In the first 7 months of 2011 we have focused on our regular network activities as well as our well-established special programs. We have:

• Organized regular monthly networking aperitivi, in the new successful format that includes a mini-workshop, and monthly speaker meetings
• Launched the second edition of our Ready-for-board Women list, today with 165 women listed – I invite you to read it on our website here
• Launched the second edition of our Mentoring Program, with 26 mentor-mentee pairs working until the end of the year – I invite you to read our 2010 program book, you can find it online on our website here

In addition to the above, our Professional Development Director Valerie Ryder launched the skill building workshop series, with access limited to maximum of 12-15 attendees for a 2 and a half hour meeting focused on very specific topics. Three workshops were held before summer, two more are expected in the Autumn. Our Autumn workshops will focus on entrepreneurs:

• “How to prepare a Business Plan” will be held on October 12
• “How to prepare and deliver effective presentations” will be held on November 16

If we look at the Federation level, as you know our European Platform is undergoing major improvements (and your feedback is always welcome!). In order to take advantage from this powerful resource, remember to:

• upload your photo, so that women who have met you at an event and maybe don’t recall your name can easily find you on the platform,
• complete your bio, let us know what you do and how we can connect, network and support each other
• update your bio, you’ve changed job or reached a new challenging position or have been appointed to a board…let your peers know!

As a Board we try to pursue two parallel and complementary goals :

• support our members in their professional and personal growth through networking and mentoring opportunities as well as inspiring speakers and events
• contribute to national and local initiatives that concretely impact the life of working women and help them reach rewarding and powerful positions

Given the fact that we are all volunteers and our willingness to make an impact implies a lot of time and energy, we would like to take the opportunity to launch a call to action: put yourself forward for a board position and/or as external support to our board. A wider active support to the Board would allow PWA Milan to provide more initiatives and opportunities!

We hope to meet you in the next months at our events and we wish you a successful and interesting Autumn.

In today’s world it is increasingly important that women be responsible for their professional progress. On the one hand, the career options presented to women are exponentially higher than just a few decades ago. My mother’s generation, for example, had the broad choice between being a nurse, a stewardess, a secretary, a housewife or a nun. Mom was a perfect example: since she was too tall to work on a plane and too disorganized to work in an office, she decided to go into a convent, then changed her plans when she met my father, and became a housewife. Now she’s a nurse (although there is some continuity in that she’s still tall, disorganized and religious).

On the other hand, nowadays changing employers and even careers regularly is commonplace and well-accepted. Some employers and hiring professionals have even come to expect to see a variety of qualified experiences. (Mind you, job-hoppers are still frowned upon).

Too often, however, women’s careers are shaped by chance events, suggestions from friends and family who mean well but who may not be best placed to give professional advice, and occasionally, benevolent bosses.

From reactive to proactive
What can you, as a working woman, do to shift from being reactive about your career, to managing it proactively? You can start by making the following reiterative process a conscious part of your life.

1. Define and refine your career objectives for a rolling 2-4 year period. Think big. Be ambitious. Fight off any self-limiting beliefs (often manifested by nagging, pessimistic inner voices) or negative external influences that may hold you back from realizing your potential. Be aware that you can be the best planner on earth, yet there are always unforeseen circumstances. It’s worth keeping that in mind in order not to be discouraged or surprised about unexpected events which may prevent you from reaching some of your original goals.

2. Just do it. Dare to pursue your goals, with assertiveness, self-confidence and creativity. For a variety of reasons, this area tends to pose many challenges to women. Read on for plenty of examples and tips on how to accomplish this.

3. Evaluate your progress. Periodically assess the situation – are you on track? Have new variables emerged? When they do appear, it’s time to revisit your objectives while taking the new factors into account. Setting your goals is not a one-time, static occurrence; rather, it is an ongoing requirement to getting where you want to go.

No woman is an island
This process is simple to comprehend on a rational level. But for many, it’s easier said than done. How do you set your goals, when you’re not sure about what you want to do or are able to accomplish? How do you communicate more assertively and increase your self-esteem? How do you give free reign to your creativity, without fearing possible unwanted consequences? Getting help and support along the way is essential – there are very few stories of women (and even fewer of men, I would contend) who have succeeded on their own.

Building your personal support team can be done in a number of different ways, starting with enlisting the support of your spouse and/or family. Make your boss or business partner a sponsor of your success. Find a mentor who is willing to guide you. Take advantage of your company’s HR department, in areas such as training, career planning, and organizational development. Work with a professional coach. Reach out to peers and other people in your network who can help you in some way.

