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Mentoring Women in Leadership: Lessons from TD Bank

Mentoring Women in Leadership: The Power of Mentoring Among Women

Mentoring women in leadership can provide much more than occasional career advice.

Strong mentoring relationships create a setting for candid feedback, shared experience and conversations that may be difficult to have elsewhere. They can help women understand how others experience their leadership, navigate unfamiliar situations and make more intentional choices about their careers.

The value becomes even greater when mentoring is supported by structure.

In this episode of What’s Your Story?, four women leaders from TD Bank discuss how their mentoring program began, how it evolved and what both mentors and mentees gain from participating. Molly Abair, Rachel Wilner, Emily Stoddard and Cindy Stover share perspectives on confidence, communication, image, storytelling and the relationships that help women grow as leaders.

Their conversation offers useful lessons for organizations building women’s leadership initiatives and for leaders deciding how they can mentor others more effectively.

Mentoring women in leadership can provide more than career advice. Strong mentoring relationships create opportunities for candid feedback, shared learning, greater confidence and leadership growth. In this episode, four women leaders from TD Bank discuss how their structured mentoring program developed and what mentors and mentees gain from participating.

Today, we have the opportunity to discuss women in leadership and the value of sisterhood and structured mentor programs on the success of modern business women with four female leaders from TD Bank. These ladies will also share how stories impact authenticity, growth, and inspiration within an organization when operating as leaders.

More about Molly Abair:
Molly Abair is the Executive Credit Officer for TD Bank’s New England Metro. In this role, she is responsible for the adjudication of commercial loan requests, ensuring the portfolio grows within the banks’ risk appetite. She’s honed the ability to bring together stakeholders with differing views, understand their perspectives, and facilitate a collaborative approach to success. Molly’s instinctive approach to leadership and talent development aligns TD Bank’s vision and framework. Her intent focus on customer and employee experiences has contributed greatly to consistently strong business results.

More about Rachel Wilner
Rachel Wilner is a respected leader and senior executive for the commercial banking team managing the Delaware and Chester County regions for TD Bank. She has demonstrated the ability to produce strong results in multiple regions of the bank and within other financial institutions during her career. Rachel is a recognized coach and mentor, has successfully developed high caliber teams, has cultivated deep relationships with clients who view her as a trusted advisor, and is also deeply committed to the communities she serves.

More about Emily Stoddard
Emily Stoddard is the Middle Market Team Lead for New York City. Emily is responsible for leading a commercial banking team to grow TD Bank\’s loan portfolio through deposits, products and services offered to middle-market businesses throughout the five boroughs of New York City. She is recognized as a strong client professional and a strategic leader who consistently motivates her team to deliver results while being passionate and disciplined.

More about Cindy Stover
Cindy S. Stover is the North Florida Market President for TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient Bank®. As Market President, she has leadership responsibilities over the Jacksonville, Gainesville, Daytona Beach and Ocala areas of Florida. Cindy is responsible for the successful operational management of Commercial banking while providing leadership and guidance for TD Bank’s North Florida overall strategic and market performance.

Show Highlights

On women in leadership… 1 in 5 leaders are women in the finance industry. How has TD Bank improved this statistic for themselves? How does diversity play a role? What about confidence?
What are the top skills needed to help leaders develop? Are any of the necessary skills particular to women? How do relationship building, listening, and communication skills play a role in reaching collaborative solutions?
Where did these ladies find feedback early in their careers? What difference did it make? How important is having a mentor?
How did the team begin to think about mentoring, and how did the program come together and evolve at TD Bank? In what way did “paying it forward” help develop the program? What does the group do when they meet and how do these group sessions assist the women involved? How did they structure it?
Sisterhood plays a role, but the right leaders need to be in the room and be able to mentor. How did Cindy get involved in the program? And what does she get out of her mentee relationships? Have the men within the organization been supportive?
How has structure benefited mentors and mentees alike? What would women leaders who believe they are already good mentors gain from being part of a structured group of mentors?
How does a woman’s image impact her career? How can a woman’s image detract from her ability to bring focus to herself and her words? In what way can mentors give visual feedback from a good place to help women further their careers?
How do stories help leaders instill authenticity and inspiration within their organization? Which stories do these ladies use to guide their mentees?

Mentoring Women in Leadership: Why Mentoring Matters for Women in Leadership

Leadership development does not happen only through courses or formal advancement.

Much of it happens through conversations. A leader hears how someone else navigated a difficult transition, receives feedback about a blind spot or gains perspective on an opportunity she had not considered.

Mentoring creates room for those conversations.

A mentor can help a woman examine how she communicates, how others may interpret her choices and what capabilities she needs for the next stage of her career. The mentor can also provide context about organizational dynamics that may be difficult to recognize from one role or level.

The purpose is not to give someone a predetermined path. It is to help the mentee see more possibilities and make better-informed decisions.

Mentoring Women in Leadership: What Women Gain from Strong Mentoring Relationships

The strongest mentoring relationships are specific to the person and her goals.

One mentee may need help building confidence in senior-level conversations. Another may be navigating the transition from functional expert to people leader. Someone else may want to become more visible without feeling that she is promoting herself unnaturally.

