Lilly Mentor Programme
Congratulations on Completing your resilience training for Mentors
Mentorship, the Ultimate Leadership Legacy
ReShape the Future, One Mentee at a Time:
Resilience is the capacity to
Prepare for
Overcome
Recover
from Challenge
in whatever format it takes
As a mentor you have the wisdom and experience of your organisation to help light the path
it is the mentees job to walk the path
A guide for being a successful mentor
Mentorship Guide for High-Value Newcomers in the Pharmaceutical Industry
Introduction:
Mentoring, particularly in the dynamic and ever-evolving pharmaceutical sector, is more than just a commitment. It's an opportunity to shape the industry's future and in particular the future of culture in Lilly, by fostering the growth and progression of its newest members. With your experience and insight, you have the potential to guide, inspire, and empower our high-value mentees.
1. Understanding the Role:
As a mentor, your role is multifaceted:
· Guide: Help mentees navigate the intricacies of our organisation and industry.
· Advisor: Share your knowledge, insights, and experiences.
· Listener: Offer a receptive ear, understanding concerns and celebrating successes.
· Advocate: Support your mentee’s professional growth within the organization.
2. Building Trust:
Trust is the cornerstone of effective mentorship.
· Confidentiality: Ensure that conversations with your mentee remain private.
· Consistency: Regular check-ins and meetings help solidify the mentor-mentee relationship.
· Open-mindedness: Understand that the industry and its methodologies are evolving. Be receptive to new ideas and perspectives.
3. Setting Clear Expectations:
A successful mentorship journey hinges on clarity.
· Mentorship Goals: Discuss and outline both short-term and long-term goals.
· Feedback Process: Decide on a feedback mechanism that's constructive and regular.
· Meeting Frequency: Determine how often and in what format (in-person, video call, etc.) you’ll meet.
4. The Art of Listening:
While your knowledge is invaluable, so is your ability to listen.
· Active Listening: Truly hear your mentee; this fosters understanding and respect.
· Ask Open-ended Questions: Encourage deeper reflection and more comprehensive answers.
· Validate Their Experience: Recognize their feelings and perspectives, even if they differ from your own.
Push the button for the guide
5. Guiding Through Challenges:
The pharmaceutical sector can be complex and challenging.
· Scenario Discussions: Regularly discuss potential challenges they might face and guide them with possible solutions.
· Encourage Problem-solving: Rather than providing direct answers, guide them to derive solutions, fostering independence.
· Sharing Personal Experiences: Your own challenges and successes can serve as invaluable lessons. Sharing also helps build trust
6. Career Development:
With the rapid pace of the pharmaceutical industry, it's crucial to keep an eye on the future.
· Continuous Learning: Encourage your mentee to pursue further education, workshops, and seminars.
· Networking: Introduce them to influential individuals and groups within the organization and industry.
· Skill Development: Identify and work on areas of improvement, ensuring they’re equipped for future roles.
7. Celebrating Successes:
Recognition goes a long way. Often recognition and appreciation are sometimes in short supply in the busy workplace
· Acknowledge Achievements: Even small milestones can have a significant impact on confidence and morale.
· Provide Constructive Feedback: Balance criticism with praise to foster growth.
· Encourage Reflection: Regularly reflect on the progress made, adjusting goals and strategies as needed.
Conclusion:
Mentorship is a journey, one that's rewarding for both mentor and mentee. By fostering a relationship based on trust, clarity, and growth, you'll not only guide our new cohort to success but also reinforce the bright future of our organization and the broader pharmaceutical industry.
Note: This Guide provides an overview of the mentorship process. Mentors are encouraged to adapt these guidelines to best fit their personal style and the unique needs of their mentees.
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People (Mentees) with a lot of natural talent(strong arms) often become self reliant and don’t reach out for help
Smart people get help from the right people at the right time
Lesson 1: remember your mentees may not be used to asking for help
Make your willingness to provde support to them clear at first meeting
4 Lessons from the performance curve
1) Constant pressure tends to cause a decrease in performance because of the accumulation of cortisol
2) The secret to increasing performance on the right hand side of the curve is to reduce pressure**
3) The greatest source of pressure is the pressure we put on ourselves
4) Increasing our capacity means we need to learn techniques for decreasing pressure
The three characteristics of Stressors
(anything that increases pressure)
are
Unpredictability
Uncontrollability
Ambiguity
Mentors can have a deeply positive impact on mentees simply by using their experience by using their life and organisational experience to increase predictability, increase a sense of control and reduce ambiguity. Remember sometimes it is a simple insight that might have a large impact.
Lindsay Vonn talks about why high performers fail at the Olympics
Lindsay Vonn shows how taking care of herself and rituals can help exceptional performance
Self care is the fastest way to start building resilience
“Putting the priority back on myself” to win gold- Lindsay Vonn
Dr Mike Evans shows just how easy it is to do High value recovery
Performance curve self reflection
The performance curve below can be a great tool for mentors to “start a conversation” about the level of pressure your mentee feels they are experiencing . This tool has been used by line managers to gauge the self awareness of their team for 121 conversations. You could ask your mentee to tick where they feel they are on the curve and where they want to be
Resilience and the Mentor training Programme
A Guide for developing Resilience
Introduction:
Congratulations on completing your Resilience for Mentors programme in Lilly! This industry is both challenging and rewarding. Resilience isn't just about enduring challenges but thriving amidst them. This guide will guide you in fortifying resilience and managing stress in self and others as you progress. Mentors need to maintain high levels of Resilience because mentees rely on your higher order brain functions like strategic thinking broader perspectives and the ability to be empathic and provide effective support.
