Speakers: Stephanie Bowie, CPA, Owner – B. Empowered, LLC
Stephanie Bowie, CPA: Hi there. I am Stephanie Bowie, a CPA here in Indianapolis, Indiana. Most of my career has been within the Department of Defense for both the Defense finance and accounting service as well as the United States Army Reserves. In those roles, I have been a leader, supervisor, program manager, project manager, trainer, accountant. You name it. I have a wide variety of experience within the Department of Defense. Recently though, I launched my company B. Empowered LLC to provide corporate training, solutions, speaking and coaching services surrounding the area of leader development. I'm extremely passionate about development of leaders and equipping them with leadership tools that they can use to be successful and have an impact in their organizations.
Why is it important for organizations to have mentoring programs?
Stephanie Bowie, CPA: A mentoring program and I mean, an intentional, codified program for mentoring that ingrains it into the culture and ingrains it into the strategic vision for your company, can serve you in at least three ways, at least three ways. There, there are probably far more. But number one, in relation to that strategic vision, whether it's succession planning and grooming people to be able to step into leadership when those opportunities arise, or just talent development, or opening up that leadership pipeline, so that you have options available to you when it comes time to promote to the next level, those ambitious, talented, skilled individuals that are showing promise, right? So that's one way that a mentoring program can assist the organization with helping to really identify and then hone the leadership skills of those high promise, high value employees. So that's number one. Second of all, it is a way to increase the morale and motivation for your employees. A lot of times, you know, a new employee, especially if you have a large firm, it can take some time to really understand the culture and how to maneuver to get results. And you know, just to know some of those unwritten rules that sometimes could be a career ender, you know, if you just kind of said the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time, so mentoring can really allow you to pull in your employees and make them feel much more a part of that team, much more a part of the organization and really understanding what's behind the standard operating procedures of this organization. How do we think and how do we move and engage in the world around us? So that's number two, increasing that employee engagement, the motivation and the morale. Third, and finally, I would say that an actual mentoring program allows you to identify those leadership opportunities and then more equitably distribute them amongst people who are expressing interest in promotion and growth in moving forward. So a mentoring program formally, it kind of removes it from the space of, hey, I'm a leader and I witnessed someone outstanding, performing, outstanding, you know, just their performance or they caught my eye for some reason. And then I decided hey, you know, have you thought about mentoring? Let me show you the ropes, let me help you with your career advancement. That's a one-on-one mentoring opportunity, and I would say absolutely take those as well. I've seen that work with great success. However, the larger your firm gets, you really want a systematic approach, approach, a structured approach to identifying that talent and then really honing and working to improve that talent and and help them get to where they want to be. So, a formal mentoring program is very helpful in that way. Also, it gives both your mentees and mentors tools that they can use to ensure a more successful and fully functioning mentoring relationship.
