Making a Modern Project Manager
SERIES ARTICLE
By Yasmina Khelifi
Paris, France
In the previous article, we explored the importance, conditions, and pitfalls of mentoring. This time, I’d like to focus more on some examples of mentoring and give you some questions to reflect on.
Reverse Mentoring
In a Harvard Business Review article, Dr. Cindy Young shared her experiences on reverse mentoring.
“Reverse mentoring describes a situation in which a younger or early career professional mentors a senior colleague. While the overarching goal mirrors that of a traditional mentorship – advancing the mentee’s professional growth – because the roles are reversed, this model shows everyone that experiential learning is just as valuable regardless of your age or expertise.” Dr. Cindy Young
I discovered it by chance when I wanted to revamp my CV a few years ago. I happened to mention it in passing to a younger colleague who worked in marketing, and he proposed to help me. I felt a bit ashamed about needing help with something basic like this, but I overcame the shame and accepted his offer. He reviewed my CV and explained to me how to build a more attractive one. The result was stunning.
Have you tried out reverse mentoring? Why?
Lateral Mentoring
“There is a different type of mentoring, often overlooked, that is equally powerful: lateral mentoring. This form of mentorship is generally not intentional. It isn’t collaborating, deliberately working with someone to create or produce something. It isn’t a pairing of individuals. It is, instead, organic. You are likely doing it and don’t even know it,” explains Dr. Heiser in this article.
This is the kind of mentoring you’re doing when you help a newbie in your team or carve out time to help a coworker solve an issue. By sharing your knowledge, you also help someone develop a feeling of belonging and support.
More…
To read entire article, click here
Editor’s note: This series of articles is by a project manager for Gen X, Y and Z project professionals. The author Yasmina Khelifi is a project manager with a large multinational telecom in France while also an active PM professional, authoring articles, interviews and a popular LinkedIn blog as well as a podcast with a global audience. Also active in PMI France for many years, she has been an international correspondent for the PMWJ since 2021. We are delighted that she has agreed to author a series of articles based on her personal experiences over the last decade.
How to cite this paper: Khelifi, Y. (2024). Mentor People (Part 2), Making a Modern Project Manager, series article, PM World Journal, Vol. XIII, Issue IV, April. Available online at: https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/pmwj140-Apr2024-Khelifi-Mentor-People-part-2.pdf
About the Author
Yasmina Khelifi
Paris, France
Yasmina Khelifi, PMP, PMI- ACP, PMI-PBA is an experienced project manager in the telecom industry. Along with her 20-year career at Orange S.A. (the large French multinational telecommunications corporation), she sharpened her global leadership skills, delivering projects with major manufacturers and SIM makers. Yasmina strives for building collaborative bridges between people to make international projects successful. She relies on three pillars: project management skills, the languages she speaks, and a passion for sharing knowledge.
She is a PMP certification holder since 2013, a PMI- ACP and PMI-PBA certification holder since 2020. She is an active volunteer member at PMI France and PMI UAE, and a member of PMI Germany Chapter. French-native, she can speak German, English, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and she is learning Arabic. Yasmina loves sharing her knowledge and experiences at work, in her volunteers’ activities at PMI, and in projectmanagement.com as a regular blogger. She is also the host and co-founder of the podcast Global Leaders Talk with Yasmina Khelifi to help people in becoming better international leaders.
Yasmina can be contacted at https://yasminakhelifi.com/ or LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yasminakhelifi-pmp-telecom/
Visit her correspondent profile at https://pmworldlibrary.net/yasmina-khelifi/
To view other works by Yasmina Kehelifi, visit her author showcase in the PM World Library at https://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/yasmina-khelifi/