Mentoring can help women:

Clarify career goals
Recognize and communicate their strengths
Prepare for unfamiliar leadership situations
Understand organizational expectations
Build confidence in high-stakes conversations
Receive feedback from a trusted perspective
Expand their professional relationships
Consider opportunities beyond their current role
Learn from another leader’s experience

These benefits depend on trust. The mentee must be able to discuss uncertainty without feeling that every question will become part of her formal evaluation.

Mentoring Women in Leadership: Why Workplace Mentoring Programs Need Structure

Informal mentoring can be valuable, but it often depends on access, proximity and personal chemistry.

A structured workplace mentoring program creates a more intentional experience. It gives participants a shared understanding of the purpose, expectations and time commitment.

Structure may include:

Defined program objectives
A thoughtful mentor-matching process
A beginning and end date
Recommended meeting frequency
Conversation guides
Confidentiality expectations
Training for mentors
Opportunities for peer learning
Periodic feedback
A process for changing a match that is not working

Structure should guide the relationship without making every conversation feel scripted.

The program creates the framework. The mentor and mentee create the relationship within it.

Mentoring Women in Leadership: Mentoring vs. Sponsorship

Mentoring and sponsorship support leadership growth in different ways.

A mentor provides perspective, guidance and feedback. The conversation often focuses on what the mentee needs to understand, strengthen or consider.

A sponsor uses their credibility and influence to advocate for another person. A sponsor may recommend someone for an opportunity, introduce her to an important stakeholder or speak about her capabilities when she is not in the room.

Women leaders may benefit from both.

Mentoring can help someone become prepared for a larger opportunity. Sponsorship can help decision-makers recognize that readiness. Organizations should understand the distinction rather than expecting mentoring alone to address every barrier to advancement.

Mentoring Women in Leadership: The Communication Skills That Strengthen Mentoring

A title or years of experience do not automatically make someone an effective mentor.

Strong mentoring depends on communication.

Listen with Curiosity

Mentors may recognize aspects of their own careers in a mentee’s experience. That recognition can build connection, but it can also lead the mentor to assume the situations are the same.

Listen long enough to understand the mentee’s goals, concerns and environment before offering advice.

Give Candid Feedback

Encouragement matters, but growth also requires honesty.

Useful feedback should identify a specific behavior or pattern, explain its impact and give the mentee an opportunity to explore what could change.

A mentor might say:

“Your knowledge was clear, but you waited until the end of the discussion to share your recommendation. What made you hesitate?”

That question provides feedback while keeping the conversation open.

Ask Better Questions

A mentor should not solve every problem.

Questions help mentees examine their assumptions, identify options and take ownership of their decisions:

What outcome are you trying to create?
What part of this situation feels most difficult?
What might you be overlooking?
Who needs to understand your value?
What conversation are you avoiding?
What would you try if you felt more confident?
What support do you need?

Share Experience Without Prescribing a Path

Personal stories can make mentoring more useful. They show how another leader experienced uncertainty, made a decision or learned from a mistake.

But the mentor’s experience is a perspective, not a formula. The story should help the mentee think rather than suggest that there is only one acceptable response.

Mentoring Women in Leadership: How Stories Strengthen Mentoring Relationships

Stories allow leaders to share lessons without reducing them to generic advice.

A mentor can explain what happened, what she believed at the time, what she missed and what she would approach differently now. That context makes the learning more credible and relatable.

Stories can also communicate organizational history and unwritten expectations. They help mentees understand how leadership decisions are experienced, not just how they appear in a policy or process.

The strongest mentoring stories have a clear point and remain connected to the mentee’s needs and this is especially true when it comes to mentoring women in leadership.

Mentoring Women in Leadership: What Mentors Gain from Participating

Mentoring is not valuable only for the mentee.

Mentors often gain a better understanding of how other employees experience the organization. They encounter different career goals, communication styles and workplace challenges.

The relationship may help mentors:

Examine their own leadership assumptions
Strengthen listening and coaching skills
Understand emerging employee expectations
Recognize talent beyond their immediate teams
Build relationships across the organization
Reflect on lessons from their own careers
Become more intentional about developing others

A strong program treats mentors as participants in the learning process, not simply as people dispensing answers.

Mentoring Women in Leadership: How Organizations Can Build a Mentoring Program

Begin by defining what the program for mentoring women in leadership is intended to accomplish.

Is the organization trying to support women preparing for larger roles? Build cross-functional relationships? Strengthen retention? Expand leadership confidence? Create a stronger pipeline of people managers?

The objective influences the design.

Organizations should then consider:

Who should participate?
How will mentors and mentees be selected?
What preparation will mentors receive?
How will matches be made?
What topics should the program encourage?
How will confidentiality be protected?
How will participants receive support?
How will the organization evaluate the experience?
What happens when the formal program ends?

The program should also be connected to broader development opportunities. Mentoring is most effective when participants can apply insights through assignments, coaching, leadership programs and meaningful visibility.

Like what you hear? Hear more episodes on mentoring women in leadership and other insights on the What’s Your Story podcast page!