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Mentoring

Assisting Your Climb Up The Corporate Ladder

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Agenda

• Introduction

• Types of Mentors

• Mentor Overview and Benefits

• Protégé Overview and Benefits

• Finding a Mentor

• Point of View: Mentor

• Point of View: Protégé

• Q&A

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A Mentor Is

• Experienced

• Honest

• Open

• Impartial

• Available

• Trustworthy• Enthusiastic• A Resource• An Advisor• A Sounding Board

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A Mentor Is Not

• A Psychiatrist• Your Career Planner • Necessarily an Executive• Someone who tells you what to do• Your problem fixer

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A Mentor Can Be

• In your area or major• In a different area or major• Student, TA, Prof, Advisor, Counselor• Any level in a company • Work Peer (full-time, intern, co-op)• Your manager• Your friend• From a different company

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Mentoring

• Question: What do I really want from this relationship?

• Self assessment is the first step

• What are the goals and objectives??

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Who am I?

How do I see myself?

How do ‘they’

see me?

What am I

aiming for?

Execute!!Begin with the end in

mind!

Right person, wrong seat

Myers-Briggs

Resume

7 Habits of Highly

Effective People

Stephen Covey

Right person, Right seat

MENTORMENTOR

360

Just Do it

KnowledgeRelationships

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Help req’d in job

Looking for different job

Personal Issues

Difficult boss

Career development

Marital / Divorce

Difficult peers

Job training

Bored / Need a change

Child Issues- Teenager- Child daycare

Aging parents

Abuse

Medical

Families

Self

Internal (current organization)

External

Desire

Stepping stone to future goal

Affecting work (high level)Must share with boss as it can affect job performanceand potentially work hours

PsychologistFriends/FamilySpiritualOutside counselingresources

Internal

External

Self Assessment, 360

Retrain

Redeploy

Why do you think you need

a mentor?

Promotion Opportunities

Visibility Career Advice

Help in my job

Personal Issues

Self Assessment to Identify the ‘Why’

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When Do You Need a Mentor?

• Throughout your educational experiences

• Throughout your internships & co-ops

• Throughout your full-time professional career

• When looking for self improvement

• When looking for skills improvement

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Types of Mentoring

• Peer Mentoring

• Small Group Mentoring

• 1:1 Mentoring– Formal (Assigned)– Informal

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Types of Mentors

• Technical

• Work Life Balance

• Personal Growth

• Career Growth

• Short Term

• Long Term

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Types of Mentors

• Technical:– How do I do my job better?

– How do I use computer aided design?

– How do I ….?

– Who knows how to do this?

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Types of Mentors

• Work Life Balance:– How do I make time for family and work?– How do I best further my education and work?– I am ready to start my family and will have a

small child at home. How have you dealt with these challenges?

– How do I deal with the responsibility of an ageing parent?

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Types of Mentors

• Personal growth:– How do I develop better people skills?– How do I develop communication skills?– How do I build my own self confidence?– How do I succeed as a woman in engineering?

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Types of Mentors

• Career growth:– What career path tools are available?– How can I broaden my job responsibilities?– What skills do I need to develop? – What assignments do I need to have to get to

my career goal?– How can I be more successful in interviews?

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Mentoring vs. Networking

MentorsNetwork

FriendsFamily

Co-workersAcquaintances

NeutralSpecific

Often professional

“I really just need to talk”

Generic

Warm

In any circle

Goal-oriented

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Mentoring Overview

• Mentoring relationships do not need to be long term

• The more mentors the better

• Mentoring relationships help people break through ‘organizational silos’

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Mentoring Overview

• Mentoring relationships need concrete goals and objectives

• Mentoring relationships empower a person to take charge of their own development

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Mentors Benefit Too

• Realizing how much they DO know

• Opportunity for personal growth

• Realizing that they share more with others than they realize

• Opportunity to give back

• Opportunity to feel more accomplished in their career

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Benefits of Being a Mentor

• Learning from your protégé

• Opportunity to meet someone new

• Realizing that you share more with others than you realize

• Feedback that you might not otherwise have access to

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Benefits of Being a Protégé

• Opportunity to extend your network

• Development of a support system

• Gaining different opinions and outlooks

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How to Be a Protégé

• Ask yourself – What do you REALLY want from this relationship?

