Mentoring Function Model

The PMO's project management "mentoring" function model prompts considerations for how and when to use seasoned and skilled senior level project managers to assist other project managers, project teams, and project executives who are new to the professional discipline or new to the organization. This model offers options for a formal or informal program structure for mentoring and for the scope of mentoring a PMO can pursue.

The primary activities of the PMO's project management "mentoring" function model are depicted in Figure 13.1. Each activity is described in the following subsections.

Figure 13.1: "Mentoring" Function Model

Establish Project Management Mentoring Program

The PMO should collaborate with senior managers in the project environment, first to gain their insight on the value and purpose of project management mentoring, and then to solicit their ideas on the extent to which the PMO should pursue the "mentoring" function. This collaboration effort can be an informal survey or discussion with individuals and groups, or a more formal functional design activity. As well, the PMO should prepare and distribute its own recommendations to set the frame of reference for discussions. When sufficient input has been received as guidance, the PMO can begin its work to establish a viable project management mentoring program, as outlined in the following subsections.

Develop the Mentoring Approach

Project management mentoring should be recognized for value that goes beyond the simple measures of time spent to conduct mentoring and the immediate benefits to the project effort. Although these elements are important, in mentoring program design the PMO must ensure that a larger purpose is served, i.e., that the organization develops increased capability in the performance of project management through the broad transfer of skill and knowledge in the project management environment. To a certain extent, this even transcends the discipline of project management. Therefore, in preparing an approach to project management mentoring, the PMO will first have to consider the type of mentor-prot g relationships that will be pursued. Then it can examine how to initiate and conduct project management mentoring that best fits in the current project management environment.

Define the Mentor-Prot g Relationship

The assignment and use of mentors in the project management environment is an excellent way for the relevant organization to gain the greatest leverage from its investments in project management training, methodology development, and other professional development activities. The PMO must determine the depth and extent of the mentor-prot g relationships that will be created as a result of establishing a project management mentoring program.

The professional interaction between mentor and prot g (project manager) or group of prot g s (project team members) is an advanced one that provides for one-on-one collaboration, discussion, and information exchanges. The following three subsections describe the progressive types of relationships that the PMO should consider in defining this interaction between mentor and prot g within the project environment.

Project Relationship. The prot g can expect to gain guidance, knowledge, and skills to succeed on the current project. The primary responsibility of the mentor is to convey experience and insight to assist the prot g in the accomplishment of project objectives. This is usually done by providing personal instruction and facilitation for the prot g to achieve hands-on learning and understanding of the application of effective project management practices. This relationship tends to be more formal because of the focus on specific support objectives, and it is generally temporary, as completion of work efforts normally tend to discontinue the relationship. However, the benefits of the learning experience can continue long after the prot g and mentor have parted ways, as the prot g further develops professional habits and uses self-empowerment resulting from the mentoring received. In some cases, the mentor can be recalled at a subsequent time to repeat or reinforce information and practices.

This is probably the most common type of mentor-prot g relationship across most organizations and industries. It tends to be cost effective and can be applied in a just-in-time manner to meet specific project or project manager needs. This type of mentor-prot g relationship also enables use of either internal senior project managers or external senior project management consultants as mentors.

Practice Relationship. The prot g can expect all of the mentoring support identified above on an as needed, project-by-project basis. However, in this practice level relationship, the prot g , normally a project manager, also will receive extended and more personalized mentor support. In this type of mentor-prot g relationship, the mentor helps the prot g address individual learning of project management skills and competencies, and provides advice and counsel on related career development needs, possibly including preparation of a personal career development plan. As well, mentoring at this relationship level should include expanded topics of consideration such as leadership, customer service, vendor management, etc.

This mentoring relationship also would be applicable to project team members, particularly those individuals seeking self-improvement and progression within the project management environment. Of course, this works best when the relevant organization also provides a project manager career ladder to pursue. However, professional development for project managers and project team members also can be accomplished on an individual basis and without formal career progression within the organization.

In this type of relationship, the prot g has ongoing access to mentoring support. There may be a mentor request and scheduling process, but that should not be unduly complicated. As well, the PMO's pool of mentors that are made available to assist project managers can be formed in one of two ways. In the first approach, all mentors in the PMO pool are available to all project managers. Each mentor is trained to deliver the full range of mentoring services from project support to individual competency development. The second approach provides similarly qualified mentors, but now they are assigned to specific project managers. This enables each mentor to provide dedicated assistance and support to the prot g . In this type of ongoing relationship, the PMO maximizes the prot g 's benefits by providing a trusted coach to use as a "sounding board" for ideas, issues, and career-planning deliberation. Normally, such mentors would be internal senior project managers. External senior project management consultants could perform some of these mentor duties if engaged for extended periods.