1. Understanding Resilience:
Resilience is the ability to bounce back from adversities and adapt in a positive manner to challenges. It involves building capacity to overcome and recover from the challenges of working and living in a high demand world.
2. Key Components of Resilience:
a. Self-awareness: Recognize feelings and triggers. Self observation is the key skill that improves self awareness
b. Self-regulation: Manage reactions to stressors. Relaxation and meditation techniques (See section below) are the
key skills for down regulation 0f the activation we experience as stress and pressure
c. Optimism: Keep a hopeful outlook. Problems are just looking for solutions. Our thoughts and beliefs are
crucial to solution focus.
d. Problem-solving: Develop strategies to tackle challenges effectively. Effective problem solving is a function of the prefrontal cortex
meaning anything that reduces cortisol improves capacity for more effective problem solving. Exercise burns
up cortisol and relaxation reduces its production
e. Social Support: Feeling connected into the world we live in
3. Stress Management Techniques:
a. Relaxation and Meditation: Focusing on the present moment can ease feelings of anxiety. Evidence based relaxation techniques
reduce the human stress response. These techniques also improve the quality of sleep
b. Physical Activity: Engaging in regular exercise can diminish stress hormones and elevate mood and improve sleep.
c. Sleep Hygiene: Prioritizing good quality sleep is vital for cognitive functions and mood balance.
4. Building Resilient Mindsets:
a. Reframe Challenges: See challenges as growth opportunities.
b. Stay Connected: Nurture supportive relationships with peers and other mentors.
c. Set Realistic Expectations: Understand that errors are part of the learning curve.
5. Practical Resilience-building Activities:
a. Journaling: Writing about experiences can provide clarity and a space for reflection. Journaling stimulates the prefrontal cortex.
b. Gratitude Practice: Regularly focusing on the positive aspects of life can change perspective.
c. Simple Breathing: Focused abdominal breathing exercises can help regulate immediate stress reactions. Long slow exhalation
is the key to regulating the stress response
6. Seeking Support:
Always remember that seeking guidance is a sign of strength. Smart people know where to get good help fast. support your mentees, talk to peers and other mentors. Vulnerability once seen as a weakness is now seen as a leadership trait.
Peer Support: Engage with fellow peers and mentors. Shared experiences often provide deeper insights.
Professional Support: If feelings become too overwhelming, consider recommending professional counseling or therapy.
Conclusion:
Resilience is a quality that can be nurtured and developed. Embrace each challenge, prioritize well-being, and understand that every experience, be it positive or negative, contributes to professional growth in this dynamic industry.
Note: This handbook is meant to provide a foundational overview. As you continue your journey, it's crucial to explore and find the information and insights that work best for you on your mentor journey.
4 Relaxation/Meditation techniques
These techniques have been proven to reduce cortisol production, improves quality of sleep, improve energy production (mitochondria) and have peen proven to reduce gene expression for oxidative stress (aging) and inflammation. Relaxation and meditation is at the core of fast high value recovery.
We recommend you try all 4 tracks and practice the one you prefer or gives you the most benefit 3/4 times per week
The first track is Progressive Muscular Relaxation (PMR) and is useful for improving sleep and reducing fatigue and muscular tension. Try and lie down to get the full experience
These techniques are invaluable for Mentors and Mentees alike
The second track and the most popular is Autogenic Meditation developed in Germany by two doctors who showed this technique is especially good for digestive disorders, migraine, improves sleep and reduces cortisol
The third track is a sound meditation that was developed with a sound designer to bring you on a sensory/auditory journey that many find very relaxing. For best results use a speaker and listen to the sound with your whole body and not just your ears.
The final technique is visualisation which found popularity after many high performing sports people began utilising the benefits for performance and recovery in the 1970’s. Visualisation is very powerful in helping people recover from certain diseases
Thinking Skills
As discussed from the training how we think can be a source of great pressure pushing us to the right hand side of the performance curve
Below we have a thought’s questionaire to give some insight in any negative thinking patterns you may have and also give you insight into potential discussions with mentees.
Just push the button
Dr Mike Evans gives some great insights into how we think and the impact of thinking styles
Thinking and behaviour
Are very closely linked
Tim Urbane gives a humorous insight into one of the biggest factors that inhibits behaviour change
SLEEP
Sleep is an essential component of a high performing brain
Sleep onset insomnia and early waking insomnia usually happen when we are overly active when going to bed
Practicing a relaxation technique (PMR or Autogenics ) when you go to bed will help
as well as practicing some simple sleep hygiene
Resilient Leadership section
Future Leaders need Resilience to thrive in a high performing environment
Self reflection and self awareness are essential components of a progressive leader
Understanding you own vulnerability is the starting point for self awareness
and reaching out for the support and mentorship which will progresses your career
Brene Brown gives insight as to why vulnerability is a leadership trait
Motivation to Change
Daniel Pink tells us some surprising truths about what motivates us
Inspiration and Connection
Jill Bolte Taylor gives one of the most inspirational speeches in the History of TED Talks using Genuineness and Authenticity and showing how deep connection is a fundamental process for humans
I have included this talk because it is a great example of making the impossible possible. Evelyn Glennie is a deaf percussionist who got accepted into the london school of music demonstrating how challenge + motivation = possibility. She was told she would never be a precussionist. SHe adapted and became the first Deaf person to be accepted into the prestigious school of music
I hope you find these supports both meaningful and inspirational. I hope it provides the insight to approach the mentoring in a way that inspires both you and your mentors and please if you have any questions and/or queries please send them to me ray@resilienceinternational.com
and please remember “Work is too important for us all not to enjoy it”
I have included my linkedin profile below if you wish to connect
Mobile: 0868387136
email: ray@resilienceinternational.com
Ray