PMF Resources

Mentoring and Your Fellowship

"The derivation of the term 'mentor' dates back to Greek mythology, Mentor having been the wise council and friend to whom Ulysses entrusted his own son while he set off on a ten year odyssey. Mentor played a number of roles, including that of a father figure, teacher, trusted advisor, and protector to an inexperienced young man, and the relationship was one that involved a great deal of mutual trust and affection. As applied to modern day organizations the image conveys the image of the seasoned senior executive who can offer the wisdom of years of experience from which to council younger individuals as they move ahead in their careers." - Rudi Klauss, 1981

What does “mentoring” have to do with the PMI Program?

•  You may have mentors already in your life and understand the benefits of such relationships…if so, you may find it beneficial to identify mentors in your agency or across the federal government as you take a PMI position.

•  If you don't have experience with mentoring, you will have an opportunity to explore this unique relationship when you take become a PMI. The purpose of identifying and working with a mentor is to establish a relationship with a senior level official, inside or outside of your agency, for purposes of expanding your knowledge of the federal government, for counseling on your career path and for guidance on professional and educational questions. Such mentoring relationships can also occur with peers.

•  Some agencies have formal mentoring programs to facilitate interactions between the PMI and senior executives in government. There are opportunities to establish “informal” mentoring relationships with those you meet as a result of your PMI experience or through your Career Development Group (CDG). You may consider asking agencies whether they have a formal mentoring program in place or if they support such initiatives.

What are the benefits of a mentoring relationship ?

Offers organizations an opportunity to show their commitment to human resources development and to demonstrate that they are learning organizations. Mentoring enables mentors to help train junior staff, and puts their professional and personal resources to use. Mentoring can increase protégés' (mentees) chances of success in attaining objectives by benefiting from the advice, experience, knowledge (+ connections) of a senior person.

What types of mentoring are there ?

Formal mentoring: The relationship is facilitated and supported by the organization so that more participants can benefit. The organization makes tools available to participants that facilitate the creation and maintenance of the relationship: program coordinator, orientation session, bank of mentors, protégés, etc.

Informal mentoring: Created spontaneously or informally without any assistance from the organization. The initiative can be taken by a protégé who approaches a mentor and explains his/her intentions.

Recommendations for a successful mentoring relationship:

•  Seek out individuals that are interested in building a better public servant workforce for the future. Ask your co-workers about those in the organization that are known for such vision and ask around the office for recommendations of individuals to seek out about your questions on mentoring.

•  Express your expectations and intentions up front with your mentor -- they will appreciate the honesty and this will help ensure that your relationship starts off well.

•  Establish a workable, but regular, schedule for meeting with your mentor. Once a month or once a quarter may be sufficient -- remember that those that you may approach will have significant responsibilities.

•  Prior to meeting with your mentor, attempt to communicate the “agenda” or the questions you have so that your mentor can prepare them for your discussion or hopefully, have an answer ahead of time.

•  Be gracious. Your selection as a PMI may endow you with access to senior level executives that will be uncommon within an agency. Demonstrate tact and courteousness in these relationships.

•  Treat the relationship as a covenant. Recognize when that covenant has been broken and adjust accordingly. These relationships should not be exploited -- be careful not to ask for or expect too much.

•  Research mentoring on the web or in your agency's library. There are numerous public sources that can provide templates and lessons learned with regard to mentoring.

•  Remember your experiences as a mentee and apply your own lessons learned when you serve as a mentor down the road.