Professional Relationship. The prot g can expect the same mentoring support and guidance as for the previously described project and practice types of mentor-prot g relationships. However, this type of relationship is likely to be unique in most project environments because of its expanded focus. It addresses not only project management competency, but also business competency. This mentor-prot g relationship is one that prepares the prot g for advancement within the relevant organization. It brings to bear mentoring that includes a full range of business and professional development topics — accounting and finance, global business development, business unit management, and other topics relevant to the emerging executive.

Mentors in this type of relationship obviously must have appropriate experience and positions within the relevant organization. The PMO may have to consider looking outside the project management environment to identify qualified senior managers as mentors for this advanced type of relationship, particularly if that project management environment is itself still maturing toward becoming a separate business entity. However, such mentors should be identified from within the relevant organization.

Structure the Mentoring Engagement

It is sometimes said that there is no mentoring process, per se. Each mentoring engagement is unique and tailored to the needs of the organization and the prot g s involved. However, there are some common activities among all mentoring engagements that require conscious deliberation and planning by the PMO. The PMO should construct a standard process for examining the following or similar items to provide structure for each mentoring engagement:

• What is the purpose of mentoring support?: There is frequent temptation to view mentors as "more project management bodies" and assign them to active project management roles. While this practice may relieve immediate staff demands or shortfalls, it does nothing to transfer the skills and knowledge of the mentor back into the project management environment. However, due consideration can be given to the fact that in some situations, business decisions must be made to assign a generally highly qualified project management mentor to manage a portion of a high-profile project for which there is a particularly urgent need for the mentor's skills. The PMO should establish the mentor's purpose for each engagement that is supported.

• Who are the prot g s that the mentor(s) will support?: It is important to specifically identify the recipients of mentoring support: project managers, project teams, project executives. In particular, it is important to ensure that these individuals are aware of their roles as prot g s to enable the professional mentor-prot g relationship to be established early in the assignment. It also allows the mentor to prepare for the engagement by knowing who the prot g is in advance.

• How many mentors are needed?: The PMO must ultimately assess needs and compile metrics to determine the level of mentor coverage needed for various types of projects and types of prot g s. However, typical assignments have indicated one mentor can support between four and ten project managers. This includes direct support to the individual project manager and general support to the associated project team. The exact number of mentors needed relies prominently on an examination of the capability of project managers, the nature and size of their projects, project visibility and urgency, and the stage of project team development. A rule of thumb is to start conservatively, with one or a small number of mentors for the number of projects and needs at hand. Additional mentors can be assigned as needed.

• What is the planned duration of mentoring support?: The intended period of mentoring support must be identified to maximize the effectiveness of mentoring services. The prot g must know how long to expect mentoring support as part of planning and scheduling the required mentor's time, and as a matter of reliance on mentor availability. The mentor must know the anticipated duration of the engagement to properly plan and conduct support activities that fit within the allotted time frame and avoid partially completed mentoring efforts. Mentoring support schedules can always be adjusted if the engagement is completed earlier or later than contemplated, but with awareness of impacts against the original schedule. To that end, the PMO may schedule mentors for successive assignments, so planning each engagement facilitates mentor availability for subsequent assignments.

• What skill or knowledge will be conveyed by the mentor to the prot g ?: This may be a difficult question to answer, and it may be deferred until the mentor arrives to provide support. However, early determination of this information will enable the mentor to better anticipate the nature of the intervention. Moreover, such information could help the mentor identify needs for technical publications or other references for use as mentoring-engagement support materials.

The PMO should develop a structured approach to project management mentoring engagements that includes indications of what mentor preparation activities are needed, the time frame in which mentoring will be performed, and the prot g audience to be encountered.

Develop Mentoring Support Activities

The PMO must identify the types of mentoring activities that it will provide. Mentoring support options should cover the full range of project management topics, consistent with the PMO's capability and maturity to conduct project management and deliver mentoring support. Advanced PMOs also may extend mentoring support into areas of professional development for project managers and project team members. As well, mentoring support can be used to provide advice and counsel to executives, senior managers, and other stakeholders that are in or interface with the project management environment.

The PMO should identify the type of mentoring support requested or required for each mentoring engagement. The assigned mentor uses this information to establish the scope of the engagement. Then, the mentor should begin each assignment by working with the prot g (or groups of prot g s) to review the relationship purpose, outline how they will work together, and identify and agree upon what they expect to accomplish. The mentor will normally take the lead on this initial collaboration activity.

The following are several types of mentoring support that the PMO can provide in association with this PMO function. It should communicate those mentoring support options it makes available to the project management environment of the relevant organization after it has established the capability to deliver each:

• Project management competency development: The mentor helps the prot g to develop skill and capability in applying established practices and principles of effective project management. This includes assisting the prot g in performing process steps and using tools within the context of project management activities. This can be accomplished as a one-on-one effort or in a workshop setting for a group of prot g s.

• Group facilitation : The mentor either will help prot g s, particularly project managers, to plan and conduct project team activities, or the mentor may personally facilitate those activities. The latter is more common at the beginning of the mentoring effort and could lessen as the prot g gains confidence and capability under the mentor's guidance. This type of mentoring is prevalent in support of project and solution planning activities, project team formation and development activities, progress review and collaboration meetings, project close out and lessons-learned feedback sessions, and some customer/stakeholder meetings.

