Ep 262 Impact Multipliers: A Conversation With Megan Twigg, Solutions Consulting Specialist in Neuroscience at Medtronic: The Importance of Mentoring.

Ep 262 Impact Multipliers: A Conversation With Megan Twigg, Solutions Consulting Specialist in Neuroscience at Medtronic: The Importance of Mentoring.

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Episode Notes:

Join me today as I share another episode in the Impact Multipliers Series.  Today we have a conversation with Megan Twigg, Solutions Consulting Specialist within the Neuroscience CST-iDS Operating Unit at Medtronic.  Today is National Be The Impact Day and we are sharing our discussion around the importance of Mentorship. 

In This Episode:

  • Mentorship and its impact in career growth. 0:00
    • Megan Twigg discusses mentorship’s importance in career growth and evolution.
    • Insights on mentorship and career development in the medical device industry.
  • Career growth and mentorship. 12:13
    • Finding joy and energy in one’s career
    • Importance of priorities in life to avoid burnout
  • Mentorship and networking strategies. 16:38
  • Mentorship, personal growth, and career development. 21:32
    • Faith and personal foundation have fueled Twigg’s thought process and impact on others.
    • Connect: Megan Twigg and Michelle Arnold Bourque on LinkedIn

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Episode Transcript: Edited by OtterAI with minimal edits

You are listening to the it’s your time podcast and I’m your host certified life coach Michelle Arnold Bourque. In today’s episode I’m sharing another conversation and the impact multipliers series discussing the importance of mentorship with Megan twig solutions consulting specialist at Medtronic.

Welcome to the It’s Your Time Podcast, the podcast where busy professionals like you get the practical solutions and support you need to gain control of your schedule. So you can strive to be the best in your career, but without the stress and overwhelm. If you’re looking to increase your energy and decrease your stress, you are in the right place.

Michelle Bourque 0:45 Hello, hello. Hello. Welcome back to the podcast friends. Happy November. Hey, did you know that today is National be the impact day. I mean, as long as you’re listening on the release date of November 2. In fact, I think that every day should be making an impact day right. But since it is official, let’s go ahead and celebrate. And since it is a day, I thought it would be perfect timing to share another episode in our series impact multipliers. Now as a reminder, or in case, it’s your first time catching one of these, the series impact multipliers is an opportunity to share conversations with people who are multiplying their impact in a variety of ways. And it really is an opportunity for you to see the amazing work that people are doing in the world. And hopefully take something away from each episode. And then you can hashtag multiply your impact in a way that works for you. And today I’m sharing a conversation with Megan twig around mentorship. And I think this is such an important topic. And I will often suggest to new folks looking to break into the industry to really consider how companies support you in the growth and evolution of your career. It is important to think about this, whether you’re breaking into medical device or any other area of your career, having a mentor and then being a mentor is gold. And in this episode, Megan shared some ideas around what mentorship can look like some programs specific to Medtronic. And I think maybe most importantly, is the idea that you take ownership of what it looks like for you. I’m always talking about being empowered in your life. And this is another place where it’s important to step into that taking full control of creating and carving your path, what it is that you want to get out of your career. Now before we jump in a little bit about Megan, Megan is a solutions consulting specialist within the neuro science CST which is cranial spine technology IDs operating unit at Medtronic. She’s responsible for regional implementation and support for unit technologies and services. And she plays a large role in enabling world class onboarding for new and existing customers driving adoption by optimizing workflow efficiencies and increasing utilization through workflow and IT integration. Her past experience also includes work as an account supervisor at a hospital focusing on minimally invasive surgical cost savings and sterile processing efficiencies. She has her MBA and project management and bachelors in biomedical science. Quite the Smarty right? I love it. And I love that she was open to sharing not only how she has been mentored throughout her career, but also her willingness to help you. So without further ado, please take a listen. Okay, thank you so much for being here. This is going to be so much fun.

Can you maybe just start by introducing yourself tell everyone a little bit about your background? And maybe you know this series is on multiplying your impact so maybe why you think the work that you’re doing is also important to get started?

