Continuing its efforts to develop and nurture its employees, Baiduri Bank launched the Emerging Leaders Mentoring Programme at Baiduri Community Space, Baiduri Bank Headquarters on Monday.
The purpose of the Emerging Leaders Mentoring Programme is to develop the bank group’s employees and enhance their growth in terms of technical and leadership competencies, through personal guidance and knowledge sharing between mentors and mentees.
The programme is an important addition to the list of initiatives its group human resources division created as part of its strategic objectives in people development, in addition to a new performance management and competency framework as well as leadership academy.
Under the programme, 24 employees across the bank group will be mentored by different mentors from various departments every year over the next three to five years as part of their professional development plan.
The programme’s mentors comprise leaders from various business divisions and support functions, including senior executives, offering mentees access to a vast resource of leaders with decades of experience in various areas.
The launch of the bank group’s first mentoring programme follows the success of its leadership forum last July. The one-day forum gathered the bank group’s senior management team and people managers to foster good leadership, build a stronger working culture as well as enhance their overall understanding of Baiduri Bank Group’s core values and why these values are crucial in fostering a productive and engaged workforce.
The forum also acted as a platform to facilitate dialogues between the senior managers and other leaders within the group to share experiences in managing their own teams.
Head of Group Human Resources and Administration Veronica Chong said more organisations around the world are continuing to focus on building a stronger work culture, because they are aware that a company’s work culture directly affects productivity, customer service and especially talent retention.
“The programme is an opportunity for our high-performing employees to tap into the wealth of knowledge and experience of various leaders in the bank group, so they can be empowered to become effective future leaders though the unique peer-to-peer learning
experience,” she said.
Meanwhile, Baiduri Bank Chief Executive Officer Ti Eng Hui said traditionally, an employee only reports to their direct supervisor, which can limit them from learning about other forms of leadership styles and different ways of problem solving. The limitation can also sometimes restrict communication and limit creativity.
“By giving the employee a mentor to offer guidance and act as a sounding board, the employee can use this opportunity to build new networks, be more open to new ideas and perhaps even unlock other dormant abilities,” he added.
“The programme also aims to hone your individual leadership skills so that as an organisation, we continue to impart our core values and create a culture of innovation. Not only that, but in the spirit of mutually learning from each other, mentors will also have a great opportunity to sharpen their coaching and leadership skills, as well as get fresh perspectives and ideas from their mentees as part of reverse mentoring.”
