A Culture of Continuous Improvement
As part of the Danaher family of companies, Mammotome provides exceptional leadership training and professional development programs. Mammotome associates are also encouraged to network and explore roles at other Danaher companies, providing expanded career opportunities across industries and brands. Continue reading to hear from three associates who came to Mammotome to continue their growth and development from fellow Danaher operating companies.
Let’s start off by introducing the team.
Neha Badam, Mammotome Associate Test Engineer
Neha Badam originally grew up in Columbus, Ohio. She went to school in Atlanta, Georgia, and moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, last summer, which provided her with the opportunity to explore a new city while still being close to home. In her free time, she likes to travel and be outdoors climbing, backpacking, biking and running. Recently, she has also been revisiting old hobbies like art and baking. Neha originally joined Beckman Coulter Diagnostics, a Danaher Operating Company (OpCo), in 2022 as part of the Danaher Operations Leadership Program. This program provides an opportunity for recent graduates to cycle through four professional roles in two years. This rotational program gave Neha exposure to several roles, working under different managers, as well as access to a large network of associates at different OpCos. Neha transferred to Mammotome in April 2023 as an Associate Test Engineer.
Adam Dutton, Director, Mammotome Global Vigilance & Product Reliability
Adam is originally from Iowa but has spent more time bouncing between the coasts. He loves traveling, live music and combining the two. He is a HiFi enthusiast and a vinyl collector with Jazz and Country being his two favorite genres. Adam engages his technical side, trying to up his experience with vacuum tube swaps and improving acoustics. Adam joined Sea-Bird Scientific, a Danaher OpCo, in 2010 as a Calibration and Field Technician and was promoted a number of times while there. He transferred to Mammotome in 2019 as a CDT&R Manager and is currently the Director of Global Vigilance and Product Reliability.
Pratik Patel, Mammotome Senior Manager, Sales Operations
Pratik is based out of London, Ontario, Canada. During his free time, he enjoys playing with his one-and-a-half-year-old son, woodworking, watching tv and hiking. Pratik is part of the Danaher General Manager Development Program (GMDP). The GMDP is designed to build a pipeline of senior leaders that drive Danaher’s competitive advantage through a variety of strategic roles across multiple Danaher operating companies around the world. As part of GMDP, you are encouraged to take on a variety of strategic roles in product management, commercial and operations. Pratik joined Trojan Technologies, a Danaher OpCo, in 2020 as a Vertical Marketing Manager focusing on municipal and industrial markets. He then started his second GMDP rotation at Mammotome in May 2022 as a Senior Sales Operations Manager.
Mammotome Provides Associates the Opportunity to Fulfill Their Career Aspirations.
Career paths may not all look the same and it’s important that associates share their goals and desires with their manager.
For Neha, because of her biomedical engineering background, she has always been passionate about the healthcare industry and knew she wanted to work in the medical device space. At Mammotome, she is excited to work on product lines that help clinicians provide the best care to patients. “I love coming to work every day and learning new skills. I also appreciate that my role is hands on and involves a lot of product interaction.” Neha originally visited Mammotome for a Problem-Solving Process (PSP) 101 course. During the lunch breaks, she was able to tour the office and meet some of the engineers. After making connections with the Mammotome R&D group, she started having conversations with her HR Business Partner at Beckman and shared her interest in moving to Mammotome. She kept in contact with the Mammotome team and when a Test Engineer position opened, she formally applied and interviewed.
At Mammotome, Adam has had the opportunity to take what he learned within previous organizations and apply it to bigger manufacturing scales and larger cross-functional teams. Additionally, he has further built his own skill set and the skill set of his team with parts of the Danaher Reliability System, like the Variation Reduction Kaizen.
Pratik first heard about Mammotome at a 2020 GMDP Summit when he introduced himself to Raj Thapar, now his current manager. After the conference, he stayed in touch with Raj. When he was searching for his second GMDP rotation in early 2022, Raj had an open position. Due to their previous interaction, Pratik felt comfortable reaching out to Raj to discuss the position, and then completed the interview process.