3:58 Um, yeah, thanks so much for having me. I’m super excited. So conversation. quick glimpse into my life. I graduated with a bachelor’s and biomedical science about five years ago, and right after I married my wonderful husband, we recently moved back to my hometown in Western Michigan. We have two dogs and a horse and absolutely love being back surrounded by our friends and family

Michelle Bourque 4:26 and I’m sorry I cut you off by I was I think the dogs in the horse kind of got me so

4:34 my parents I grew up not like on a farm farm but like, learn a lot of discipline, work ethic and drive and I think that’s just a little bit unique. So I wanted to definitely call that out and just kind of speak to what it taught me. My parents taught me like going through college, they said pick a job that’s going to provide for you and not what you’re going to find fun. In this was a tough pill swallow, but I definitely agree. And it’s provided me with a little bit of insight and finding joy in everything instead of just like, only tying on to what you really enjoy and hope that it pays your bills. So I just want to call that out a little bit before diving in. And just kind of give you a little bit of background. To who I am a little bit. That is

Michelle Bourque 5:24 still clear, because you know what, we just finished another interview, and it kind of ended with a similar idea that, like, we have to find the joy and the things that light us up within our job, right. Like sometimes we think I just do not believe in the idea of work life balance, I think it’s integration. And I think that we are way more empowered when we are the ones like figuring that out. So I know it’s not necessarily the topic today, but I feel like it’s a reoccurring theme. That’s very important. Yeah, it’s Speaker 2 5:51 definitely not something that everybody looks to when searching for their career path in the beginning. So

Michelle Bourque 5:58 it’s such a great point. And we are connected through aspire, which is an employee resource group here at Medtronic. And can you maybe speak to the role that you play there, I know that we’re going to be talking about mentorship. So maybe when people are looking to break into the industry, understanding the benefits of what that might look like?

6:19 Yeah, absolutely. So I’m currently helping that lead the mentor X program. We’re still in the first year since launch and continue to expand the vision in the coming years. But Medtronic has employee resource groups, as you mentioned, for different cultural and ethical backgrounds. And mentor X is able to advance diversity and inclusion by connecting the resource groups together within a goal to expand exposure experience and education within the mentorship relationships. So that’s just a little bit about what mentor x is. But I’ve actually only been with Medtronic for about a year and a half, and initially got involved with mentor x as a mentee. When the program launched back in February. I’m really passionate about learning from people that have had success in their careers and learning from their mistakes, and also mirroring their achievement. But I was lucky enough to be matched with an amazing mentor, and she ultimately helped me grow into having a bigger impact on the program success. Michelle Bourque 7:20 What do you think? Sometimes I’m kind of curious what people think a mentoring relationship looks like, I guess, do you have some tips that might help people who haven’t been able to establish that, like, what has it been like for you when you’re getting connected? And through the process?

7:37 Yeah. I’ve had a lot of mentors throughout my career. So far, I’m still pretty young in my career. But I think that one common common mistake, I’ve talked to a few of my team members across the board that have had failed mentorship, relationships, and one of the common themes is a lack of initial communication and setting expectations. So I know when, when I first got started with mentor X, I didn’t really know what my role was, as a mentee, I didn’t know if the mentor was going to reach out to me, I didn’t know if I should come prepared with questions and conversations or if maybe they were going to help guide that conversation initially. So being a little bit aware, coming prepared, I think it is the mentees role in the relationship to be prepared. I think about maybe conversations like how to ask for a raise, focusing on projects that move your career, and staying how to stay not authentic in a corporate world. I’m trying to keep conversation flowing and maybe challenging your mentor to bring up like outside resources, such as like a podcast or a book, or maybe them reaching out to their peers. To answer some of your questions. I think you can’t ask a hard enough question to your mentor. And so I think, like it’s just nice to set expectations in the beginning. So each player knows their role in the relationship.

Michelle Bourque 9:05 Yeah, because I think it can look different for every different relationship that Mentees and mentors have in you might have different expectations, I’m guessing, right with different mentors that you have.

9:16 Exactly. Yeah. And I think you mentioned at the beginning, like Medtronic has mentor x, but what happens if you don’t have a company that is providing a mentorship program? That happened with me and my previous job, I was working in a hospital working Monday through Friday with every single weekend on call, and it was exhausting and trying to find a mentor. It wasn’t like a program that I could sign up for. It was very intentional, and maybe even it might look like go on LinkedIn and find somebody that you feel like you’re resonating with their content and asking hey, do you have time once every month or something to reach out to them and kind of pick their brain a little bit, learn how they have had success in their career, and see how you can maybe mirror that.

Michelle Bourque 10:11 Yeah, I think that’s such a great point. You talk about, like working so many hours. And I think a lot of times, especially if people are new to the job, it’s like a firehose, sometimes. Like, there’s a lot of learning. There’s a lot of, you know, you just, sometimes you don’t even know what you don’t know, for people who maybe think like, I don’t have time for that I need to focus on my job, like, what would you kind of tell them as as their mentor? Maybe?