• Prot g review and critique/collaboration: The mentor will review and critique prot g performance as a natural part of most mentoring engagements. The prot g should recognize the value of feedback as an important professional development experience. At times, mentoring support may be requested to perform specific reviews of project management performance or project management deliverables. This is an effort that is separated from review of technical deliveries.

• Project assessment: The mentor will provide guidance and assistance to assess project progress and achievement of project objectives. This can be done upon project completion or at interim points in the project management life cycle. Similarly, mentors can participate in departmental or organizational assessments of project management capability and maturity, particularly serving as experts for analysis and interpretation of assessment results.

• Executive counsel: The mentor will meet with executives and senior managers to facilitate their understanding of modern project management concepts and to collaborate on strategies for developing a comprehensive project management practice within the relevant organization.

• Professional development: The mentor in this case is uniquely qualified to assist individuals in their planning and performance of professional development activities. Generally, the prot g is assigned within an advanced project management environment in which there is a discernable project management career path. To that end, the mentor will provide advice and guidance regarding the prot g 's pursuit of project management training, technical training, professional certification, career planning, and other professional advancement activities.

The PMO's capability to deliver different types of mentoring support will be a factor of the skill and competencies of available resources, of which senior project managers and senior project management consultants are the prominent groups. The PMO should consider each of the above mentoring support options and develop those within its capability. Other mentoring support options needed by the relevant organization can be added by the PMO as necessary.

Identify Mentor-Prot g Roles and Responsibilities

The PMO's work to establish a project management mentoring program should clearly define the respective roles and responsibilities of the primary participants, the mentor and the prot g . This enables the participants to understand the activity and become involved in the give and take of the ensuing professional interaction.

The PMO can use the following suggested content for mentoring program roles and responsibilities as guidance for creating its own. These roles and responsibilities should be communicated within the project management environment, but particularly to project managers and project team members about to encounter the mentoring experience. Mentors will gain understanding of their roles and responsibilities in associated mentor training activities and will review them prior to each mentoring engagement.

The roles and responsibilities for project management mentors are presented first, followed by the roles and responsibilities for prot g s.

Mentor Roles and Responsibilities

The mentor brings to the engagement requisite knowledge, experience, and a commitment to the professional practice of project management. The primary responsibility of the mentor is to help the prot g focus on what is important in the context of performing project management. The mentor helps the prot g to identify and achieve project objectives and, at times, personal and professional goals. Mentors are particularly observant to identify when prot g s hit "roadblocks" and appear unable to move forward to the next step or activity. Mentoring interventions are applied to reduce and remove such problems and to allow appropriate progress to be achieved.

A mentor is a seasoned professional project manager who serves as an advocate of the prot g and a role model in the discipline of project management. The mentor helps solve immediate problems alongside the prot g but, more importantly, helps the prot g to learn concepts and apply new project management skills and knowledge that enables the prot g to carry on independently in future endeavors. The mentor generally works with an individual project manager, although the mentor also will work with associated team members to help them improve the team's overall performance.

The professional demands placed on mentors require them to act in various capacities in their interactions with prot g s. Some prevalent mentoring roles include: coach, counselor, teacher, adviser, facilitator, guide, master, expert, leader, and dedicated project management professional.

The PMO should devise its own set of mentor responsibility guidelines, consistent with organizational culture and needs within the project environment. Consider the following list of suggested mentor responsibilities. Mentors will:

• Set and maintain realistic expectations: The mentor will normally be the one who controls the pace of the mentoring relationship, especially at the outset. In this capacity, the mentor has to be the arbiter of what can reasonably be expected from the prot g . This includes managing expectations for the relationship, for prot g achievement, and for mentor involvement. Caution must be used to avoid setting expectations too high, as that will only frustrate all involved. Conversely, setting expectations too low wastes time and causes similar frustration. The mentor is ultimately responsible for fine-tuning and managing expectations in the mentor-prot g relationship.

• Be reasonably available to assist with prot g needs: The mentor should ensure that the prot g understands how to make contact, and the mentor should be reasonably available to meet the prot g 's planned and unplanned needs. The ground rules for what is "reasonable" availability should be mutually established. This should be based on the scope of the mentoring engagement and with regard for the mentor's additional professional duties and responsibility to other prot g s.

• Be on time for prot g meetings and appointments: Prot g s are professional project managers whose time is critical and in high demand. They should be treated accordingly. Being on time for meetings and appointments with prot g s is an indication of mentor reliability. It also demonstrates respect for the prot g , which is a vital characteristic of an effective mentoring relationship.

• Maintain appropriate frequency of contact with the prot g : The mentor will have to apply good judgment in determining the frequency of contact with the prot g . This will often be a challenge. The mentor must be available to the prot g , yet must allow the prot g room to grow. The mentor must try to find the right timing and schedule to both develop the relationship and provide time for the prot g to apply learning from the previous contact with the mentor.

