PRINCE2 Mentoring, MSP Mentoring and M_o_R Mentoring
Mentoring is the key to unlocking the potential of your people, your organisation and yourself. Have you ever wished whilst working on a Programme, Project, or after a training course that you could pick up the phone and have a PPM, MSP, M_o_R or PRINCE2 Mentor at your disposal either on the phone or to call into your office for advice or to simply bounce ideas and concepts?
KPS Consultants offer PRINCE2 mentoring, MSP Mentoring and M_o_R Mentoring services at all levels within your Programme and Project Management (PPM) environment from senior executives and leadership roles through to PPM Managers and PPM, M_o_R, MSP or PRINCE2 Support Staff. Through KPS Consultants years of experience and portfolio of qualifications our consultants are able to provide industry standard OGC best practice PPM advice and steer you in the right direction to help you develop and utilise your PPM, PRINCE2, M_o_R, MSP Management skills and capabilities to optimum effect and thus encourage organisational development and PPM maturity.
What is Staff Mentoring and Coaching? Why use PPM/MSP/PRINCE2/M_o_R Mentoring?
Firstly Mentoring is NOT the same as Coaching. Mentoring is where one person provides a service that helps develop, guide and enhance another person's growth, knowledge, capabilities and skills within a specialist knowledge domain whilst also having a broader perspective. A Mentor is required to have specific domain knowledge and expertise in one or more areas such as PRINCE2/MSP/PPM/M_o_R as well as a thorough understanding/experience of the corporate environments which they operate within. A coach on the other hand does not always have the accreditations, experience or qualifications of any specific area of specialism other than coaching itself. In some cases a Coach may have an area of specialist domain knowledge but regardless coaching will still be coaching and not mentoring! Mentors typically take a hands on approach at every step of the way until the mentee or the mentees organisation realises tangible benefits and increased productivity.
So, Mentoring, enables an individual(s) to follow in the path of an experienced and wiser colleague who can transfer their knowledge, experience and open doors to otherwise out-of-reach opportunities. Coaching on the other hand is not generally performed on the basis that the coach has direct experience of their client’s formal occupational role/domain knowledge.'
As an example a KPS Consultant qualified in PRINCE2/MSP/M_o_R/PPM can quite comfortably serve as both a Mentor and a Coach whereas a Coach without specialised experience or qualifications of PRINCE/MSP/M_o_R/PPM (or indeed any other domain) could not serve as an effective Mentor. For this very reason KPS Consultants prefer to refer to themselves as Mentors as opposed coaches as the former combines the attributes and skills of both.
Whilst Mentoring and Coaching are often seen as similar activities. The primary difference is that the coach is typically focused on building the coachee's ability to accomplish a specific task without the coach having any prior knowledge of client roles/skills/functions, whereas the Mentor has a wider perspective and specialises in one or more knowledge domains. The mentor typically has a longer-term relationship with the mentee, or is a counsellor on a broader range of issues at any given time.
A Coach may ask over a conference call, are you getting what you want out of life/your career and if not why not? Thus helping you to self realise and make your own suggestions for improving the situation as they may not, for instance, know what your career/specialism entails so may not be able to help you any further with a physical hands on approach.
A Mentor can do exactly the same thing (i.e. serve as your coach) but the Mentor also has a thorough understanding of your role/career/organisation/specialism, the subsequent impact these have on your life and also help you to physically/practically achieve your aspirations in your chosen area of expertise with a hands on approach owing to their own high levels of domain knowledge. Mentors are able to do this as they have the required specialist skills/accreditations and experience.
Mentoring works and works very well! KPS Consultants know this because we have proven it in the past and continue to prove it to date. Let KPS Consultants help your organisation to discover and unleash the true potential of your people as we do for other organisations.
There are seven fundamental traits of Mentoring assistance:
| Type of Assistance | How the Assistance is provided |
| Helping the Mentee to build a positive mental attitude | Based on the positive cycle of motivation (confidence, aspiring to high standards, strong results, praise) by:
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| Listening when the mentee has a problem and identifying the mentees feelings and legitimising them | Provide a 'listening ear', without a judgmental response. Explore options as appropriate. |
| Providing appropriate feedback/information when needed | Providing productive feedback is one of the Mentors primary roles. This includes highlighting the impact of what the mentee did and includes a discussion of what the mentee might do (even) better next time. |
| Encouraging exploration of options | Structuring a Mentoring session by using the GROW model (Goal, Reality, Options and Wrap up). Asking versus telling - The relationship is bidirectional. A Mentoring session is NOT for the purposes of the Mentor proving that they are smarter! |
| Delegating tasks and authority | Diagnose whether the mentee's 'skills' and 'will' are high or low, for the specific tasks to be accomplished:
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| Effectively confronting negative behaviours | Balance negatives and positives in order to provide constructive and productive actions. Merely restating something that went wrong is essentially a destructive approach as it describes a perceived negative behaviour without proposing a resolution. |
| Providing a role model | Create opportunities for working together, where needed skills can be transferred, demonstrated and assimilated. |
Special credit and respect to Max Landsberg.
