IEEE Mentoring Connection

• Mentoring Orientation Session - Recorded Session is Available!
• Volunteer by being an IEEE Mentor or Mentee
• Who can be an IEEE Mentor?
• Who can be an IEEE Mentee?
• How will I be matched?
• Mentoring Commitments
• What should I expect to do in a mentoring partnership? 

IEEE ran a Mentoring Orientation Program on Thursday, 22 May 2008. The sessions are expected to encourage members to join the program, search for partners and engage their participation in mentoring partnerships. The recorded session is now available to access. You will find the live demo on how to use and navigate The Mentoring Connection web site informative. The questions raised during the session are available for review.

A mentoring workbook, The Mentoring Guide, is included for your use with the presentation. The workbook is a PDF, 15 pages, 87.02 KB, PDF version 1.3 (Acrobat 4.x).

The session is divided into two modules. Module 1 will cover the identification and selection of a mentor and exploring roles and responsibilities of the mentor and mentee.  Module 2 will cover the establishment of the mentoring relationship and building a mentoring plan and agreement. The key speaker is Kathy Wentworth Drahosz, founder and President of The Training Connection and Jennifer Cunningham, Vice President of Business Operations, The Training Connection.  We are also pleased to have two guest speakers – IEEE mentoring partners Loren Lacy and Ahmed Balamash who will provide comments regarding experiences from their long distance mentoring partnership.

Speaker bios:

Kathy Wentworth Drahosz, B.S., is the founder and President of The Training Connection, Inc., and author of The Keys to Mentoring Success. Kathy brings over twenty years of experience in business, product and people development.  As a Certified Professional Behavioral Analyst (CPBA) Kathy has helped thousands of individuals worldwide experience the power of her training programs and services.  A strong focus of Kathy's work has been assisting federal agencies and businesses in developing effective, formal mentoring programs. In addition to personally presenting numerous national training programs in the mentoring field, Kathy is the co-developer of Dynamic Mentoring Connections, Mentoring for Success and Discovering the Mentor Within; three practical approaches to unleashing human potential. Her most pioneering endeavor has been the development of "The Mentoring Connection," an innovative web-based delivery system designed to offer businesses and other organizations a tailor made, comprehensive, effective and cost-efficient method of establishing and managing formal mentoring programs and partnerships.

Jennifer Cunningham, B.A., is the Vice President of Business Operations for The Training Connection, Inc. and has almost a decade of business management and development experience. Jennifer is responsible for business development and the marketing of TTC's mentoring programs and products.  She has also been instrumental in the development of "The Mentoring Connection", (the innovative web-based mentoring system), and serves as its Program Manager. Also a Certified Professional Behavioral Analyst (CPBA) Jennifer has assisted in scores of mentoring training programs and serves on the Dynamic Mentoring training team.

Guest Speakers:

Loren Lacy, IEEE Senior Member, has been involved in IEEE activities from 1988 as a student member and then with IEEE GOLD and Region 5 professional activities.  Presently he is an IEEE Mentor in the IEEE Mentoring Connection program and mentoring Ahmed Balamash in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  Loren resides in Ireland and is employed with Xilinx.  Xilinx leads the Programmable Logic Device (PLD) market - one of the fastest growing segments of the semiconductor industry. 

Ahmed A. Balamash, IEEE Member, began his involvement with IEEE as a student in 1997 and recently graduated with a Master of Science in 2007.  Presently, Ahmed is an IEEE Mentee in the IEEE Mentoring Connection program and in a partnership with Loren Lacy.  He is working with Saudi Telecom Company, Riyadh as a Senior Engineer, Data Network.

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Mentor Loren Lacy comments on advice he would give a potential mentor: "The more you give, the more you will get back out of this program. A few hours a week is not a huge commitment and provides you with a chance to give back to the profession."

IEEE is offering its members the opportunity to participate in an online program designed to match IEEE members for the purpose of facilitating a mentoring partnership.  By volunteering as a mentor, you will be able to use your career and life experiences to help other IEEE members in their professional development.

IEEE is partnering with The Training Connection, a vendor that has developed a web-based mentoring program, to facilitate the matching process. Participation in the program is voluntary and open to all higher grade IEEE members (above the Student Member grade). If you fit this criteria, you could be a mentor to another IEEE member in our pilot program. Participation is completely voluntary for both the potential mentor and the mentee.

