Original Date: 02/19/2007
Revision Date: / /

Raytheon’s Network Centric Systems Manufacturing Center in Largo, Florida, in response to internal assessment and employee surveys, embarked on a process to install a robust employee development process. The employee development system includes a documented mentoring process for which leadership is accountable, leadership learning and feedback from staff, Integrated Product Team leadership training, and personal development rotation.

Raytheon’s Network Centric Systems (NCS) Manufacturing Center in Largo, Florida, embarked on a process to install a robust employee development process that would include a documented mentoring process for which leadership was accountable, leadership learning and feedback from staff, Integrated Product Team (IPT) leadership training, and personal development rotation. In 2005 Raytheon Largo piloted the formal mentoring program that included mentor training, development workshops, a mentoring Web site, guidelines that included a one-year time limit for the mentoring relationship, and allowances for the need to terminate the relationship (if necessary) due to incompatibility. Leaders are expected to participate as mentors and are evaluated on their mentoring skills in performance appraisals.

A new form of mentoring is being added in the form of reverse mentoring – the process of a lower-paygrade employee providing feedback on leadership or other attributes to a more senior employee. The Raytheon Largo leadership team (senior executive leaders on site) are required to participate. Mentors will be volunteers and will not be selected by the senior “protg.” Both mentors and protgs will require a briefing and education on the process. Senior protgs will be asked to select an area for mentoring in which they are least knowledgeable. The benefits from reverse mentoring are anticipated to include open and candid discussions, with feedback to seniors on effectiveness of their leadership and technical approaches; presentation of alternative views, which protgs may not receive in their normal peer circles; and influential behavioral changes that develop more effective Raytheon Largo leaders.

IPT Leaders serve as key members of the Raytheon Largo plant leadership, reporting directly to Value Stream Leaders. As part of the employee development process for these personnel, IPT Leaders are being leaders for direction and leadership; this is an essential element of the development process. IPT Leaders also come from both operations and nonoperations backgrounds, with no single training pipeline to prepare them for being an IPT Leader. To ensure that IPT Leaders do not get stagnant or “burned out,” each IPT assignment is planned for a two- to three- year period, after which IPT Leaders rotate to a new job.

Raytheon Largo has realized benefits from this program that include knowledge transfer, different perspectives based on past experiences from diverse background functions, increased breadth of skills, and improved leadership development for its IPT Leaders.

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.