The Mentor role: A mentor is a person who has knowledge, skills, information, and experience in their chosen industry and is able to share these in order to help the mentee's professional growth within that industry and within a specialist knowledge domain such as MSP programme management and PRINCE2 project management within the PPM Framework.
The Mentee role: Mentees are typically individuals looking to bridge the gap between what they know and do not know and use mentors as a resource for their own self development, the transfer of knowledge can then be used as required within the organisations programmes or projects. Mentees (and of course their employers) are the drivers of the relationship and ideally take most of the responsibility for their self-directed learning and exploration.
How can PPM, MSP, M_o_R or PRINCE2 Mentoring help your people and your organisation?
There are multiple reasons that drive organisations to establish effective means of providing mentoring for their people.
Many organisations have seen the benefits that mentoring can bring to the performance of their existing programme and project management staff. Having mentors who can share their knowledge and experience helps promote increased knowledge transfer throughout an organisation and so enhances both staff and organisational performance, morale and confidence. In addition it helps remove the barriers to high performance by addressing the issues that constrain your Project Management staff or community.
Few employees are satisfied with the prospect of staying in one role for ever, and most have the potential and ambition to improve if they were provided with adequate day to day hands on practical guidance and support. With this in mind organisations must help their employees realise their full potential or accept the risk of losing them to other organisations.
It is therefore essential for organisations to invest in activities such as ongoing mentoring and investing in their people. Mentoring is also a great and enjoyable way to ensure that the project manager that was sent on a 2 day course almost 10 years ago is kept updated with the latest best practice methods such as advancements in PRINCE2. The Mentee can also learn from the case studies that the Mentor may have to share from experiences on other programmes and projects.
Key Benefits of PPM/MSP/PRINCE2/M_o_R Mentoring
- Improves your project management skills and overcome weaknesses.
- Re-aligns your approach with best practice standards using recognised project management tools and techniques.
- Builds your confidence in managing and rolling out processes across the business.
- Improves delivery of results and meeting goals through making sound decisions.
- Able to make better decisions.
- Provides impartial and experienced views.
- Able to bounce thoughts and ideas.
- Boosts confidence and helps reduce uncertainty.
- Knowing someone can be contacted at almost any time, whom can be trusted and who understands you and your business.
- Recognises your strengths and weaknesses.
How does KPS Consultants provide PPM/MSP/PRINCE2/M_o_R Staff Mentoring Services?
KPS Consultants provides a unique and specialist 121 MSP, M_o_R or PRINCE2 mentoring service dedicated to help individuals such as project managers, project board members, project coordinators, project support staff within your programme and project management community.
What ever your requirements, whether it be basic programme and project management (PPM) advice or more specific areas such as MSP, PRINCE2, or M_o_R risk management, quality control or change control. A dedicated,qualified and experienced KPS Consultant will be assigned to act as a mentor advising you on how to maximise your potential and to deliver the expected results what ever your business goal or PPM objectives might be.
As a mentor, our assigned consultant will actively work with you seeking to understand your goals and requirements. Your mentor will help you deal with situations specifically applicable to you on an as and when required basis. Our consultants have experience and knowledge across various industries within the PPM specialism , giving KPS the ability and breadth of knowledge to fulfil a vast range of PPM/MSP/PRINCE2/M_o_R mentoring service requirements regardless of your ranking, level of PPM experience or PPM role.
KPS Consultants understand that every individuals mentoring needs will be different therefore we have built various flexible options to ensure you are provided with a service to fit your needs, this includes options for onsite/offsite visits for any amount of time over any duration on a call off basis.
If you would like to discuss or arrange a bespoke 121 PPM/MSP/PRINCE2/M_o_R Mentoring service with a KPS Consultants or for further information on KPS Consultants Mentoring Service please contact us by email or telephone.
