ABLED Mentoring Offered
by Karen Quammen
In April, Minneapolis-based
Medtronic announced its first-ever formal mentoring program for college
students with disabilities. The launch of the ABLED mentoring program
(Awareness Benefiting Leadership and Employees about Disabilities)
follows a very successful pilot program last year. ABLED is actively
involved in the workplace inclusion goals at the company, and is
sponsored by the Office of Workplace Inclusion, which sets the group’s
charter and provides support and guidance. Two of the focus areas for ABLED are
recruitment and retention; and the mentoring program presents an opportunity
to work on both goals.
Fifteen college students
are currently participating in the program, which kicked-off in
April with a keynote address by Dr. Roy Grizzard, Assistant Secretary
to the Office of Disability Employment Policy, U.S. Department
of Labor. Dr. Grizzard spoke with both the Medtronic mentors and
student mentees about the positive impact mentoring can have on
a person’s life, explaining that skills learned will
last a lifetime. Dr. Grizzard also emphasized that mentoring is a
two-way learning opportunity, benefiting both the mentor and the
mentee.
Mentoring pairs have
agreed to meet once a month and will also have opportunity to participate
in additional Med-tronic events. The most recent such event was
a trip to the Bakken Museum, which included the chance to meet
Earl Bakken, co-founder of Med-tronic. “As
if being mentored by a Director in Human Resources wasn’t enough,
the trip to the Bakken Museum proved absolutely moving,” said
Craig Harris, a graduate student in the Human Resources Development
program at the U of M. “The Aloha spirit is alive and
well in Minneapolis when Earl Bakken pays a visit! [Bakken lives
in Hawaii.] Earl honored our group with his visit and we hung off
every word as he told stories of moments from his youth leading to
his founding of Medtronic and inventions in pacing.”
Harris also stressed
the value of the ABLED mentor-ing program. “I
expected top-notch advice and information from the program,” said
Harris, “but meeting Earl Bakken and touring the Bakken Museum
far exceeded all of my expectations. You could literally hear a pin
drop between Earl’s words because no one wanted to miss any
of his potentially life-changing ideas.” Bakken shared his
career path as an example of what is possible and challenged the
students to identify their own career path. “This mild-mannered,
humble man shared his experience, encouraged us and advised us on
the tools we need to succeed,” said Harris. ![]()
The Medtronic ABLED
men-toring program runs through April 2007. Medtronic is the world’s
leading medical device technology company, headquartered in Minneapolis,
Minnesota.