• Provide empathetic listening and support: The mentor must demonstrate understanding of the prot g 's particular situation, otherwise the prot g is unlikely to participate fully in the mentoring activity. Mentors, as coaches, should discern when to provide a friendly ear to prot g issues and concerns. The mentor should lend emotional support, when appropriate.

• Be courteous and considerate: Application of "the golden rule" is a desired trait to carry into the project management environment.

• Be open to prot g 's needs and opinions: The ultimate purpose of mentoring is to meet the prot g 's needs. Therefore the mentor must always keep those needs in mind and also recognize that those needs will evolve and change as the prot g develops professionally. Furthermore, the prot g , like the mentor, is a professional and thus will have opinions or ideas that must be duly considered, evaluated, and adopted if appropriate. In particular, mentors should recognize that the prot g 's previous experience has led to the formulation of opinions that have value equal to the mentor's recommendations. In situations of "deadlock," the path provided by the prot g should be strongly considered.

• Distinguish different prot g s: A mentor will typically work with several prot g s at one time. It is important that mentors do not characterize each prot g as similar to another and then work with them from a set of common generalities. Every prot g is an individual with separate bases of learning and professional experience. By keeping the distinctions of every prot g separate, the mentor will be able to build a strong relationship with each.

• Be willing to apply extra effort: The project manager's job is usually one of continuous extra effort. This may require mentoring support at off hours or late time frames. To facilitate achievement of effective mentoring services, the mentor may have to be flexible in schedule at times. As well, the mentor, as a role model, must be willing to demonstrate extra effort that helps achieve mentoring relationship objectives.

• Alert prot g s to issues and opportunities: Mentoring is not a passive role. The mentor, applying advanced skill and experience, must always be on the lookout for impending issues and problems or be ready to apply insight to an approaching opportunity. Per the nature of the engagement, the mentor should intervene immediately when an urgent reaction is necessary. However, the mentor also can provide indicators and allow time for the prot g to discover problems, issues, and opportunities when possible.

• Share success and failure experiences: Learning can be a frustrating process. Sometimes prot g s encounter mistakes that lead to a reduction in self-confidence. Prot g s appreciate hearing that the lessons they are now learning are par for the course, and that the mentor's professional development was not so dissimilar. The mentor should use personal experience — both successes and failures — as a teaching tool that helps to expedite the prot g 's professional development.

• Give and receive constructive feedback: Feedback is a critical element of the mentoring process. The mentor should provide consistent and frequent feedback on prot g performance and progress. The approach to this information exchange may be gentle and tactful or, if appropriate, somewhat forceful. Of course, the mentor also should be poised to receive replies and feedback from the prot g . This will help the mentor to identify and understand the prot g 's more prominent needs. It will also enable the mentor to formulate the most effective approach for interactions and to apply any behavioral adjustments needed in the relationship.

The PMO should deliberate and decide what the mentor responsibilities will be in the relevant organization. With consideration for the list above, the PMO can begin to examine mentor responsibilities by asking the question, "If I were the prot g , what would I be looking for from me?"

Prot g Roles and Responsibilities

The prot g must be an active and highly involved participant for the mentor-prot g relationship to be successful. Sometimes, the mentor's initial efforts are too focused merely on developing the prot g 's involvement in the mentoring engagement. The creation of prot g roles and responsibilities should help to reduce the likelihood of this initial mentoring support constraint. This is important because both prot g and mentor need to step off smartly and quickly to obtain maximum benefit from the interaction.

A prot g is usually both a student of project management and a business or technical professional. Some prot g s may have years or decades of experience in their technical fields or business practices, but little formal exposure to the concepts and content of modern project management. Therefore, it is challenging for many such prot g s to pursue new professional directions or to consider alternative approaches to their work efforts. The prot g 's role in the project management environment is one that requires examination of what can be learned and applied to achieve new successes.

The PMO must construct and communicate the responsibilities of prot g s in a mentoring engagement. It can begin with consideration of the following suggested prot g responsibilities. Prot g s will:

• Welcome the mentor's interest and guidance: Prot g s distinctly have professional experience and many have achieved senior manager status through their career-long professional efforts. The mentoring experience is not intended to dismiss or diminish the prot g 's professional advancements. Rather, mentoring support is usually arranged to provide insight and guidance in new areas not yet encountered or experienced by the prot g . For example, the prot g , as a senior project manager, may fully understand a particular project management concept or practice, but that same individual may have limited experience in facilitating a team to perform that activity. The mentor will assist. Likewise, project managers who are new to the discipline or new to the organization may require the insight that a project management mentor can provide. Prot g s ranging across the full spectrum of professional experience and seniority should recognize that resistance to the mentor's efforts would likely cause the engagement to fail. Instead, prot g s are encouraged to welcome an assigned mentor and to draw every benefit from the mentoring relationship.

