PMO | Building Career Through Mentorship

​Many organizations offer a mentorship program for career development. We give tips on onboarding to a mentorship program, setting the proper exceptions, and getting the most benefits from your mentorship connection. To start, let's first set the expectation. Mentor is not someone who will tells you how to get things done.  Instead,  they can who can you see more potential in you and assist you to find out what you can do. In other words, mentorship works only if we are ready to make some changes and learn ourselves.  We share some tips  to help you make decisions.

Setting Goals 
Defining a clear goal determine the success of each mentoring session. Starting with understanding the needs and challenges and then defining SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound). An example goal is "In the 6 months mentoring session, I'd like to fully understand organization culture, create my PMO team culture practices, establish PMO vision, strategy, and performance KPIs. " Discuss the goal with the mentor, and make sure there is the enthusiasm that helps move things forward. 

Setting Expectations of Relationship 
A relationship with your mentor should be established by getting to know each other. Don't forget to ask about your mentor's professional background, interests, mentoring experiences, and what they plan to help the most. ​

The following is the list of information to share as a mentee: 

• ​Why do you participate in the mentoring program? This can be a job, hobby, or extracurricular activity.
• What are your job and career-related interests, professional challenges, and concerns? 
• What are the projects you have worked on, books you read, and classes are taken? 
• What are your hobbies, favorite travel plans, music, text, and movies? 

A mentee needs to know what a mentor can't do: 

• Directly telling you what to do and not do: A mentor should be a role model. Your mentor might share suggestions on what they would do in a similar situation and how they approach the problem, but it's up to the mentee to decide the best course of action. 
• Give you a performance review: Mentors should be outside your own management chain so you can have open and honest feedback. The mentoring discussion should be kept confidential. 

​Creating an Action Plan 
After the goals are set, the following step is to create action plans. It's the list of tasks needed to meet the goal. The following is an example action plan. "1. Review the corporate culture and have an in-depth discussion for understanding. 2. Create PMO team culture guidance. 3. Create and review the PMO team vision and strategy. 4. Create the team-building plan, including recruiting scorecard 5. Create a PMO KPI dashboard and performance review plan. " The more specific the actions are, the more possible the plan get completed as planned. 

The following are suggestions of actions for mentees:

• Create a clear goal and plan 
• Setup meetings and drive the process
• Be open to a different viewpoint and try new approaches 
• Listen, share, and contribute ideas and thoughts. 
• Keep all the discussions confidential.

​Regularly Checking In
During the mentoring session, keep revisiting the goals to make sure progress is made, everything is on track, and make adjustments as needed. At a particular time, summarize the progress and discuss the achievements.

The following are suggested actions for regular check-ins:

• Is the goal still clear and relevant? 
• Is the relationship healthy? 
• Is the communication clear and concise? 

Closing the Session
At the end of the mentoring session, start with a summary of what was learned and achieved and celebrate the success. Ask the mentor to suggest preparing for the future to reduce anxiety about the change around the corner. ​ Then redone the relationship post the mentoring session and communicate the future engagement plan, such as what's the connection and how often to connect. It has to be a mutually desired plan. 

In summary, a mentee should be in the driving seat to nurture the mentoring relationship and make it impactful. ​

Question to Ask When Working with Your Mentors

1. Do I have clear goals for the mentoring partnership and for myself? Am I on course?
2. Am I documenting the action items needed to meet my goals by creating tasks in your Mentoring Plan?
3. Could I have done something better? 
4. Do I need to extend the mentoring period?