Real-life examples
At a Mini-Workshop I facilitated recently for PWA Milan during a Networking Aperitivo, I asked the dozens of women present to answer the question: What is the best proactive action you have taken in terms of your career? Following are the word-for-word answers, compiled into five different categories:

1. Assertiveness: Daring, Asking, Negotiating
Changing companies every 5/7 years – Wanting my boss’ job! – Sending out cold emails – Leave my (old!) job – Focused search in new country – Reinventing my career in a new country – Take risks – Negotiate better conditions – Maternity is not an obstacle: let me try and I will demonstrate I can also work – Applying for my current position in the company, getting more money – Proposed myself for a job I had never done before and succeed in it – Ask my boss for a new position – Being honest about what I could offer from the beginning of a new contract – Get husband and grandparents trained properly to support us and give relief from children and house responsibilities

2. International experience & travel
Working for an international law firm – Having gained international experience in my job – Being ready to travel a lot – Having travelled everywhere to learn and to teach

3. Launch own activity
Establish my srl – Starting my own business – Create an independent activity (Iva) – Being an entrepreneur of your own life – Starting a project

4. Life-long learning
Attend coaching school – Going back to b school – Learn new skills (language, computer, business, self-organization) – Discovering my core values and life purpose – Being gender bilingual

5. Networking & politics
Being a member of a professional association – New contacts – Enter politics

There’s something to say for women from the previous generations – they may not have had many career options, but they sure did have common sense. Some of my mother’s favorite sayings, still applicable to women today, are: Ask and you shall receive. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. God helps those who help themselves. Knowledge is power. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. In short, assertiveness, perseverance, initiative, education, creativity…sound familiar?

Following its successful first edition, the PWA Milan Mentoring Program is going into round two and opening the application process to mentors in mid-April 2011. Curious about becoming a mentor and what it means? Perhaps you are wondering if you have what it takes. Most likely, you do!

If you are reading this, you probably already have the three characteristics of a good mentor: relevant experience or knowledge, communication skills and willingness to contribute to the success of others.

Don’t be afraid of being a mentor: you will be surprised at how much you are able to offer your mentee by listening and talking. While a commitment, mentoring takes only 1-2 hours per month and can be done at your office, over lunch or even during an aperitivo after work.

Mentoring is not only an act of generosity: being a mentor is rewarding and beneficial for the mentor as well as the mentee. Proof of this is that more than ¾ of the mentors from last year’s program who responded to a follow-up survey are willing to serve as mentors again!

A common theme among mentors is the satisfaction they gain from the experience. There is much gratification to be had from helping someone make good career decisions: “It gave me great pleasure and fulfillment to see someone blooming and developing as my mentee did.” Many women also enjoy giving back to a system from which they themselves have benefitted, while others want their mentee to “benefit from my mistakes”.

And while personal satisfaction and developing relationships are a great motivator for many, some mentors take an even broader point-of-view: “we are contributing to making the world a better (work)place for our daughters”. Recent research has shown that advancing women at all levels contributes to making businesses more profitable.

Finally, mentoring offers tangible benefits to the mentor’s career as well:*

- Mentors gain respect and recognition from others as individuals who are able to identify, encourage and promote talent
- Mentoring a future leader can extend the mentor’s network by providing access not only to the current connections of the mentee, but also to the connections the mentee will develop in the future
- In cross-generational pairs, mentees provide mentors with insights to another generation

An effective mentor in a network mentoring program such as PWA’s is somewhat different from a traditional corporate mentor. To clarify this distinction, we have identified the ideal characteristics of mentors in the PWA program, as well as the roles they may fulfill.

Characteristics of PWA Milan Mentors
1. Relevant experience and/or knowledge. Potential mentors need to have knowledge — general, technical, or skill-related — or experience in a certain area which could be useful to an aspiring mentee. The first part is easy – we all have experience and knowledge. The second part – is it useful to someone else — is where there may be uncertainty. The answer is: it is very likely that it would be beneficial. To be sure, apply as a mentor – you never know who may be in need of the experience you’ve got!
2. Communication skills. Effective mentors are skilled in a certain number of key communication areas, such as active listening, providing constructive feedback, and demonstrating empathy. The training workshop we will be holding for all participants will cover a number of these competencies.
3. Willingness and availability to contribute to the success of others. PWA mentors need to want to help fellow women in their professional advancement, and commit to the availability requirements of the program, knowing that they in turn will surely derive worthwhile benefits in the process.

Reminder: There is no minimum age, seniority, professional level, or educational qualifications in the PWA Mentoring Program.

Various Roles of Mentors
In the PWA program, we anticipate that mentors will play one or two of the roles described here*, but certainly not all of them. In fact, it is widely recommended that women develop a panel of mentors – both women and men – with diverse backgrounds, skills and connections, in order to receive the different types of guidance and support they may need.