• Be proactive in learning: The prot g should be proactive in taking responsibility for all learning activities and not wait to be led to new knowledge and skill. The prot g should use the mentor as a learning resource, actively soliciting specific knowledge or insight from the mentor when needed.

• Accept and react to constructive feedback: The prot g should be open to constructive feedback and accept information that the mentor provides without interpreting it as a personal evaluation. Feedback is the primary deliverable of the mentoring engagement, and it is a key mechanism by which a prot g will learn to apply new skills and knowledge. Likewise, the prot g can provide feedback to the mentor regarding how well the prot g understands and accepts the guidance provided, and what will be done to apply the content of what is learned from the mentor.

• Identify and examine needs and deficiencies : The prot g must be open and sincere in the identification of needs and deficiencies related to the purpose of the mentoring relationship. The prot g should work with the mentor to jointly examine causes and formulate solutions for improvement. The prot g must be open and honest in this examination in order to gain maximum benefit from the mentoring support. In the absence of openness, the mentor can proceed only on what is observed or perceived. The prot g 's openness will close the information gap in that approach and allow the mentor to likewise openly share personal, experience-based solutions.

• Provide mentoring process feedback: Prot g s should share with mentors their perceptions about the mentoring relationship and process. In particular, they should frequently review the expectations set early in the mentoring engagement. Prot g s can and should share personal reactions to the mentoring process as a means of improving the mentor-prot g relationship and maximizing the opportunity for a successful mentoring engagement. Issues and concerns should be discussed and resolved for mutual benefit. Any solution that allows the mentor to continue providing support and the prot g to be successful in the learning experience is a good resolution of issues and concerns.

• Be proactive in contributing ideas: The prot g should use the mentor as a sounding board to test ideas and premises that can be applied to the work effort. The prot g should particularly demonstrate this capacity after several learning experiences with the mentor. Initially, the mentor may solicit the prot g 's ideas. As the relationship matures and the prot g develops new skills and knowledge from learning, the prot g should be proactive in contributing concepts, ideas, and solutions to the work at hand.

• Address failures along with successes: The prot g should make every effort to build confidence in the mentor to enable discussions regarding professional successes and failures. Recognizing that the extensive experience of the mentor is a result of the mentor having similar personal experience, this information sharing should be viewed as an opportunity to learn from the mentor's failures and successes — without having to personally repeat them as many times in one's own career. As professionals, the prot g and mentor together cannot shirk this responsibility, which is a key element of the mentoring relationship.

• Facilitate the mentor-prot g relationship: Prot g s comprise half the mentor-prot g equation. They are equal partners with the mentor, and both should be working toward enhancements, improvements, and innovations that influence professional success for the prot g . If the mentor-prot g relationship is to be successful, the prot g must contribute to developing mutual respect, trust, and openness as the foundation for this professional relationship. A viable starting place for such relationship development is a common commitment to the achievement of mutual goals.

Determine Mentor Sourcing Process

The PMO must identify the process by which mentors are assigned to support different project management and prot g needs and activities. Four processes are presented for consideration. The first three processes represent internal sourcing of mentors. The fourth process is for external sourcing of mentors. Each is briefly described in the following subsections.

Create Mentor Positions on the PMO Staff

This approach to mentor sourcing provides for one or more full-time, permanent mentor positions on the PMO staff. The PMO will hire or transfer in qualified senior project managers for this position. The primary responsibilities of this position will be to provide professional mentoring services as prescribed by the PMO.

The assigned mentor(s) also will be available to conduct and administer the PMO's mentor program — for the startup effort and for ongoing management and oversight. The position may even manage one or more of the alternative mentor sourcing activities described below. However, the greatest benefit of this mentor sourcing approach is probably realized by the delivery of highly qualified and dedicated mentoring support to project managers and project team members, not to mention opportunities to provide advice and counsel to senior managers and executives across a full range of project management topics.

The high quality and dedication aspects of this approach are achieved because there is a focus on project management excellence that is inherently built into the position description. The assigned mentor(s) will have the time and the purpose to develop professional self-capability in project management that ultimately will be shared throughout the relevant organization. Mentors assigned to the PMO will be able to fully develop their critical skills of listening, coaching, facilitating, problem solving, etc. They will concentrate on examining ways to apply state-of-the-art practices, conduct reading and research to learn about new and emerging concepts, collaborate with others in the industry and in the project management discipline to share insights and innovation — and then convey all of their knowledge and skill to prot g s in the project management environment.

Establish a Rotational Mentor Program

The preferred approach for mentor sourcing is to have senior project managers serve as mentors on a full-time basis. If a permanent PMO staff position is not established, the PMO can consider the alternative approach of selecting and assigning senior project managers as mentors for a specified period of time: three months, six months, or even a year.