10:35 Yeah. So this is actually funny, you bring this up, I have recently spent a lot of time focusing on learning how to balance my own energy. Throughout my work life balance, I’m very much a yes person and have a hard time saying no to opportunities. I’m most recently I completed my MBA in project management, I’ve been learning this new role, the past year and a half, I started leading projects with my team and growing in broader Medtronic initiatives. And over the summer, I could really feel my energy levels going downhill quickly. So I started listening to some podcasts and some books, speaking with my mentor about how to gain that energy back up. And something that I’ve learned just through taking in content from other experts in the field is focusing on what brings you joy, and what fills your energy, and maybe redirecting some of your project goals into things that actually you’re excited about, and maybe are excited about working outside of hours on that project. And then also prioritizing, like outside of work, things that bring you energy, for example, I am a big horse girl, I have my own horse, and I also volunteer every Wednesday at an equine therapy center. And I make sure that I have that carved out in my calendar, every single week, I will not miss it. Because that’s something that at the end of it, I’m super excited about getting back to my job, whether it’s working until 8pm That night, or getting started a fresh shirt on Thursday, it really helps get through the week. And stay energized.

Michelle Bourque 12:13 Oh my god, I think that is like a golden nugget. And I think especially for being kind of fairly new to your career. It’s such an amazing thought to already have. Because I feel like sometimes it’s you know, I feel like for me, it’s been like multiple years in and now I’m kind of like, wait a second, this doesn’t have to be black or white. Like, where can I find joy? And right. And I always talk about the importance of prioritizing, right at the end of the day. We need to feel like we I mean, I think a lot of us want to feel like we’re making a difference, but not at the expense of everyday life. Yeah. So finding that joy, it’s important for people

12:50 that are starting in the career, I think it’s hard to sometimes identify what is energy driving and what’s kind of soaking up your energy. So I just encourage those people that are trying to figure out what gives them energy get to get experience in a lot of different areas, whether that’s in your career projects oriented or maybe getting involved in your community, just trying it out a little bit seeing if, okay, if I do this, if I work on, I don’t know, spreadsheets and logging information, is that energy giving? Or is that taking away my energy? And using that and as future opportunities to come up to change that yes mentality to more strategic? Yes, yes.

Michelle Bourque 13:33 I was just gonna say that I think exactly. To your point. The Yes, yes, yes. And not taking a moment to say I remember one of the toughest questions my coach asked me one day was like, Michelle, what do you want to do? And I was like, Wait, I didn’t even realize that would be a question like, just just doing doing doing. But I think that’s important for us, I think, especially as women that oftentimes we think, you know, we want to take care of all of it. So to just stop and pay attention to like, why am I doing this? Yes. Do I want to? I guess to that point, also, do you think when you’re talking about trying out different things? Do you suggest trying out different mentors that might be an alignment with these other things? Like kind of how did it look for you? Do you have multiple mentors? Or do you just kind of do one and ask them all the questions?

14:22 Um, no, I feel like I pull in, I have like a set, reoccurring meeting with one specific mentor. But then I pull in other mentors at different times, if that makes sense. And I really like focusing on mentor relationships that have a unique perspective than what I would personally think of. For example, I’m not a salesperson by heart. This is something that I’m really trying to grow in negotiation skills. And so I really wanted to get matched up with somebody who’s very well succeeding in their sales career. them, and like using their perspective to change my initial thought because unique perspectives are what drive overall success in my opinion. So I just wanted to have that uniqueness. And I find a mentor that thought exactly like I do.

Michelle Bourque 15:17 That is such a great tip also. And I think, you know, when I first started, someone had suggested like, is there someone that you look up to whether it be like you said in the company, if you are lucky enough to have such a program or just on LinkedIn maybe right, and be able to reach out to them to get a better understanding of what the path looked like for them? Not that you necessarily have to do it that way. But it might just open up some new ideas for you along the way. Speaker 2 15:43 Yeah, I one thing that I will say that I used to be afraid to do people like sharing their knowledge to other people. So it doesn’t necessarily have to be like an official program, if you will, like, it can be very organic. And sometimes you can say, Hey, will you mentor me for X amount of time? And other times, you can just say, Hey, can I meet with you for 30 minutes on this day and see how that conversation goes, feel it out? And then maybe say, Okay, I really enjoyed this, can we please meet again and say, a month from now and follow up on the topics that we discussed. So I think kind of play around with it a little bit. Have fun, see what works well for you. And don’t be afraid to reach out to people that are maybe intimidating? Because those are the people that will really help you drive your career. Yeah,

Michelle Bourque 16:38 that is such a great point, I think the importance of meeting and connecting with them, and also making sure it seems like a good fit for you. Exactly be able to have that time. What would you say? I guess now, do you let’s flip? And I don’t know the answer to this. Do you mentor other people? Also, do you kind of have the flip side of it?

