What Is Cross-Company Mentoring in Logistics?
By Mollie Buck
Leadership doesn’t only develop inside your own business
When I look back at my career, I don’t think the biggest moments of growth came from promotions or job titles. They came from the people who challenged me to think differently.
I’ve been fortunate to have mentors who saw potential in me before I recognised it myself. They gave me opportunities, pushed me outside my comfort zone and, perhaps most importantly, gave me confidence when I wasn’t sure I was ready. They didn’t tell me what decisions to make, but they helped me believe I was capable of making them.
That’s why I believe cross-company mentoring has such an important role to play in logistics.
We invest a lot in developing future leaders through graduate schemes, training programmes and leadership courses. All of those things have value. But some of the most important conversations I’ve had in my career happened outside those formal structures, with people who weren’t my manager and didn’t even work for the same organisation.
An independent perspective changes the conversation
For me, that’s what makes cross-company mentoring different.
When you’re talking to someone outside your business, the conversation feels more open. You’re not thinking about reporting lines, performance reviews or whether you’re saying the right thing. You can be honest about the challenges you’re facing, whether that’s applying for your next role, navigating a difficult relationship with a manager or working out how to approach a conversation about salary.
I’ve found people often open up much more quickly because there isn’t an organisational agenda. I’m not trying to influence their career for the benefit of my business. My role is simply to help them think things through from a different perspective.
That independence creates better conversations, and in my experience, better decisions.
Cross-mentoring between different businesses creates better leaders
One thing I particularly value about mentoring across different organisations is the opportunity to challenge assumptions.
Every business has its own way of doing things. Sometimes that’s the right approach. Sometimes it’s simply the way it’s always been done.
Talking to someone from another organisation naturally broadens your thinking. It encourages you to ask different questions and consider different ways of approaching the same problem. I’ve found that works both ways.
I’ve mentored people through Visku’s mentoring programme, but I’ve also stayed in touch with former colleagues who’ve moved into different businesses. Every conversation gives me a different perspective on leadership, culture and career development. I often come away having learned something myself.
That’s one of the things people don’t always recognise about mentoring. The best mentors don’t just teach. They keep learning too.
Confidence is often what people need most
Some of the conversations I’ve had haven’t been about logistics at all.
I’ve had younger women ask me how to tell their employer they’re pregnant. I’ve spoken to people who were worried about interviews, stepping into their first management role or even what they should wear to an important event.
On the surface, those might seem like small questions, but they’re often the things that affect someone’s confidence the most.
As a woman working in the supply chain sector who’s been through those experiences myself, I know there are conversations people might not feel comfortable having with everyone. That’s one of the reasons mentoring relationships matter. It’s about finding someone you trust enough to be honest with.
For me, confidence is one of the biggest things mentoring develops. Not because you’re giving someone the answers, but because you’re helping them believe they’re capable of finding the answers themselves.
A mentor’s job isn’t to have all the answers
I’ve never believed mentoring is about telling someone what they should do.
The best mentors I’ve had didn’t do that for me, and I try not to do it for the people I support.
Instead, I ask questions. I challenge their thinking. Sometimes I’ll share my own experiences, but ultimately the decision is theirs to make.
That’s how people grow.
If we want to build stronger leaders across the logistics industry, we need to create more opportunities for people to have those conversations. Not because every mentor has the answer, but because an independent perspective can help someone see a situation differently.
For me, that’s what cross-company mentoring is really about: building confidence, broadening perspectives and helping people become better leaders in their own right.