The value in this approach is that mentors bring their own personal experiences in the relevant organization to the mentoring relationships. Yet, the full-time nature of the assignment allows each mentor to concentrate on developing the necessary mentoring skills, performing reading and research, and establishing the focus needed to achieve the prescribed mentoring objectives. Then, mentors can return to their primary duties upon completion of "temporary service" in their mentoring role. Ideally, their departure from this temporary assignment is accompanied by adequate recognition and possibly professional advancement that represents the organization's regard for such mentor assignments.

Establish a Pool of Qualified Mentors

The PMO can use this process when sufficiently qualified senior project managers are assigned and available within the relevant organization. Simply stated, the PMO reviews organizational staffing, identifies candidates for mentor positions, validates their experience and other qualifications, and recruits or otherwise arranges for their assignment to the PMO on a part-time, as-needed basis. Selected participants then remain in standby mode until called upon by the PMO to perform mentoring services.

Participation in the mentor pool may be a collateral duty for selected senior project managers or program managers already in the project management environment. Therefore, caution must be used to separate their primary duties of day-to-day oversight of projects and project managers from their role as mentors. The latter requires a more open and collaborative relationship than is normally associated with a supervisory figure.

This approach to sourcing mentors presents the PMO with the burden of (a) scheduling around the availability of qualified staff to serve as mentors and (b) conducting ongoing recruitment. As well, the part-time nature of the assignment inherently limits the time for individual mentor preparation and participation in each mentoring engagement. The PMO should note that this type of mentor sourcing works best for short-term mentoring assignments. Notwithstanding that consideration, a part-time mentoring capability is better than no capability.

Acquire Senior Project Management Consultant Mentors

This project management mentor source represents acquiring and assigning senior project management mentors from an external consulting firm that has established credentials to provide such project management services. This approach to mentoring particularly warrants consideration when there is no other established mentoring capability in the PMO. It also may be the best solution for the PMO's short-notice, short-term mentoring needs and, arguably, a better approach than part-time internal mentors.

The PMO benefits from this alternative sourcing approach in that external mentors are prequalified senior project managers, and they are ready to perform in the role at the time and place specified by the PMO. As well, they normally do not have the organizational or industry biases that may be associated with internal mentors. These externally sourced mentors are continually in preparation for the technical and interpersonal aspects of mentoring. However, while external mentor sourcing can provide for highly qualified resources, the drawback is that these individuals may not fully understand your organization or your operations at the onset of support. Although most professional consultants will work very hard to gain this information and insight very quickly, expect initial mentoring advice and guidance to have primary focus on generally-accepted project management processes and practices, and not necessarily on your processes and practices.

The PMO's consideration and selection of this mentor sourcing option should include a review of a few business and administrative items, as suggested in the following list:

• Identify and validate the qualifications and credentials of the preferred project management consulting firm in advance of actual need. Begin a relationship with the consulting firm as a matter of setting up the mentoring capability, and possibly use consultants to help define and structure your mentoring program.

• Ensure that the selected firm provides mentoring services that are consistent with the content of any related project management training in the organization and with the project management standards used by the PMO. There should be a focus on the transfer of this knowledge and skill to the participating prot g s.

• Establish an agreement or contract for one-time or ongoing project management mentoring support, so as to have qualified mentors "on call" with reasonable advance notification.

• Specify the period of performance, the purpose and scope, and the number of mentors needed for each mentoring engagement. Include this in the agreement or contract, or in a separate statement of work (for attachment to established contracts).

• Specify and discuss any interim and end-of-engagement reporting requirements with the assigned mentor, and consider the recommendations provided. Frequent verbal reports and discussions of progress may be preferred over written engagement reports to optimize the consultant's time.

• Arrange an end-of-engagement feedback meeting with the mentor and the PMO staff and any other appropriate managers to obtain insights from the mentor, discuss lessons learned, and plan any subsequent mentoring support requirements.

The PMO can deliberate and decide the best course of action for mentor sourcing as it plans and establishes the PMO "mentoring" function. The sourcing approach selected will be influenced by the size of the project management environment and by the number of projects in which mentors are needed, by the qualifications of personnel available to serve in a mentoring capacity, by the number of mentors required, and by the funding available for internal or external mentoring support.

A final consideration for the PMO in constructing a project management mentoring solution is the location and placement of mentors. An examination of project environment needs will determine whether the PMO will require mentor travel to dispersed business facilities. If so, this becomes both a logistics management issue and a budget management activity that must be addressed in deciding on the structure and setting up this PMO function.

Engage Project Management Mentors

The PMO is responsible for identifying, qualifying, and preparing the mentors who will serve in the project management environment. It must establish a process that is used to introduce senior level project managers into the project management "mentoring" function. This can be a simple process of examining individuals already available to the PMO or a more tedious effort of recruiting either internal or external resources. The following three activities lend guidance to the PMO's development of a process that meets the needs of the relevant organization.

Identify Mentor Candidates

The PMO should accomplish this activity step as a matter of determining what resources are available for consideration as mentors. Ideally, mentor candidates will turn up from an internal search among senior project managers within the relevant organization. The next level of search should be at any higher or parent organization level. Finally, external resources can be considered for hiring into the mentor position. These approaches all require some level of advertising and recruiting, which can be a time-consuming activity that warrants support of the human resources department.

