IKEA, the home furnishings company from Sweden, has taken up the torch to build and embed an ambitious new mentoring program within its unique culture, significantly distinguish it from most mainstream retail companies in the US and Canada.

Partners for Growth, IKEA's mentoring initiative launched in Fall 2001, grew from a successful pilot program guided by mentoring consultant, Dr. Lois Zachary of Leadership Development Services, based in Phoenix, AZ. Initially targeted as a development program for key IKEA management, Partners for Growth will go through several additional growth stages to implement the mentoring program throughout the IKEA organization.

Partners for Growth is designed to help IKEA co-workers establish important relationships to support them in navigating IKEA and in pursuing their own personal development goals, according to Pernille Lopez, President of IKEA NA. She continues, Mentoring is the key strategy for meeting [IKEA's] needs for leadership and diversity in the future.

The program will have a significant impact on our organization, explains Jeff Wilson, Learning & Development Manager, US. IKEA has many programs to help our co-workers build their job skills, but this is one of the most effective vehicles for personal development we have. Co-worker development will be vital in IKEA's expansion plans in the next 10 years, as we need people capable of taking on greater responsibilities as we expand our organization in North America, adds Wilson.

Zachary's expertise helped align Lopez's vision into a successful mentoring model. Lopez states, IKEA's main goal is to help all co-workers to do their job better by empowering co-workers to navigate through the company. We take our mentoring program one step further. We based the mentoring program on learning and personal development of both the mentee and mentor with the expectation that by helping our people to be partners they will become better employees, concludes Lopez. The natural evolution for the program is for IKEA's mentees to become IKEA's future mentors and Partners for Growth to become self-sustaining and seamless with the culture.

Lois Zachary, mentor to IKEA's mentoring support groups, praises IKEA's commitment, IKEA's program is innovative, not only because it is grounded in the values of IKEA's culture, but also because it focuses on personal learning and development. Zachary continues. It will help to secure its future as they expand, by creating a diverse group of leaders. In a few years, they should see the mentoring process as a natural aspect of the IKEA culture.

Partners for Growth is now entering its second phase and is creating a culture where mentoring is available to all managers at IKEA. Bonita Taylor, Learning and Development Facilitator, finds the program has been well received by the pilot mentors and mentees, and is already looking forward to launching Partners for Growth throughout the organization.

Partners for Growth facilitates individual learning, promotes personal and professional growth and development, and has four strategic goals:

- Develop Leaders from top to bottom
- Support career development across the board
- Develop and support diversity through IKEA organization
- Strengthen IKEA culture

Dr. Lois Zachary, is author of The Mentor's Guide, which provides the foundation of for IKEA's mentoring program and the tools and resources IKEA uses in its training. Lois Zachary's guidance and support in the strategy and execution phases of our program was instrumental to our success, concludes Pernille Lopez.