• Provide your mentor with a resume prior to your first meeting

• Ask for what you want. Be proactive. Be honest with yourself.

• It doesn’t need to take more time• It doesn’t have to be formal

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How to Be a Protégé

• Listen, Listen, Listen

• Be conscious of offerings from Mentor (time!)

• Show appreciation for offerings from Mentor

• Be prepared for meetings/discussions – often this is above and beyond regular responsibilities

• If a meeting is planned and you don’t have anything to discuss, reschedule!

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How to Be a Protégé

• Share your experiences, personality, interests and accomplishments

• Ask about the same from the Mentor

• Offer to visit each other’s location and share travel if applicable

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Starting the Relationship

• Set up initial meeting • Be prepared with a self-introduction.

– A 30-second introduction that tells:• Who you are

• What you do

• Whom you work for and

• The impact of your work

• Be comfortable bragging about what you have done without being too boastful. Tell your story.

• Share WHY you’ve approached them

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Relationship Building

• Start small. Let the relationship evolve. Build rapport over time

• Try subtlety – leave the word ‘mentor’ out of the conversation

• Celebrate your successes together• Not all good people make good

mentors

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Goal Setting

• Set Goals individually – alone – Why do you want a Mentor

• Participate in goal setting training/review together

• Agree up norms of relationship and level of formality on goal setting and attainment

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Goal Setting

• Share initial goals with each other

• Initiate building relationship– 1-2 meetings

• Further define, refine and agree upon goals together

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Moving On

• Mentoring relationships may have a finite or undefined duration

• Goals are achieved• A mentoring relationship may not have chemistry

or be a good fit• Be honest when it’s time to move on• Thank the mentor for their time• Remember that the wrong mentor today may be a

good resource in the future

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Official GM Mentoring Programs

• GM Mentoring Program– For new employees (start date after 6/1/2000)– Lasts 1 years– “show them the ropes”

• AGW Mentoring program– For Active and Associate AGW Members– Lasts 1 year– Voluntary

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External Mentors

• Other Alliance Groups

• Online – Mentornet.net

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Informal Mentoring

• Your own informal mentoring network– The person who sits over the wall

– Your mom

– Your dad

– Your manager

– Your officemate

– A former manager

– A member of your religious community

– A member of your social circle

– Etc!!!

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How to Find an Informal Mentor

• Decide what you need • Who has the skills that you want to acquire• Who has had the experience that you’re seeking• Who knows the skills and pre-requirements to the

position you wish to attain• Who is the best manager• Who is the most effective at meeting• Who has their ear to the ground

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How to Find an Informal Mentor

• Look for someone who can assess your performance (career specific)

• Look for someone in your network• Mention your needs to your network. They may be

able to suggest someone.• Pick someone who you get along with • Don’t pick someone who will only praise you OR

be overly critical• Approach someone you respect and ask

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Mentor’s Point of View

– Be Proactive…take the initiative to keep in touch– Keep in touch regularly, formally and informally– Mentors can learn a lot from their protégés…make

sure to provide feedback/learning opportunities– Be specific about goals, help you need– Know when it’s not working…and bring closure– Be realistic about your expectations of the

relationship

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– Communication– Take an Active Role– Two Way Street– ‘Bring It’ Factor– Give Back

Protégé’s Point of View

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Question and Answers

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 References

• “Strategies: Creating A Mentoring Culture”, R. Emelo and L. M. Francis. Paragon Leadership International Execunews Oct. 28, 2004 http://www.envoynews.com/paragon/e_article000196424.cfm

• Be Your Own Mentor: Strategies from Top Women on the Secrets of Success, Sheila Wellington and Catalyst, with Betty

• GM Affinity Group for Women http://agw.gm.com/