Empowering the Future: reviewing our last Mentorship cycle at tb.lx
Introduction
“At tb.lx, we define a mentor as someone who pays particular attention to our development and progress, believes in us even when we don’t, and doesn’t compete with us but takes pride in seeing us strive.” Cyril Desmedt, People Development Partner, @ tb.lx
In our ever-evolving world, the fields of technology, transportation, sustainability and company culture are at the forefront of innovation and progress. As these sectors continue to shape our future, mentorship programs play a vital role in nurturing talent, fostering growth, and empowering individuals to thrive in this dynamic industry. We previously wrote about setting up the tb.lx mentorship program from scratch , and in this follow-up article, we will explore the significance of mentorship and share the experience of seven inspiring mentor and mentee pairs who are helping shape the future of transportation with their work and through their collaboration.
Views on the last Mentorship cycle @ tb.lx
Mentorship Trifecta
Let’s dive right into the experiences of this past mentorship semester, with a mentoring trifecta: João Pargana, Nuno Enes, and Andrei Straut. João simultaneously mentored Nuno and was also Andrei’s mentee.
· Mentor: Andrei Straut, Engineering Manager
· Mentor and Mentee: João Pargana, Engineering Lead in training
· Mentee: Nuno Enes, Frontend Engineer
João Pargana: “This year’s mentorship experience was extremely rewarding. I’ve learned that you can have a relationship with a colleague, where the only goal of the relationship is around your growth. You seek to improve yourself and the mentor is there to offer support and be part of the journey. No ulterior motives, just a genuine interest in you and a reflective journey of them to become a better mentor.”
Nuno Enes: “I found that the mentorship program is a great way to keep up to date with the industry and be challenged to overcome your shortcomings. I’ve had a chance to go beyond my day-to-day working experience, experimenting with CI/CD, dockerization, and backend development. Additionally, as a mentee you get the chance of learning from someone you look up to!”
Andrei Straut: “Mentoring for me is a great way to pass on both good and bad experiences, and above all, help others avoid making the same mistakes I did when I was in their shoes. It’s also a great opportunity to help others grow just a little bit faster and serve as a guide along their path. It lets me create links and relationships in areas of the company I might not otherwise interact with, and in the end, it strengthens our bond, feeling of unity, and connectedness.”
Mentorship deep dive: Nuno, João and Andrei shared this growth cycle and now bonded beyond their day-to-day work topics. They gained new technical skills and knowledge, as well as further insights into leading by their unique experiences. They’re the perfect example, of the fact that any mentee can also be a mentor, but also that the exchange is rewarding for both the mentor and the mentee, as it exposes them to new ways of thinking, and provides them with a coaching experience. This experience shows us that no matter what your level or years of experience, you can always continue learning and growing.
Fostering cross-team connection:
· Mentor: Valter Francisco, Backend Engineer
· Mentee: Frederico Leite, Backend Engineer
Valter Francisco: “My experience in the mentoring program was a fulfilling and enriching one, both as a mentee and as a mentor. As a mentee, I got to learn from someone who had been in the same place as me and could give me knowledge I would have needed more experience to have. As a mentor, I got to help another software engineer find his way in a very big and intimidating industry, by sharing what I had learned in my career. Both experiences have allowed me to grow as a professional and as a person.”
Frederico Leite: “As a mentee I’m very happy to have been able to enroll in a mentorship program, not only to refresh my technological knowledge, but also to be able to connect with other tblxers outside of my team. I’m looking forward to starting a new one in the near future.”
Mentorship Deep Dive: Both Valter and Frederico are backend engineers, however, from different teams. Valter and Francisco had the opportunity to exchange on backend best practices, discuss how their experience shaped their journey and to share further technical knowledge. From mentee to mentor, Valter is all for sharing knowledge and career insights. Maybe this time next year we’ll have Frederico as mentor too!
From Product Owner to Product Owner:
· Mentor: Julia Fiene, Product Owner
· Mentee: Farid Moeinvaziri, Product Owner
Julia Fiene: “What I really like about mentorship, is that you get the chance to speak and work with colleagues from other projects, allowing both sides to learn about different realities, challenges, and also solution approaches. And I think that’s exactly where the learning lies (and by that, I mean mutual learning!), to look past our own day-to-day and beaten track! I feel this is helpful and rewarding for both the mentee and the mentor!”
Farid Moeinvaziri: “The mentorship program is a testament to the power of human connection, where knowledge is shared, confidence is nurtured, and paths are illuminated. As a mentee, I have been fortunate to walk alongside a seasoned mentor, who selflessly shared their expertise, experiences, and insights. Through their invaluable guidance, I have gained clarity in my goals, developed new skills, and overcome challenges with a newfound resilience. The mentorship program has provided a safe and nurturing environment, where I can freely express my doubts, seek advice, and receive constructive feedback. The mentor’s unwavering support has ignited my confidence, instilled a sense of purpose, and propelled me toward realizing my full potential. Each interaction, whether through meaningful conversations, practical exercises, or thought-provoking discussions, has contributed to my personal and professional growth, leaving an indelible mark on my journey.”
Mentorship Deep Dive: Julia and Farid are both Product Owners, and are accustomed to helping manage diverse stakeholders, development teams, and customer expectations. Working in different teams means they have different experiences and insights they can share with one another, to help improve their day-to-day experience. For Julia, the mentor, working with Farid provided her insights into how he handled different realities and found solutions to challenges she doesn’t deal with in her day-to-day, keeping her aware of different perspectives. For Farid, he was able to work with a seasoned Product Owner, who helped him define clearer goals, deal with tough situations with greater ease, and helped him gain more confidence and soft skills through meaningful exchanges. Way to go both, this relationship promoted mutual learning!