If you are interested in joining the program, please review the IEEE Membership Benefits and find “IEEE Mentoring Connection.” In order to enter the program, you will need the IEEE User ID: “IEEE2006” (without quotes).  Once you enter and submit this ID, you will be asked to create your own User ID and Password for future access.

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Prospective mentors must be IEEE higher grade members (above Student Member grade) who are, but not limited to:

• willing to give time and effort to the mentoring partnership (we suggest minimum of two hours per month);
• able to communicate effectively with others;
• willing to share some career successes and failures;
• individuals who may be or have been executives, consultants, or in middle or upper management, or in research;
• individuals who may be or have been educators, entrepreneurs, or self-employed;
• individuals who may be or have been proven leaders offering inspiration and insight;
• individuals who may be or have been IEEE officers or volunteers;
• willing to review an orientation session to learn guidelines, tools of program and the mentee, and the mentor's role and responsibilities.

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Prospective mentees must be IEEE higher grade members (above Student Member grade) who are, but not limited to:

• new professionals in their first or second job or considering entering graduate programs;
• recent graduates entering the professional workforce for the first time;
• professional making a career move or career change;
• passionate for learning;
• willing to give time and effort to the mentoring partnership (we suggest minimum of two hours per month);
• willing to identify and clarify their developmental goals;
• interested in learning from another professional "who has been there";
• willing to participate in mentee orientation session to learn guidelines, and tools of program and their role and responsibilities as a mentee.

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You will complete a User Profile form with basic information. Next, the application form will ask for information that will assist in identifying and requesting the search for a match. You will be asked to

• check off skill competencies that you will bring to a mentoring partnership;
• provide a short biographical summary;
• check off your technical background based on the IEEE technical societies;
• reply to some short questions on what you would bring to a mentoring partnership as a mentor.

The next step is in the hands of the mentees as they decide who their ideal mentor will be.  Are they looking for someone with their same functional background, or are they interested in a mentor who can help bridge the gap into a new career field? The mentee will also decide if they want a mentor to be close geographically so a face-to-face meeting can take place. If close proximity to the mentor is not the primary search criteria, the mentee can search based on skill competencies. Whichever type of search is conducted, a list of potential mentors will be provided to the mentee. The mentee will review the list, along with access to their application, and then decide who they would like to contact through the system (via email) to initiate a mentoring partnership.

Once the mentee and mentor have decided to become partners, they will be encouraged to complete the mentoring agreement to help clarify expectations and define boundaries in their partnership. The IEEE Mentoring Program also has a Mentoring Action Plan for the mentee to work on based on the agreed upon expectations. The Mentoring Action Plan will be reviewed at intervals by both the mentor and mentee. 

Other tools in the IEEE mentoring program include both a six-month and final evaluation to summarize the accomplishments and strategize the next steps for the mentee. We would like each mentoring partner to commit to at least two hours per month to help ensure the success of their mentoring partnership. Some mentoring partners may agree to communicate via e-mail and phone only. Other mentoring partners may be close enough to share face-to-face meetings and continue their mentoring communications via email and phone. 

In partnership with The Training Connection, IEEE is pleased to provide a mentoring guidebook, “Establishing Self-Initiated Mentoring Relationships,” that provides practical information for beginning, maintaining, and ending your mentoring partnership. The guide will help the mentor and mentee complete the profile and application forms, understand roles and responsibilities, and offer guidelines in reviewing and selecting a mentoring partner. 

Many benefits can be derived from participating in a mentoring partnership and IEEE hopes you will find your experience rewarding on a personal and professional level. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the IEEE Mentoring Program Coordinator at IEEEmentoring@ieee.org.

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Each participant in a mentoring partnership should be committed to devoting time and effort to develop their partnership. They need an understanding of their role and responsibilities, and each partner needs to stay in touch and follow an action plan that defines goals and outlines expectations for the partnership.

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Initially, you will have two forms to complete that capture your basic information, technical interests, educational background, and interests you bring to a mentoring partnership. If you are a mentee, you will then search the available mentors in the program to find one you feel matches your mentoring needs. When you find a potential mentor, you send an e-mail asking to begin a mentoring partnership. Once accepted, you and your mentor will begin discussing how the partnership will work and can develop a mentoring action plan to achieve your goals. The mentoring partnership will last for one year and, if you and your partner feel the partnership is not progressing toward the agreed goals, the partnership can be closed early.