Episode 325: Project Management Coaching and Mentoring - A How-To Guide (Free)

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This episode is sponsored by The PM PrepCast for The PMP® Exam:

Jeff Furman, PMP - Project Management Coach

Have you ever considered being a project management mentor to another PM in your network? I can tell you from personal experience that while project management coaching sounds like a lot of work the return on investment that you personally get out of it is immense.

And so, when I received an email from Jeff Furman (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jefffurmanlinkedin) and he offered to discuss some of the mentoring approaches that he uses as a project management coach I was all for it.

In our discussion Jeff and I review:

• Staying in touch
• Answering questions
• Helping people connect
• Helping out on social media for project managers
• Writing recommendations
• Recommending resources
• Guiding your mentees to become mentors themselves
• And last but not least… Speed Mentoring

As you can probably already tell, none of these project management mentoring approaches are rocket science. But we still have some good best practices for you to follow.

Coaching and mentoring is useful for all project managers, but it's especially useful in emerging roles, or where you don't feel that your job description is particularly clear -- the role of project manager in SAFe agile springs to mind as an important position, but perhaps one that is less understood than 'traditional' approaches to being a project manager.

Episode Transcript

Podcast Introduction

Cornelius Fichtner: Hello and welcome to Episode number 325. This is the Project Management Podcast at www.pm-podcast.com and I'm Cornelius Fichtner. Welcome back.

Have you ever considered being a Project Management Mentor to another PM in your network? I could tell you from personal experience but while Project Management coaching sounds like a lot of work, the sort of return on investment that you personally get out of this is immense. And so when I got an email from Jeff Furman and he offered to discuss some of the mentoring approaches that he uses as a Project Management coach, I was all for it. If you are a PMP or a PGMP® and you're looking for a simple and effective way to earn your PDUs, then try our sister podcast, the PDU podcast. Get a new webinar and at least one new PDU every month on autopilot. Stop by at www.pducast.com. That's P-D-U-C-A-S-T.com.

In our discussion, Jeff and I review, staying in touch, answering questions, helping people connect, helping out on social media, writing recommendations, recommending resources, guiding your mentees to become mentors themselves, and last but not least, speed mentoring all in order to help you to become a coach. And as you can probably already tell, none of this project management mentoring approaches are really rocket science. But we still have some good best practices for you to follow. And now, what is it that you really want to be and do? Enjoy the interview.

Podcast Interview

Cornelius Fichtner: Hello, Jeff. Welcome back to the Project Management podcast.

Jeff Furman: Oh, hi again, Cornelius. Great to hear from you again.

Cornelius Fichtner: It's been awhile, hasn't it?

Jeff Furman: Well, the last time was on site down in Texas at the PMI there.

Cornelius Fichtner: Oh yeah. That's right, that's right. We met in person down there. So today, we are going to be talking about mentoring and the top 10 ways of being a mentor. But before we even get into this, our listeners are project managers. They have projects to manage, they have daily issues that they need to worry about. Why is mentoring important to them? Why should they even continue to listen to our interview here? What will they learn today?

Jeff Furman: Well, really it makes you a much better project manager in many ways. It's sounds a little like I can't take time away from managing to be a mentor but it's really I would say the opposite. Mentoring, it's first of all, is very gratifying and satisfying so we like those parts of our job that are gratifying and mentoring is really I would say way at the top. And I think we study in PMP the Maslow Pyramid and I think of it that way you're sort of reaching the top of the pyramid when for you and for your people, when you are mentoring them, you're helping them get better. And I also say, I've noticed not every manager is probably also a mentor but a leader is always a good mentor. So mentoring really is a leadership quality and it puts you to the leadership next level.

Cornelius Fichtner: So we're not purely talking about mentoring other project managers, we're talking about mentoring in general, right?

Jeff Furman: Yeah, I mean you wind up as a mentor, in my case, for other project managers, other instructors, also my people, my students when I teach so it's really a very wide open, there's lots of room in the world for mentorship.

Cornelius Fichtner: Alright. And what will the listeners actually get out of being a mentor to another project manager or another person on their team?

Jeff Furman: Yeah, I think, first of all, you get the satisfaction of helping others and personal growth for yourself which are really pretty big. But in addition, specifically to your career, I think it makes you much more promotable. It makes you look like a Senior PM instead of a Junior PM and it really also enhances your reputation, I think, when people see that you're not just a taskmaster but a mentor to your people and to others. And I think it's something that we see this and you think of it maybe not consciously, but when you see a good leader, you assume that they are mentors. So it's kind of goes built in to being a better manager on your projects and more of a real leader.

Cornelius Fichtner: Okay. So much for the introduction and overview here. We're now going to jump into these top 10 ways of being a mentor. You sent me list. I'm going to be introducing each of these 10 and we're actually working up to something that I have personally never heard of. At number 10, is going to be speed mentoring but more about that in a little while. So number one, keeping in touch with students after a class. What is that all about? How is that work into mentoring for you?