Andrew SoswaTechnology leader| Leading global financial institutionElk Grove Village, Il, United States
Hypothetical scenario: a PM has an employee on a team who does things his own way, no laws or regulations are broken, employee does his job but does not ask to be mentored to become better.
The PM's mandate and job requirement is to mentor team members. Since an employee does not seek PM's mentorship, the PM refuses to be proactive and continuously reach out to the employee.
How can I educate/teach/mentor the PM into being proactive? Saving Changes...
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Dear Andrew
Interesting your question
Thanks for sharing
I have not yet read any other people's response to your reflection.
Is the team member a mature person? (Psychological maturity and work maturity?)
Are you looking for new and better approaches to the work you do?
If the answer is positive to the two questions I asked, the best mentoring he can have is the incentive to continue doing the job as he does
...
1 reply by Andrew Soswa
Mar 16, 2020 5:07 PM
Andrew Soswa
...
Hi Luis,
Although it seems to be about the team member, it is not. It is about the coach who's job description is to be proactive.
The coach resulted to sit back and do minimal when came across a team member, who is young and professionally inexperienced.
Specifically, the team member was not participating in Agile team meetings, generally did not ask any questions, had problems with using basic tools in our project.
The coach and everyone felt that passive resistance from a team member. Everyone looked up to the coach to fix the situation, after all it was coaches job responsibility to coach/train/mentor.
In my opinion, the coach should have not resulted in sending an email: "hey, if you need me, reach out to me" - but actually be that proactive type and nag, cajole, influence, buy-them-lunch, mentor, train and keeping asking to the point that the team member should accept the mentorship/coaching/training.
I read that "proactive" trait is learned in early years of human development. Later, it is much harder because with age, it requires longer periods of mentoring/coaching or self-realization-improvement.
I was looking for feedback from community if there is another way.
Saving Changes...
Andrew SoswaTechnology leader| Leading global financial institutionElk Grove Village, Il, United States
Mar 16, 2020 11:36 AM
Replying to Luis Branco
...
Dear Andrew
Interesting your question
Thanks for sharing
I have not yet read any other people's response to your reflection.
Is the team member a mature person? (Psychological maturity and work maturity?)
Are you looking for new and better approaches to the work you do?
If the answer is positive to the two questions I asked, the best mentoring he can have is the incentive to continue doing the job as he does
Hi Luis,
Although it seems to be about the team member, it is not. It is about the coach who's job description is to be proactive.
The coach resulted to sit back and do minimal when came across a team member, who is young and professionally inexperienced.
Specifically, the team member was not participating in Agile team meetings, generally did not ask any questions, had problems with using basic tools in our project.
The coach and everyone felt that passive resistance from a team member. Everyone looked up to the coach to fix the situation, after all it was coaches job responsibility to coach/train/mentor.
In my opinion, the coach should have not resulted in sending an email: "hey, if you need me, reach out to me" - but actually be that proactive type and nag, cajole, influence, buy-them-lunch, mentor, train and keeping asking to the point that the team member should accept the mentorship/coaching/training.
I read that "proactive" trait is learned in early years of human development. Later, it is much harder because with age, it requires longer periods of mentoring/coaching or self-realization-improvement.
I was looking for feedback from community if there is another way.
...
2 replies by Adrian Carlogea and Luis Branco
Mar 16, 2020 5:29 PM
Luis Branco
...
Dear Andrew
Thank you for your enlightening answer
In this case, we are facing a critical situation
Who does this person report to?
Despite having experience (otherwise he had not been given the responsibility to mentor the team) he does not appear to have the psychological maturity (motivation) to play that role
In this case, a face-to-face conversation with the mentor about their role and what is intended by a person who performs this role is required.
Mar 17, 2020 3:31 AM
Adrian Carlogea
...
If the team member is professionally inexperienced then he needs a more experienced professional to teach him how to do his job. As a general rule the PM is not suitable for such a duty unless he is also an experienced worker in the line of work of the inexperienced team member.
I know that you are not in the software development world but a software developer that is passive in meetings and in his interactions with others is not necessarily a "problem" team member. Software developers don't like meetings too much and they are more efficient if they are left alone to focus on their tasks.
Perhaps in marketing things are different than in software development and as such my comments may not apply to your case.
Saving Changes...
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Mar 16, 2020 5:07 PM
Replying to Andrew Soswa
...
Hi Luis,
Although it seems to be about the team member, it is not. It is about the coach who's job description is to be proactive.
The coach resulted to sit back and do minimal when came across a team member, who is young and professionally inexperienced.
Specifically, the team member was not participating in Agile team meetings, generally did not ask any questions, had problems with using basic tools in our project.
The coach and everyone felt that passive resistance from a team member. Everyone looked up to the coach to fix the situation, after all it was coaches job responsibility to coach/train/mentor.
In my opinion, the coach should have not resulted in sending an email: "hey, if you need me, reach out to me" - but actually be that proactive type and nag, cajole, influence, buy-them-lunch, mentor, train and keeping asking to the point that the team member should accept the mentorship/coaching/training.
I read that "proactive" trait is learned in early years of human development. Later, it is much harder because with age, it requires longer periods of mentoring/coaching or self-realization-improvement.
I was looking for feedback from community if there is another way.
Dear Andrew
Thank you for your enlightening answer
In this case, we are facing a critical situation
Who does this person report to?
Despite having experience (otherwise he had not been given the responsibility to mentor the team) he does not appear to have the psychological maturity (motivation) to play that role
In this case, a face-to-face conversation with the mentor about their role and what is intended by a person who performs this role is required. Saving Changes...
Manuel PerezProject Management Coordinator| Las Vegas Valley Water DistrictNorth Las Vegas, Nv, United States
Keep in mind that mentoring is not the same as directing. It should be about guiding to do the right thing by asking questions that lead learning PM's what are the considerations and planning to do. For example, Have you considered the impact if the hydraulic pump is not delivered in time? Which steps can we take to ensure is not an issue? And, from time to time offer options, but.... let them decide. You only learn by doing... Saving Changes...
Hi Luis,
Although it seems to be about the team member, it is not. It is about the coach who's job description is to be proactive.
The coach resulted to sit back and do minimal when came across a team member, who is young and professionally inexperienced.
Specifically, the team member was not participating in Agile team meetings, generally did not ask any questions, had problems with using basic tools in our project.
The coach and everyone felt that passive resistance from a team member. Everyone looked up to the coach to fix the situation, after all it was coaches job responsibility to coach/train/mentor.
In my opinion, the coach should have not resulted in sending an email: "hey, if you need me, reach out to me" - but actually be that proactive type and nag, cajole, influence, buy-them-lunch, mentor, train and keeping asking to the point that the team member should accept the mentorship/coaching/training.
I read that "proactive" trait is learned in early years of human development. Later, it is much harder because with age, it requires longer periods of mentoring/coaching or self-realization-improvement.
I was looking for feedback from community if there is another way.
If the team member is professionally inexperienced then he needs a more experienced professional to teach him how to do his job. As a general rule the PM is not suitable for such a duty unless he is also an experienced worker in the line of work of the inexperienced team member.
I know that you are not in the software development world but a software developer that is passive in meetings and in his interactions with others is not necessarily a "problem" team member. Software developers don't like meetings too much and they are more efficient if they are left alone to focus on their tasks.
Perhaps in marketing things are different than in software development and as such my comments may not apply to your case. Saving Changes...
"If they have moving sidewalks in the future, when you get on them, I think you should have to assume sort of a walking shape so as not to frighten the dogs."
