University of Amsterdam

What was the objective?

The University of Amsterdam in partnership with The Diversity Company each year launches the Talent Mentoring Programme that connects around 150 staff members in mentor/mentee couples. Civinc was asked to play an integral part in the onboarding of all mentors and mentees, by creating the conditions for inclusive conversations on often sensitive topics and to develop a better understanding of the group sentiment on key topics.

What did we do?

Civinc facilitated interactive discussions during six training sessions hosted by Erik van Zetten from the University of Amsterdam and Hélène Propsma from The Diversity Company. On the Civinc platform, the mentors and mentees responded to thought-provoking statements related to their professional working environment (including Diversity & Inclusion and psychological safety). Subsequently, they were matched in anonymous, one on one chat conversations with (a) peer(s) with a different perspective. In this way, participants had a chance to connect with colleagues outside of their own bubble, in an engaging way to stimulate the conversation on key organizational topics and promote mutual understanding.

What was the outcome?

This led to passionate exchanges, evidenced by the very positive feedback, the average 8/10 rating by mentors and mentees, and the more than 1300 messages sent. Based on the anonymized data, furthermore, these six Civinc sessions produced rich insights into the sentiment of participants. Civinc captured the analysis of the data in a report that shed light on the way in which the different topics were viewed by participants, including a comparison between the sentiment of mentors versus that of the mentees. This exposed some interesting disparities between the two groups that provided further food for thought. The report was circulated and as such served as a conversation starter in its own right: couples were encouraged to reflect on these insights together and carry forward the initial conversation towards a more inclusive working environment.

What did the customer say?

Erik van Zetten, Advisor on HR Policy & Strategy at the University of Amsterdam:
“I would highly recommend the use of the Civinc platform as a fun way to make your digital sessions more interactive. The anonymous approach makes the platform a safe space that is very suitable to discuss sensitive subjects within each organization.“

Hélène Propsma, partner at The Diversity Company:
“Super tool to break ingroup/outgroup thinking and very interesting analysis afterwards, to see the high and low disparity on questions!”

What did users say?

“This is amazing! Maybe too short.“
“Very enriching; could have gone on for much longer“
“The anonymity was uncomfortable and pleasant at the same time“