Counselor. In this role, fundamental in a network mentoring program such as PWA’s, the mentor is supportive and acts as a sounding board to help her mentee successfully move forward professionally.
- Offers suggestions based on her own professional experience and helps mentee avoid any mistakes she may have made.
- Candidly shares issues related to gender in the workplace.
- Helps the mentee strategize to achieve career goals and weigh the pros and cons of career choices.
- Explains the unwritten rules in the mentee’s environment.
- Assists with strategies for time management essential to balancing work and personal life.

Coach/Advisor. The mentor may serve as a coach/advisor in giving candid feedback, providing assistance with career development, and advising on how to accomplish objectives. Although coaching and mentoring are overall quite different, this is one area where there is some overlap.
- Helps the mentee clarify her performance objectives and areas she would like to develop.
- Offers the mentee candid feedback and provides specific recommendations on areas in which the mentee would like to improve.

Role Model. In certain cases, the mentor may be an inspiring role model. Observing how others conduct themselves and interact with others is often cited by successful individuals as one of their key strategies.
- Leads by example.
- Demonstrates knowledge and insight into applicable informal political processes.
- Exhibits components of an effective leadership style.

Advocate. The mentor may, from time to time, act as a sponsor for the mentee.
- Opens doors and introduces the mentee to select members of the mentor’s network of contacts.
- Informs her mentee about any appropriate professional or educational opportunities she may be aware of.
Note to mentees: Please do not expect this of your mentors – this is a potential added benefit!

As you can see, Mentoring is a terrific way to benefit another woman’s professional development and gain personal and professional rewards for yourself. Giving truly is better than receiving, and we hope you will join our ranks!

For more information on the PWA Milan Mentoring Program, contact us at professional@pwa-milan.org.
• Valerie Ryder, 2010-11 Mentoring Program Leader and Professional Development Director
• Lee Kirkpatrick Smith, 2011 Mentoring Program Coordinator

* Adapted from “Creating Successful Mentoring Programs: A Catalyst Guide”.

We are excited about the success of last year’s PWA mentoring program and would like to share not only our enthusiasm with you, but also some important information on mentoring in general.

So what is mentoring, after all?
Mentoring is a voluntary, not-for-profit relationship between two individuals who each take a defined role: The Mentor is a person with relevant knowledge and experience, while the Mentee is a person who wants to learn from the mentor for her personal and professional development. The basic concept and process of mentoring is simple and straightforward: Mentoring is a relationship that is created to share knowledge and experience for learning in a purposeful way.

To share knowledge and experience refers to the fact that age and seniority are no longer the decisive factors for choosing a mentor with the experience required to face today’s challenges. The traditional form of mentoring, characterized by a “wise elder mentoring the protégé(e)”, has given way to new, more egalitarian forms of mentoring. In the PWA Mentoring Program, there is no minimum age or seniority requirement for mentors.

For learning in a purposeful way is where the key strength of the mentoring process lies. The relationship is based on learning – and effective learning needs a clear purpose to prevent mentoring from becoming just another opportunity to talk with a friend. In our Mentoring Program, each mentee clearly specifies her objectives upfront.

Mentoring vs. Coaching
There is a common misconception floating around: that mentoring can provide the same benefits as coaching, and vice versa. Mentoring has sometimes even been referred to as “poor man’s coaching”.

The two indeed have a number of areas in which they overlap. Both mentor and coach need to share their knowledge in a way conducive to learning. Moreover, both mentee and coachee are responsible for their own learning. Mentoring and coaching are about bringing out the very best in people by listening, asking questions and providing feedback. They are both developmental relationships.

In truth, mentoring and coaching require different skills and knowledge. Mentoring and coaching differ in that a coach needs to be an expert in the areas and skills required to foster her client’s development, while a mentor has specific knowledge or a particular experience the mentee is looking for.

The mentor and coach have different roles in the learning process. A coach is responsible for the challenge of stimulating and guiding the coachee to reach a higher level of her potential. In short, a coach applies coaching skills in order to help others to learn rather than to teach them. A mentor, as role model, shares relevant experiences, and leaves it to the mentee to apply the knowledge in a way that best suits her purpose.

All PWA members are welcome to apply to participate, for free, as mentors or mentees in the PWA Mentoring Program. Please refer to the Mentoring page of our website to download the mentoring brochure, to consult articles on mentoring, for dates of the next annual mentoring period, and to find out how to apply. Keep your eye out for current information and updates through posts on the PWA site and in the newsletter. Contact us with any questions and comments you may have at professional@pwa-milan.org

• Valerie Ryder, 2010-11 Mentoring Program Leader and Professional Development Director
• Lee Smith, 2011 Mentoring Program Coordinator

Some of the information contained in this article has been loosely excerpted from the book “Women@Work No.7: Mentoring – A Powerful Tool for Women”, edited by Therese Torris and published by the EuropeanPWN. It is available for purchase at www.EuropeanPWN.net

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: