy. "Our ability to grow our people drives our growth. It's easy to build new stores and new manufacturing facilities. The hard part is continuing to find and develop people who are true to the company's vision and values. For that reason we're really committed to growing internally," says Nkere Udofia, vice-chairman, Blinds To Go, whose company only expands into a new location when it has the internally trained leaders to take the helm. "Why did we choose this path? When we first started trying to grow the company quickly, we hired a lot of functionally sound managers only to find that some of them were very challenged in managing and leading other people. For example, they could be great at the technical aspects of finance but not know how to develop, motivate and retain a team.


"We saw that over and over again in hiring people from the outside, so we made a commitment to develop the management and leadership skills in our people."


BTG's culture of growing the company by growing its people also gives it a competitive advantage. "We have a business that's extremely people-oriented. We're selling a product that comes with a high level of service and requires a high touch," Mr. Udofia says. "In our showrooms, how well-trained and skilled our consultants are, how effective they are at understanding customers' needs, and how motivated and knowledgeable they are has a huge impact on whether or not the customer makes a purchase with us. A lot of that is what drove our thinking and our commitment to trying to hire the best people we can find, and then focusing on training and developing to them into leadership positions. As a result we've grown the company but, even more importantly, we enjoy customer satisfaction of 95%, which is just unheard of in our business. We're very proud of that and we work very hard to maintain it."


Practically every BTG employee in a leadership position knows the company, its vision, its nuts and bolts and its on-the-ground reality inside out. That's because the company's training programs start each employee off in an entry level position, allowing every future leader to learn the business from the ground floor. The company's management training program selects business and liberal arts graduates interested in working with people and developing general management skills early in their careers. All trainees start their career as design consultants in a showroom, where they learn to interact with and service customers. The company's manufacturing leadership development program recruits engineering graduates who have an interest in business operations and general management, and starts them in showrooms to acquire basic people interaction and management skills before giving them significant training as supervisors at its manufacturing facilities.


"If you come into the organization and we tell you we only promote from within and you look around and you see people in leadership positions who've come up through the training program, it's consistent. The guy who runs IT spent a year in the stores," Mr. Udofia says. "Not only did he develop some vital management skills that you don't find in your typical IT manager but he also understands at heart what the business is and what drives it. He is, therefore, very service-oriented in servicing our stores. He doesn't just give them technological fixes, he gives them solutions that fit their needs. He understands the business in a way your typical IT manager just wouldn't."


Because of the tremendous importance of its people to the company's growth and success -- as well as the considerable investment the company makes in each employee's development and career path -- BTG doesn't just set out to hire people, it sets out to hire the right people. "Our recruiting practices are significant and consistent with our business and what we try to do. First and foremost, it's focused on finding people who we think have an interest in this value proposition from a career perspective. Before we actually start the formal interview process with an applicant we have an initial call, a very quick screen focused on what the candidate's interests are, what direction they want to go. If we think there's a reasonable overlap with what we have to offer, before we even move to a first interview we send the candidate to one of our stores for an informal visit. We have them spend an hour or two watching what we do and informally talking to the managers and management trainees. After that we have a conversation with them to see if there really is interest and whether what we're doing makes sense to them before we bring them in for the interview."


From BTG's perspective, applicants aren't simply applying for a job in the organization, they are applying to be mentored, trained and groomed for the leadership positions in the BTG team needed to grow the company across North America. "If you want to maintain consistent values in an organization, it's so important to have only people in leadership positions who share those values. We think that's how you build something that will be around 100 years from now," Mr. Udofia says.


Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco,



National Post


Monday, Feb. 7, 2011