From the People for the People:
· Mentor: Alexandra Canuto Pardal, People Operations Specialist
· Mentee: Verónica Lei, People Operations Specialist
Alexandra Canuto Pardal: “I can say that it has been one of the most challenging experiences. Thinking about what we’ve been doing for a long time and turning it into knowledge for someone else to grow. I’ve learned a lot.”
Verónica Lei: “First, you need to understand the purpose of the mentorship program. To participate in it you should be the person seeing the need and deciding to jump into it. Otherwise, you’ll look at the program as another meeting on top of a lot of other things you already have to do. If you know the what, the why, and so on, you’re ready to take advantage of the program and you’ll for sure benefit from knowledge, good insights and guidance, and growth.”
Mentorship Deep Dive: Alexandra and Véronica both work on the People Team, with different areas of expertise and day-to-day experiences. This mentor-mentee relationship helped them both to understand the full scope of people management at tb.lx, and how their diverse tasks and goals contributed to a more people-centric experiences for their fellow tblxers. For mentor, Alexandra, it was a challenge thinking from the perspective of a newer member of tb.lx, and translating her years of experience with the firm into insights Verónica could use in her day-to-day work to spur a growth journey. For Verónica, the mentee, it was about adapting to her role and taking the insights from Alexandra, in a meaningful, intentional way, empowering her to do her best every day. These two women make quite a pair and highlight how important people management really is.
Inspiring Tech Innovation and Experience Design:
· Mentor: Francisco Lourenço, Backend Engineer
· Mentee: Liliana Rodrigues, UI/UX Designer
Francisco Lourenço: “As a mentor you can develop your leadership, communication, and problem-solving skills. It allows you to have a positive impact on someone’s life. Mentorship is not a one-way street. As you guide your mentee, you’ll hear from their unique perspectives, ideas, and particular experiences, broadening your horizons.”
Liliana Rodrigues: “Having a mentor in a different area, such as a Backend Engineer, has immensely enriched my experience as a UX/UI designer. It has allowed me to gain a holistic understanding of the product I am working on. Their deep expertise has provided me with valuable insights into the technical aspects of development, enabling me to better comprehend the boundaries of what can be feasibly implemented.
Engaging in meaningful dialogue with my mentor has expanded my creative thinking and problem-solving capabilities. His feedback about my work, and his recognition of my potential, has helped me gain trust in my work. With this collaboration, I can deliver more thoughtful and impactful solutions that address user needs.”
Mentorship Deep Dive: Putting together two tblxers from different teams and backgrounds, challenges their understanding of their own work. The goal? To encourage them to adopt a holistic view on how to build meaningful digital services, enriching their knowledge from a different perspective. For Francisco, our mentor, connecting with Liliana allowed him to experience the reward of having an impact on her development, while also reflecting on her perspective as a designer, and how this challenged his day-to-day ideas. For Liliana, our mentee, being able to approach UX/UI design with insight into how solutions work from the inside-out, helped her understand her boundaries and feasibility of her designs. This highlights that building software is a complete, multi-faceted process and takes different types of minds like Francisco’s and Liliana’s.
Data and Software, hand in hand:
· Mentor: João Paulo Figueira, Data Scientist
· Mentee: Mafalda Batista, Backend Engineer
João Paulo Figueira: “Being a mentor is a double-edged challenge. On the one hand, you must expose yourself to another person whom you will have to steer and advise wisely. On the other hand, being a mentor forces you to be introspective and interpret your life events, transforming those insights into usable mentoring material. Mentoring is a challenge to undergo at least once in a lifetime.”
Mafalda Batista: “At the start of the mentorship program I had no idea what to expect. However, I had to jump at the opportunity to get mentored by someone much more experienced than me. This was an amazing chance to deepen my knowledge about the transportation industry, while also connecting with people that I don’t work with directly. The cherry on top is that I can choose another topic in a future cycle to keep the knowledge growing.”
Mentorship Deep Dive: Passionate about data, João Figueira might seem like an odd match to our backend engineer, Mafalda, during this mentorship cycle. However, his exposure to diverse industries and ways of working provided his mentee, Mafalda, more sector-specific insights, as well as access to someone who knows a lot about growth, goal-setting, and intuitive decision-making. By creating this relationship and putting together two different roles and perspectives, we challenged how both participants think and approach challenges, resulting in a meaningful exchange that provided both participants with the chance to step outside their comfort zone and learn totally new things. Way to go guys!
Putting it all together — what value does this add?
By creating our mentorship process from scratch, we added a learning platform where our tblxers could learn from our greatest assets: each other. By talking, discussing problem-solution oriented tasks and insights, and creating a safe-space for honest exchange, our tblxers have the opportunity to add to their technical knowledge and learning path, in a more qualitative, soft-skill driven way. The result — is a holistic learning path and perspective, to fuel growth for our tblxers.
Hungry for more insights on how we approach and think about mentorship, starting back from the beginning? Check out some of our past content on this topic and other content that inspires us about mentorship:
- What is a Mentor, and What it isn’t (tb.lx documentation)
- How you can mentor in Practice (tb.lx documentation)
- Asking Powerful Questions in 1:1s (sample questions by Executive Coach and Keynote Speaker, Jean Marie DiGiovanna)
- Setting a Training Plan (Engineering Management article)
- How a Great Mentor Makes All the Difference (Esther Perel video)
This article was a cross-collaboration between our 7 mentor-mentee pairs, Saskia Loja, Strategic Brand Communications, at tb.lx 🚛🌿, and Andrea Leiras, Social Media and Employer Branding Expert at tb.lx 🚛🌿.
