Mentoring,
coaching, facilitating, moderating – we all hear these words when talking about
a great Project Manager. Do we really understand what they mean? In the next
two posts I would like to write about
mentoring. Definitions and types this time. Benefits and interview with my mentor next
time.
We already know from my
previous post that the majority of
learning comes from interaction with others: 70% of development comes from
learning on the job and 20% from learning from others and this is where
mentoring comes in. Only 10% of development comes from formal training.
 |
| Flash mentoring with Martin Price - Thomson Reuters London Unconference 2012 |
What
is mentoring?
“A relationship in which a more experienced
colleague uses their greater knowledge and understanding of the work or
workplace to support the development of a more junior or inexperienced member
of staff” (UK Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development)
"Mentoring is to support and encourage
people to manage their own learning in order that they may maximise their
potential, develop their skills, improve their performance" (The Oxford
School of Coaching & Mentoring)
Types
of mentoring:
•
One-to-one Mentoring
•
Peer mentoring
•
Reverse mentoring
•
Mentoring circle
As probably
one-to-one and peer mentoring are the most known types of mentoring, reverse,
flash, speed and mentoring circles or round tables are getting more and more
popular these days.
In the reverse
mentoring, the mentee has more overall experience (typically as a result of
age) than the mentor (who is typically younger), but the mentor has more
knowledge in a particular area. More on this type of mentoring can be found here.
“Mentoring Circles™ were developed by Inova Consultancy in 2001 and
use an innovative methodology which combines the benefits gained from one to
one mentoring with those from working with a group of peers. A combination of
action learning, coaching and peer mentoring principles provides mentees with a
wider source of support and inspiration for idea generation and greater
creativity in problem solving during crucial times in their life”. More can be
found here.
Another popular
type of mentoring is flash mentoring
- defined as “a one-time meeting or discussion that enables an individual to
learn and seek guidance from a more experienced person who can pass on relevant
knowledge and experience. The purpose of flash mentoring is to provide a
valuable learning opportunity for less experienced individuals while requiring
a limited commitment of time and resources for more. A variation of sequential
flash mentoring is speed mentoring”.
In speed mentoring the mentors (experts
on different fields) sit in a semi-circle facing outwards. The exact same
number of mentees sit on chairs facing them. They have dedicated time (10-20
minutes) to discuss the topic they are interested in before moving on. Each mentee
has a chance to speak to a few different professionals. An example of a speed
mentoring here.
We can also come
across a group flash or group speed mentoring, sometimes called “round table”.
In a group flash mentoring an expert - mentor
is paired with a small group of mentees for a one-time meeting or discussion. A
variation of this flash mentoring technique is group speed mentoring, where a
mentor meets with a small group of mentees for, some time and then rotates to
another group of mentees. Round table is a similar to flash/speed form of discussion.
Participants agree on a specific topic to discuss and debate. Each person is
given equal right to participate, because of the circular layout usually used
in round table discussions.
 |
| Thomson Reuters London Unconference 2012 |
Nowadays, where there are a lot of project
management conferences and we do not know which one is worth attending, organizers, bearing in mind that learning from
others is more beneficial than just listening to a presentation add different
forms of mentoring to the events. Let me
quote my colleague Hannah Kidson from Thomson Reuters who was taking about our
internal event called unconference: “This wasn’t your normal sit down and
listen event, we wanted to get people on their feet, talking to each other,
sharing ideas and even presenting to each other on a wide range of project
management topics. Leading up to the event, people attending had been asked to
volunteer to lead a half hour session on any topic related to project
management they wanted to. We had a great response and were able to offer
30 presentations for people to attend, split over 5 time slots throughout the
day”
If you find “round table” formula attractive
please join me at Agile
Management 2013 conference in Warsaw (13-14 Nov), where I will be
facilitating tables on: Ideal Agile Team, Agile in Virtual Environment and
Agile and Infrastructure Projects. And on the 11th December I will
be in Berlin at Advanced
Project Management for the Utility and Power Generation Industry conference
chairing a table on “Challenges of Implementing Agile Project Management”.
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