It should be noted that qualification and assignment of mentors in this activity is conducted to fill full-or part-time mentor positions managed by the PMO. It does not refer to external sourcing or use of mentors provided by consulting firms. The use of external project management consultants as mentors relies on the external provider to identify and qualify its own individual mentors. Of course, if external mentor sourcing is used, the PMO may want to examine the credentials of external project management mentors as a part of that acquisition.

The mentor candidate identification process should facilitate the preliminary collection of candidate information. Whether the PMO actively solicits individuals or conducts a more formal recruiting program, each candidate should complete a mentor application that is constructed and made available by the PMO. The mentor application should contain sufficient information to enable the PMO to decide whether to schedule an interview with a candidate.

The following represents information content that the PMO can consider for inclusion in the project management mentor application:

• Candidate identification and contact information

• Candidate professional r sum (or application fill-in blocks) highlighting:

  • Current professional position and responsibilities

  • Biographical information

  • Educational background

  • Mentoring experience

  • Professional organization affiliations/certifications

• Candidate letters of recommendation

• Availability for full-time/part-time mentoring

• Statement of interest in becoming a project management mentor

The PMO should consider whether a formal application is needed and then adjust the desired content to fit the organization's needs if an application is developed.

Mentor candidate identification is accomplished when the PMO decides to interview individuals based on a preliminary screening of their mentor application or other preliminary information. The PMO should provide early notification to those applicants not selected for the mentor candidate qualification process.

Conduct Mentor Candidate Qualification

The PMO can qualify mentor candidates through various means, including detailed candidate application reviews, personal interviews with candidates, and reference checks. An important element of this PMO activity is to establish criteria for mentor qualification. The following mentor qualification criteria can be considered for elaboration and use by the PMO. The criteria are presented relative to four qualifying categories:

• Professional experience

  • Years of experience in project management

  • Scope of experience in project management

  • Depth of experience in project management

  • Focus of experience in technical discipline and industry

• Education and training

  • Formal degree programs

  • Professional development programs

  • Technical training programs

  • Project management training programs

• Interpersonal skills for mentors

  • Communication (listening)

  • Collaboration

  • Confidence in abilities and personal experiences

  • Genuine interest in others' success

  • Problem solving

  • Leadership

• Mentor potential in project management environment

  • Professional certification

  • Ongoing study and research in project management

  • Business knowledge and skills

  • Group facilitation skills

The PMO can use the items in the preceding list as a general reference for examining mentor candidates, or it can construct a detailed checklist that incorporates specific criteria to be applied in a comprehensive candidate qualification process. A PMO pursuing an advanced mentoring capability that supports broader mentoring responsibility in areas of professional development and executive counseling must identify additional qualification criteria for those mentoring capabilities.

Consider a final thought on mentor qualification: the PMO should carefully examine its criteria for mentor selection. It will likely be challenging, particularly in a growing project management environment, to find mentors who can meet all desired criteria. That is why external sourcing may be a viable option for the new PMO. However, the organization may have candidates that meet the most critical criteria. A project management mentor can be selected from among the most-qualified candidates. Then, once selected, mentors become eligible to participate in project management mentor preparation and training activities. Any additional mentoring skill and capability can be addressed by mentor preparation.

Prepare Project Management Mentors

The mentor qualification process is completed when available mentor preparation and training activities have been accomplished. The level of the relevant organization's need and the PMO's ability will guide which mentor preparation and training activities are pursued.

It is recommended that, at a minimum, a project management mentor familiarization program be developed and presented to newly assigned mentors in order to enhance their readiness for the mentoring engagements ahead of them. This familiarization program conveys the PMO's perspective on the mentoring program, i.e., its purpose and its practice parameters. It contains fundamental guidance regarding individual performance in the mentoring role and highlights the primary responsibilities of a mentor within the relevant organization. This program will normally include the following training and information elements:

• Review of the project management mentor position description

• Discussion of recommended mentor professional development activities

• Identification of tools and information resources available to mentors

• Examination of the types of mentoring support offered by the PMO

• Presentation of the preferred mentoring approach to various types of prot g s

• Overview of key mentoring-engagement process steps

• Requirements for reporting and collaborating mentoring activities

• Identification of other available mentor preparation and training activities

This familiarization program is likely to be a one-half-day to one-day activity in most organizations. However, multiple-day training can be provided per development of the program content. The program is constructed and presented by the PMO to ensure project management mentors assigned to full-time or part-time mentoring duties have sufficient understanding of the mentor-prot g relationship and the PMO's perspective on work to be accomplished through mentoring engagements.

