January is National Mentoring Month, a time to highlight the value of mentoring relationships. In the digital, virtual, hybrid environment it’s more important than ever to foster connections and tap into diverse experience. Thanks to SAGE, Toyota’s newest business partnering group, or BPG, Toyota’s commitment to sharing knowledge across generations and roles is transforming its ability to compete in a constantly changing world—as well as preserve its history for generations to come.

SAGE co-founders, Bill Burris, Fleet Marketing and Mobility manager, and SAGE chair; Julie Ayres, senior analyst, Product, TFS Remarketing and SAGE vice chair; and Erin Ilgen, manager, Lexus College, and SAGE Communications chair, saw a need to ensure continuity and share the Toyota Way across the workforce. As Ilgen explains, “SAGE hopes to create an opportunity for generations in the workplace to connect, share and transfer knowledge.”

Though just one chapter exists so far, SAGE has a large field to play with. Says Ayres, “There are so many employees that are subject matter experts (SMEs) in their field, and we want to highlight their knowledge of the company and their area of expertise with other employees.” Not only does transferring knowledge inform specific job-related tasks, according to Ayres, it allows employees to grow their skills and competencies and demonstrate more empathy and understanding of others in the workplace, all of which support Toyota’s culture of respect and inclusivity.

Indeed, for SAGE, interactions between team members serve a crucial purpose far beyond just getting the work done. Each level, role or career trajectory offers invaluable expertise, a major resource at Toyota. Mentoring is part of its DNA, moving in all directions, as if following all four points on a compass, and often driving in reverse, as younger employees offer their perspectives up the organizational chart.

Burris emphasizes that SAGE’s model is based less on formal mentoring and more on its informal cousin: “Informal mentoring was a stated goal of SAGE from the beginning, and to facilitate that, SAGE members get to know each other primarily through Toyota-based interactions. This way, traditional and reverse mentoring happen organically.”

But there’s more than professional development or archival demands energizing SAGE. There is also an enthusiastic recognition of the diversity of life within company walls. “Everyone has a Toyota story,” says Burris, “Yet no two are alike. SAGE celebrates the intersectionality of unique experiences to the benefit of all team members.” 

This passion for each story is a direct offshoot of Toyota’s core philosophy of Respect for People, another consistent pillar throughout the company’s history. The learnings of employees who have worked at the company for years, often decades, provide what Ayres calls “the stickiness” of what make Toyota the company it is today. SAGE’s leaders believe that the stories of Toyota should remain at the fore and available to all employees, and by participating in SAGE activities, members come to realize the depth and breadth of the company. This in turn reveals additional places they might be able to grow into professionally.

To lead the group’s mission, SAGE members are building a database of experts and experience to help employees learn more on specific topics or areas. “This project is in its infancy, but we hope it will grow and become highly useful,” says Ilgen. Other activities include the SAGE speaker series, which, according to Burris, highlights “areas of the Toyota universe that few know much about.” In a recent speaker event, one of Toyota’s intracompany transferees highlighted for Plano-based team members potential opportunities off campus. “In this case,” laughs Burris, “it was way off campus—in Japan.”

Not surprisingly, though only a year old, SAGE is growing rapidly, and SAGE’s leaders look forward to connecting with ever more employees, wherever they are in their Toyota journey. The impact has already been substantial. As Ilgen puts it, “More informal mentoring will continue to elevate the skills and capabilities of our employees. I believe sharing knowledge will make the work environment more fun and bring stronger unity across the organization.” And that is one universal experience that transcends time.