What is PWN Mentoring?

One of PWN Global’s key missions is to encourage mentoring among members, and to encourage members to seek out senior mentors both within and outside their companies. PWN’s mentoring program is one of the “shining stars” of our network.

Who is it for?

Mentoring can be for anyone, wherever they happen to be on their career path. A mentor is a person with whom you share your professional situation and solicit feedback from them regarding your career plans – consider the Mentor as a confidential “sounding board” with whom you can bounce ideas around regarding possible career choices, in a neutral environment outside of your day-to-day workplace. The Mentor is not a coach – in other words s/he will provide feedback & suggestions regarding your long-term professional plans; s/he will not be guiding you on day-to-day tactical tasks to keep your current job performance on track.  Mentoring focuses on mid to long-term career choices & goals.

Don’t assume, however, that a mentor must always be someone “older & wiser” than you are – a younger person can also mentor an older one – it’s often called “reverse mentoring”. and it can be an amazing mentoring experience as well.

When you ask someone to mentor you, remember to also think about who you could mentor. Keep the virtuous circle going!

The Benefits of Mentoring

Benefits to the Mentor

• Drives self-awareness
• Expands the mentor’s professional network
• Improves leadership skills
• Increases awareness of available talent within an organisation (in-house programmes)
• Increases likelihood of receiving a promotion
• Increases visibility throughout the organisation

Benefits to the Mentee

• Accelerates development
• Enhances self-esteem and confidence when interacting with senior leaders
• Expands the mentee’s professional network
• Increases job satisfaction and effectiveness
• Increases likelihood of receiving a promotion
• Increases perspective and knowledge of different organisations and/or functions

Benefits to the Organisation

• Builds bench strength
• Creates a culture of development
• Drives employee engagement and retention
• Fosters productivity and performance
• Increases cross organisational communication
• Provides a low-cost yet effective development opportunity

What Mentoring Is and Is Not

Mentoring Is . . .

• A Development Tool – It is a development programme that grows knowledge, networks and careers.  The process allows more experienced colleagues to support and develop other colleagues
• Knowledge Sharing Opportunity – it is a process that improves cross-functional knowledge sharing and facilitates the flow of information and ideas throughout the organisation
• Organisational Culture Enhancer – It can help employees better understand the organisation’s operations, policies and culture

Mentoring Is Not . . .

• Guarantee of Promotion – A mentoring relationship provides no assurance of promotion or increase in compensation.  However, both parties may develop competencies and skills that improve overall job performance
• Replacement for Formal Development – Mentoring cannot take the place of formal training, but rather should augment formal development activities
• Management Replacement – The mentor should not take on the responsibilities of the mentee’s manager
• Employee Assistance Programme – Mentoring is not an employee assistance programme that provides employees with counselling on personal issues

The Differences Between Mentoring and Coaching

Mentoring

• Helps facilitate a culture of growth and development within the organisation
• Concentrates on the individual’s development needs and goals based on his/her career aspirations
• Mutually benefits both the mentor and mentee
• Builds a long-term relationship dependent upon participants’ performance through various career stages

Coaching

• Assesses and improves and individual’s performance in a particular area
• Concentrates on identified issues with clear goals to develop specific skills and behaviour
• Disproportionately benefits the person being coached
• Sets a time-bound relationship defined to meet specific goals and objectives

How to Get the Most Out of Your Mentoring Opportunity

Mentees must be active learners in this relationship, but also active participants in furthering the development of their mentors.  Mentees must be open to sharing their career goals, successes and failures and receiving feedback and advice, as detailed below:

Core Performance Expectations

• Be willing to discuss failures and successes
• Demonstrate a genuine interest in being helped by your mentor
• Demonstrate application of learning obtained through the relationship
• Exhibit a desire to improve in a certain area or learn a new skill
• Identify professional development goals, priorities and career interests
• Listen actively
• Provide honest feedback to your mentor
• Seek ways to achieve objectives and contribute ideas for solving particular problems

Time Commitment Obligations

•  Be accountable for scheduling meetings with your mentor
• Be respectful of your mentor’s time and schedule
• Commit the requisite time and energy
• Do the necessary pre-work for mentoring conversations
• Follow up on action items identified during development conversations
• Informally communicate on a regular basis with your mentor

Mentoring Citizenship

• Attend mentoring-related meetings and events
• Maintain privacy/confidentiality of development conversations
• Provide input to assess and improve the mentoring programme
• Take advantage of all resources offered
• Track development and career progress