At the beginning of your career, where everything feels new and unfamiliar, having somebody to guide you through challenges can prove invaluable. Mentorship, therefore, is a great way to get impartial advice and grow personally and professionally.
At NNE, cross-team collaboration among leaders is an important factor in facilitating holistic professional growth for employees. One way to do this is through mentorship, a model that helped Niels Karim Høst-Madsen reach his current position as Director of Digital Modeling.
How did mentorship help Niels get where he is today?
Mentorship at NNE tends to come from a colleague who is outside your immediate team but has experiences that resonate with your future goals. In addition, mentors typically have a career path that mentees find inspirational.
In Niels's case, it all started with his participation in Sprout House, one of NNE's many internal growth programs. Afterward, Niels proactively engaged in a mentoring relationship. “I initially sought counsel from Marianne Palme, who also joined Sprout House some years before, with the endorsement of my former manager. I then received mentorship from my past director, Finn Poulsen, followed by Kenneth Borck, a former VP within NNE”, says Niels.
These mentors collectively played a significant role in shaping Niels' professional path, providing valuable guidance in navigating challenges and his leadership knowledge.
Mentorship and its multifaceted benefits
Niels Karim Høst-Madsen's mentorship experience was both a benefit for him and for the mentees involved. Indeed, it inspired him to become a mentor himself - both internally for NNE and externally for DTU students, where Niels has learned more about course structures, keeping him up to date on university life.
“As for mentoring internally, I find it very healthy to get a different angle on things, gain insight into other people’s ambitions and ideas, and get a broader perspective on our business,” says Niels, adding “to me, it's not just a question of professional sparring, or understanding another discipline. It is as much a question of personal sparring and understanding the person sitting in front of me”.
“The honesty between me and my mentees results in mutual growth, and it teaches me how to be a better colleague and manager towards the people I work closely with”
Employees are more open to their mentor, as they’re in a confidential space where there is plenty of time to talk about what challenges they might be facing. So it is also helpful For Niels to get insight into challenges that might be faced by his own team in the future.
“The honesty between me and my mentees results in mutual growth, and it teaches me how to be a better colleague and manager towards the people I work closely with”, concludes Niels.