How StarFish Medical built a culture of learning and development with Locelle
StarFish Medical is Canada’s leading Medical Device Design service provider with a full complement of design, development, and manufacturing services in Victoria and Toronto. StarFish was recognized as Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures for 2021

 

Locelle is a learning and development platform created to advance people at work. Through tailored mentorship, coaching and community, Locelle delivers personal and professional growth to people at work. Our goal is to facilitate retention of top talent, employee engagement and development of a diverse leadership pipeline to create equitable workplaces.

“We’ve been using Locelle for three years and over 50 of our staff have participated. I’ve heard remarkable stories of personal change, career progression and cultural enhancement of our organization.”


Scott Phillip, CEO of StarFish Medical 

The Opportunity
Talent Development
Gender Equity
Culture of Learning
The Partnership
StarFish Medical was looking to provide mentorship opportunities to their people and set them up for success. They had found it difficult to find mentors for women within the organization.

 

The goal through mentorship was to attract, retain and upskill StarFish’s top diverse talent. As a medical device company, innovation, a diversity of opinions and experiences is key to the future and growth of the company.

 

Pamela Potts, VP of People & Culture at StarFish explained that “the mentees that have worked with Locelle have pointed to their mentoring experience as helping their careers and the way they operate at work.”

Hassle-free Service

StarFish Medical was also looking for a hassle-free solution. Many companies lack resources, capacity and the right-fit mentors and coaches. Locelle has a robust end-end solution providing clients with a great service while doing the heavy-lifting.

The administration of any mentoring program takes time.  It takes time for the HR team to find and vet mentors.  It takes time for internal mentors to work with the mentees.  “Locelle handles all of that for us.  We get all the benefits of mentored staff without having to use internal resources,” shared Jess Hickman.

The Impact

Further benefits StarFish has seen as a result of mentorship is that more of their people, especially women, are open to the roles of leadership.

Jess Hickman, Senior Manager of People and Culture notes “participants now feel that leadership is an option for them and feel more comfortable using their voice. Teams have reported an increase in the quality of communication by 86%.”

Jess, whom also participated as both a mentor and a mentee in the program notes the thoughtful strategic process through which matches are made. There is intention behind every match as Locelle holds a 95% success rate on that first match.

 

Mentee, Kate Dobson, Senior Human Factors Engineer who has participated in 4 cohorts, expressed that “I was quick to sign up for the program when I learned about it at StarFish because I wanted to connect with other professionals, learn from them, and use them as a sounding board when tricky situations arose in my career.”
The Result

73% of the participants reported an improvement in workplace culture

43% reported increased productivity

100% found the mentorship valuable in achieving their goals and growth

 

StarFish continues to be engaged with Locelle and providing growth opportunities to all people. The partnership has evolved from supporting and developing women to supporting all humans looking for external mentorship.

StarFish has also been an early adopter of Locelle’s new program, which is leveraging the power of coaching and peer groups for leaders through cohort based learning.

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