By Valerie Ryder and Kristina Tool
Mentoring plays a critical role in the advancement of women professionals in all sectors. It provides women role models, it can provide access to important networks and opportunities, and can provide structure for the development of individual skills and leadership abilities.
These are areas that are often cited as key barriers to career advancement for women in Italy, as is the lack of mentoring in general. Only a small portion of the Italian working population has access to this career development tool, mainly selected high-potential employees of international corporations.
PWA has innovatively moved to fill this gap by pioneering network mentoring in Italy, via its Women Leading Women program. The mentoring program is a key component of PWA’s updated mission, which is to support the advancement of career-minded women in their professional growth and development through networking, skill-building and mentoring in an international environment.
Facts and Figures:
Out of 50 member applicants, 38 requests were accommodated
Total of 16 mentors and 22 mentees, with 2 mentors having more than 1 mentee
Main matching criterion: level of correspondence between stated objectives and profiles of mentors and mentees
Pairs meet for a minimum of one hour/month for 6 months, June-Dec. 2010
Mentoring skill-building ½ day workshop organized to train participants
The mentoring program launch was held Wednesday, May 19th, 2010 at the Grand Hotel et de Milan. More than 75 PWA members, guests and press attended the event, where a selection of the mentors, all members of PWA, shared their experiences around mentoring:
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Isabella Chiodi, Vice President and member of the Italian Women Leadership Council, IBM
- Barbara Cominelli, Planning Director, Tenaris Dalmine
- Giovanna D’Alessio, Managing Director, LifeCoachLab and President of the International Coach Federation (presentation via pre-recorded video)
- Francesca Patellani, Client Partner (Banking Clients) and Inclusion & Diversity Lead, Accenture
- Lee Smith, Director, InStoreFactor
- Nicoletta Zappatini, Managing Director, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank
Working in a variety of fields, the featured mentor speakers shared the common experience of having male mentors; the reason being that there were not enough women in upper level positions to serve as mentors. While it was also acknowledged that personal chemistry between mentor and mentee was important to a successful relationship and they had been fortunate enough to have had that with their male mentors, it was noted that it would have been beneficial to have a female mentor.
Some of the speakers were able to serve as mentors within their corporate programs and were asked about the difference between male and female mentees. The consensus was that male mentees were more direct and tended to speak about business and career exclusively whereas female mentees may need some coaxing to initially express their desires and speak about work within the context of their life. Men also were more likely to believe they deserved promotions, while women often exhibited doubt.
Another important issue between mentors and mentees is confidentiality. Most corporate mentorship programs have rules of confidentiality so that those involved can trust that what they discuss will be kept in confidence, though if a mentor felt that her mentee was talented she could be an advocate for her and encourage her managers to make the best use of her strengths or to advance the mentee along her career path.
Having an effective mentor can help mentees in making decisions, acquire leadership skills and learn the unwritten rules of their corporate culture. While being a mentee can bring clear benefits, all agreed that serving as a mentor was beneficial since in teaching one can learn. It also allowed senior executives the opportunity to be in touch with what was going on in other parts of the organization and with newer, younger employees.
The Women Leading Women program not only provides corporate workers mentoring but is working to address the large need for mentors in the entrepreneurial community. Without the benefit of a corporate framework there is a gap in availability of mentor programs for entrepreneurs and was made evident by the number of independent business professionals who applied to the program.
Regardless of their profession, Women Leading Women provides a needed professional resource for PWA members.
If you are interested in participating as a mentor or mentee in the next round (early 2011), please refer to PWA’s newsletter, where information on this and other programs is regularly featured. For specific requests contact the Mentoring team, Valerie Ryder, PWA Professional Development Director, or Monique Svazlian, Mentoring Program Coordinator, at professional@pwa-milan.org
About Valerie Ryder and Monique Svazlian: Executive Coaches, Valerie and Monique are passionate about developing leaders both in the corporate world and in entrepreneurship. They share the common conviction that the most effective way for women to advance professionally is to take advantage of mentoring, coaching, networking and other leadership development resources. Read more about them at www.ryderassociates.com and www.highestpath.com.