16:56 Yeah, so in my previous role, I was a supervisor and had quite a few direct reports and served as a mentor throughout their career. And currently, I mentor a few people within Medtronic but I want to stay true to I’m young in my career, and definitely may not be the best person to seek advice from because I’m still navigating my path right now. Honestly, I try to be strategic and who I set up like a free cream mentorship, relationship with because I don’t want them to go to me as like a comfort, I’m safe choice. Like go go to start shoot for somebody that’s really had high success been with a company for 20 years. And maybe, maybe challenge themselves. Michelle Bourque 17:45 That’s such a great point. But I think like self awareness is probably so important throughout the entire relationship, like the transparency of like, sure I can help you in this area. But you might want to then also reach out to so and so which in itself is probably a huge benefit for the person that’s reaching out to you. Yes, exactly. Right. And that’s what we’re talking about multiplying your impact in the ripple effect. And I think that can look different for so many people in all different relationships of what that looks like. Yeah. What do you think? Like, is there a set number or a set number of times that you meet as far as you’re trying to think if somebody’s like, I’ve never had a mentor? I don’t know what to do. They’re saying set the expectations. Like I don’t know what that means. Like, just is there some sort of not protocol, but idea of best practices that you found? Either, you know, you had talked about things that have failed in the past that you’ve either learned from teammates or just with your mentors, chips yourself? Like, what would you suggest for people as a baseline, Speaker 2 18:48 as a baseline? One get going, you got to start? Yeah. The next one would be like, try to set a cadence once, once a month, 30 minutes, and try to do that for, say, a year. And if your mentor doesn’t want to commit to a year long relationship, that’s totally fine. You can maybe make it six months, and that way, you know that the relationship is going to be solid for six months. At that point, you can see is this relationship still benefiting me? Can I grow in a different area with somebody else during the next six months? Or maybe it’ll all transition into a lifelong partnership that you guys can continue to bounce ideas off of, but maybe not at the cadence of once a month, every single year. So getting started and setting like a baseline of once once a month for six months is a great starting point.

Michelle Bourque 19:49 That is I love that to your point about down the road. It could also look different so it may look one way when you first start like I think back to the person who helped me get this job And now he’s very high up in Medtronic. So when I’m like looking at a DM roll or something back in, you know, a couple years ago, I would reach out to him. I haven’t talked to him in years, probably. But I stay connected. So I think this is the other thing too, right? Like, as we’re talking, I’m thinking about this. You want to stay connected, though, in a way that they don’t forget about you, right? So if I see things on LinkedIn, I’ll like or post or repost or write, it’s, it’s keeping that relationship going, that you’re initiating.

20:26 Absolutely. It tends to be somewhat organic. I personally think, because you start to get involved in not just their career goals, but also their family life, and you genuinely want to know what’s happening. Like, oh, your daughter got married? How did that go? Did they go on a honeymoon, our grandkids in the future? Whatever that conversation might look like, it’s just nice to reengage with the people that have made an impact on your life and show that you care about what’s happening, even outside of work? Michelle Bourque 20:55 Yes, that is, I think that’s another great point. Because sometimes people might, when you say, you know, they might be nervous about asking some of the top people for mentorship or whatever. Like if we just think about it and reframe it as like, they’re another human being, and I actually care about them. Also, it’s not just about me, right? And that might help to take some of the pressure off of it. Like being I don’t know if I should ask them kind of thought process. Yeah, Unknown Speaker 21:20 yeah. Yeah. Hair.

Michelle Bourque 21:24 Do you think we’ve missed anything as far as ideas, tips to give people who are just getting started? And? And then I guess maybe do you have an example of how a mentor, like helped you? What do you think has been some of the most helpful ways someone has helped you?

21:46 Yeah, I love when mentors think outside the box and give you like, not just a solution, but challenge yourself. So for example, over the summer, I was talking about I have an interest in knowing more about contracting and legal. And I don’t even know where to start with that, like, I am by no means a legal expert. I just want like a baseline, but the topic is so dry and boring. And how do I how do I even try to be interested in this?