Danaher and Mammotome Follow the 70/20/10 Development Model to Support Associates in Growing Their Careers.
The 70/20/10 model supports associates’ growth through 70% on the job experience, 20% coaching and mentoring, and 10% formal training/learning. We know much experience is gained by being put in new situations and figuring out how to solve challenging problems. Experiencing the “I don’t know what to do at this point” moment and working through it may feel scary at first, but it builds skills sets that help associates tackle similar problems that may arise in the future. Providing these opportunities to grow is an important part of the company culture. This culture of continuous growth has enabled Pratik to learn and grow at a much faster pace. “I am given stretch assignments, which have helped me view challenges through different lenses. I am also given timely feedback on my strengths and weaknesses. My managers have helped me create improvement plans and provided guidance and support to improve upon my weaknesses. The stretch assignments and feedback have allowed me to develop skills outside of my current job roles, which has helped me to pursue jobs that are of interest to me and would have been outside of my expertise previously,” said Pratik.
To tackle the 10%, Danaher offers a variety of training both in specific skill development as well as leadership skills. For example, Pratik has taken advantage of several development opportunities. “I was able to take blended bootcamp courses in PSP 101, Value Stream Mapping (VSM) and Crucial Conversations. These DBS courses taught me tools that will be helpful throughout my career and introduced me to associates from other OpCos,” Pratik added. “I was also able to help on several different Kaizen events, which exposed me to even more DBS tools. Additionally, I was encouraged to take courses to develop technical skills I was interested in, including data visualization and UI automation.”
The Danaher Business System (DBS) Provides a Framework to Support Cross-OpCo Career Development.
Adam’s managers and coworkers have supported him throughout his time at Danaher and Mammotome to continue developing skills to further his career. “Everything I’ve learned, including PSP and Situational Leadership, has helped my career so I know when and how to ask for help. I think demonstrating capability in using these tools makes it easier for leaders to feel comfortable with you taking risks – even if it doesn’t go to plan, you did it logically by applying DBS. DBS also disciplines you with follow-through and how to know when you are off track, which gives leaders a framework to support associates in taking risks.”
Take Charge of Your Career Through Transparency, Networking and Courage.
Continuous improvement and growth aren’t just about business results. At Danaher and Mammotome, we want associates to continue growing, and we encourage career development conversations. This culture of growth also pushes associates to transition to roles they are interested in, and thus advocates for career movement. Once someone joins the Mammotome team, they are considered an internal associate for roles both within Mammotome and all other Danaher OpCos. Open jobs are internally posted first, and associates can sign up for personalized job alerts when new positions are posted. From there, they also have access to the hiring manager and recruiter contact information and can reach out when they find roles they are interested in.
Adam’s experience is a great example of this growth. When he was at Sea-Bird, they had invested a lot into Adam’s development, so it was bittersweet on both sides for him to leave. However, Adam had ongoing career conversations with his manager with an understanding that future growth opportunities may be at another OpCo. So, while they had invested a lot into growing his skills, they were excited to see him continue his Danaher journey at Mammotome.
Neha’s experience is aligned with this as she believes in the importance of being transparent with your manager and HR business partner about your goals. They may have connections within and outside of your OpCo that will help you find a role that interests you. Looking for opportunities to network throughout Danaher has also proven to be helpful for Neha. She suggests volunteering to be a part of a Kaizen, signing up for trainings, helping out with recruitment efforts, and participating in Associate Resource Group events.
Part of what makes Danaher great is the ability for internal recruiters to proactively reach out to you. Adam was contacted by a Diagnostics Platform recruiter about an opportunity to scale customer experience with regard to product reliability. His “batteries are charged by serving science and humanity; [his] life had been touched by breast cancer. [He] was ready to shift [his] career with the hope that [he] could make what is a stressful and emotional experience for a patient and their family, just a little smoother by starting a career at Mammotome.” Adam advises, “if you see a posting or get a call from a recruiter, don’t be afraid to take a step forward.” Whether it’s now or when another role opens in the future, you never know what following up on the inquiry may lead to.