Other mentor preparation and training activities also can be pursued per the capability and interest of the PMO to do so. This would include more-formal mentor skill training that is available from commercial sources, specific training that has a focus on developing and managing the mentor-prot g relationship, and a variety of training or workshop programs that deal with interpersonal skills, personal and team communications, and technical process facilitation. Of course, the PMO must ensure that all mentors either have attended or can demonstrate comprehensive awareness of project management training attended by prot g s. This facilitates a common frame of reference for all participants.

As well, if the mentor also has responsibilities for special types of mentoring, e.g., professional development or executive mentoring, it would be wise to have mentors attend training or workshops to enhance their capability in those areas. Nevertheless, do not lose sight of the fact that the focus of mentoring is on project management. The mentor is a senior project manager who has awareness of the relevant organization and should already be able to provide reasonable guidance to project managers and team members in their career pursuits related to the project management discipline. Similarly, mentors working with executives and senior management level peers do so to convey the concepts and practices of project management and to assist the executive prot g in developing a more comprehensive understanding of the issues and implications of project management within the business. This mentoring relationship with upper management is focused on deliberating and deciding on courses of action that can be taken. Actually, this executive interface role is one normally performed by the head of the PMO, with or without formal mentor credentials, although other assigned mentors could assist from time to time.

Conduct Project Management Mentoring

The PMO can define a process for conducting project management mentoring that is consistent with its sophistication for delivery of mentoring services. There should be a general preferred approach that mentors take when conducting a formally established mentoring engagement. The process elements in the following subsections can be reviewed and used or modified by the PMO to develop a mentoring-engagement approach that best fits within the relevant organization.

Identify Engagement

The PMO or other authority may specify the need for mentoring support for certain types of projects or particular categories of project managers. This results in a PMO-directed mentoring engagement. The PMO also may set up a process for managing and responding to requests for mentoring from project managers or functional managers overseeing project managers and project work. This provides mentoring services on an as-requested basis. In either case, engagement identification includes specifying the type of mentoring support to be performed and the desired outcomes. Engagement identification activities should assist the PMO in determining which mentor(s) to assign to the effort while enabling the assigned mentor(s) to construct initial plans for the mentoring event. When using external mentoring services, much of this engagement identification step is likely to be addressed in association with the established contract or agreement.

Assign Mentor(s)

The PMO examines mentoring requirements to assign a mentor with appropriate qualifications to the engagement. In some cases, this may include mentor-prot g matching to ensure that there is potential for an effective working relationship. Then, the PMO notifies the selected mentor of the pending engagement as the basis for the mentor to begin preparation for the engagement. It is suggested that the PMO include some lead time in its mentoring offerings to allow adequate preparation. Once the engagement is started, the mentor can determine whether an "on call" response capability will be provided, or whether the mentoring engagement will proceed only according to meetings, activities, and interactions specified in the mentoring engagement plan.

Prepare for Mentoring Engagement

The mentor will spend adequate time preparing for the new mentoring engagement and the new mentor-prot g working relationship. Mentor preparation activities should include development of a mentoring engagement plan that outlines the mentoring approach that will be used and the activities that will be performed. An external mentor may use the guidance contained in the applicable contract or agreement in lieu of a separate mentoring plan. As well, the mentor may meet with the prot g 's sponsor to obtain further clarification of mentoring needs and may meet with the prot g or lead person of a group of prot g s as a matter of becoming acquainted.

Perform Mentoring Engagement Activities

The mentoring engagement begins with a meeting between the mentor and prot g (s) to review the purpose and approach to the mentoring engagement. It then continues with the planned ongoing activities and mentor facilitation that allows skill and knowledge to be transferred. In conjunction with mentoring, and with consideration for the time frame of mentoring, the mentor may prepare recurring reports to highlight progress and capability achieved. These reports are shared with the prot g (s) and may be forwarded to the PMO for review.

Close Out Mentor-Prot g Relationship

A close out meeting should be conducted between the mentor and prot g (s) to review activities and to recognize the value of the time and effort spent together. It also is appropriate to provide feedback to the mentor regarding the effectiveness of the program.

Evaluate Mentoring Program

The PMO should play a key role in overseeing the results of the project management mentoring effort it constructed. It can best ascertain the effectiveness of mentoring by establishing a routine process for evaluating the mentoring program. There are two primary activities to accomplish in evaluating the mentoring program, as outlined in the following subsections.

Evaluate Mentor Performance

The PMO can review mentor reports and prot g feedback to determine the effectiveness of program delivery for each assigned mentor. The PMO should particularly elicit feedback from prot g s by formal or informal means. In turn, the PMO can review the recent series of mentoring engagements for each mentor as a means to evaluate individual mentor performance. Mentor performance trends can be examined to identify individual strengths and weaknesses, and successful mentoring engagements can be shared with all mentors as a matter of lessons learned.

Monitor Mentoring Program Results

The PMO can contrast project performance results for project managers and project teams with mentors and those without mentors. This will be a key indicator of whether project performance is enhanced by the presence of a mentor. As well, the PMO can examine increases in project team effectiveness, improvements in project manager leadership, and additional skills and capabilities of project team members.