Michelle Bourque 22:21 And then do you go back to that yourself that energy question like do I want to keep going?

22:26 Yeah, you know, some some things related to energy. It’s, it’s worth dabbling in. Like diving down a deep, a deep rabbit hole with that. My mentor, she, she was wonderful, and challenged me to, like, get interested in the topic in a fun way. So one of the ideas that she had was listen to a podcast related to the topic. But during something that you’d be doing every day, for example, going for a run, listen to a podcast on contracting within the hospital field. And there’s actually a ton of content just within that space, and is very easy to digest while you’re doing something else. I don’t do that every day, but maybe once, once every week or two weeks or whatever, when my energy has time for it.

Michelle Bourque 23:22 That is such I love that. I think you’re right, there are so many, because here’s the other thing, I think now that you say that I feel like I probably have mentors that don’t even know I think of them as a mentor. Because it might be like a podcast or a book or, like truly the mentoring relationship can look so many different ways.

23:40 Absolutely. Yeah, there’s definitely quite a few podcasts I listen to that they don’t even know I’m listening.

Michelle Bourque 23:48 I kind of like I think we’re friends like you don’t know. Absolutely. And since this is a series on multiplying your impact, and that’s kind of what we’re talking about here. Is there a person or a thing? Like is there something that you think of that has made some of the biggest impacts in your life, a personal or professional, like whatever you think is important, just kind of the ripple effect, because we’re really trying to like, bring that energy right and really have people get excited about what is it that we can do more off to help more people?

24:19 Yeah. Um, so my initial thought is my faith has really made the biggest impact in my life. Medtronic also has a REIT, an employee resource group, for people that are living their faith in their work life, and something that has been in conversation throughout this week. They do like six week, six week meetings that are like an hour each week. And something that we’ve talked about is minimizing vent sessions with coworkers fueling positivity, releasing your frustrations and a quick prayer and acting what’s within your control is like theirs So keep simple things, you don’t even have to have like a faith based background to implement a lot of these key triggers that make a big impact in your life. staying humble in your career and your personal life and not stopping to learn and grow and serve those around you. Like how big of an impact can that make on the people around you and doubling your impact by just not focusing on yourself and looking to others? So there’s definitely a lot of people in my life that have made a big impact, but my faith and overall Foundation has, has really fueled a lot of my thought process. I

Michelle Bourque 25:45 think that’s so important. You’re right. I mean, it can be simple things that we can just do on a daily basis that and I was talking to someone recently, we help them but then we also get the, like, benefit of feeling good about helping others as well. Yeah,

26:02 absolutely.

Michelle Bourque 26:03 So good. I think that you even though you’re saying you’re young in your career could help a lot of people. Where can people can people find you on LinkedIn? Or like, what’s the best way to connect with you? Speaker 2 26:13 Yeah, LinkedIn is a great place to stay connected. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions. And if you have any mentor relationship, how tos any topics that you maybe want to ask, feel free to shoot me a message and happy to provide some resources. Honestly, like a quick Google search on what tasks, my mentors and create starting, you don’t have anywhere else to go. Michelle Bourque 26:37 I love it. It’s very simple things. We just have to be willing to actually do them start, for example.

26:43 So great.

Michelle Bourque 26:44 Thank you so much. This has been super helpful. I know people are going to be able to use a lot of this information, and we’ll put everything in the notes for people. Thank you. Thank you, Michelle. Okay, wasn’t that great so many gems to use as you grow and develop in your career. Remember, if you are listening on the release date, it is national, be the impact day and you know, you can make an impact by both finding a mentor and learning and evolving as well as starting to mentor someone who can benefit from your uniqueness. You know how else you can make an impact. By sharing this podcast, please feel free to share it with anyone that you think would benefit and I’m so excited to have the opportunity to introduce you to all these new folks in this multiplying your impact series. And as reminder, if you are electronic employee, please be sure to check out the employee resource groups, I will give a special plug to aspire and really get involved in taking advantage of what each one has to offer. And no matter where you are coming from. If you want to connect with Megan or I please feel free to DM us on LinkedIn, I will make sure our contact information is in the show notes. Okay, as I close, I want you to think about how all of our actions and choices have an effect. Your impact on others is immeasurable, but the person receiving your actions often treasures it in ways that you will never even know so put your good out there and watch the magic happen. Okay, that’s what I have for you today. Let’s meet back here next week but for now, make it a great day. Take care Michelle Bourque

28:30 Did you know you can take this work to a deeper level with me one on one. Go to Michellebourquecoaching.com and click on get started to begin

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