All Aboard the AmCham Mentorship

By Liranel Dandan

Last February 23, I attended AmCham’s All Aboard the AmCham Mentorship: Leaders & Young Professionals Forum hosted by the Young Professionals Committee of AmCham Philippines. Featured speakers were Mr. Reggie Pulumbarit — Director & Country Leader of 3M Global Service Center- Philippines, and Mr. John Baluyot — Chief Enabling Officer of Positive Workplaces.

Here are my key takeaways:

• Mentoring is not about fixing people; it is enabling their best potential.
• In mentoring, leaders provide support and accelerate employee development. They help improve job satisfaction and retention. Mentoring also facilitates knowledge sharing and provides learning opportunities for mentors and mentees. It also provides opportunities to network and build relationships.
• On the other hand, Reverse Mentoring provides leaders insight into the minds of the next generation: knowledge of their values, priorities & what drives them. It is through reverse mentorship that leaders understand how the next generation wishes to be treated and optimizes their talents to enhance engagement and retention, and reverse mentorship serves as a bridge-builder between generations.
• Mentoring key success factors are the following:

1. Grow a culture around people being open to it. Make sure that leaders are willing to mentor and get mentored by others.
2. There should be good partnering by asking what you are looking forward to in the mentorship.
3. Informal Mentoring — seek out people outside your organization that you can trust. Also, leaders should give people time to do their mentorship.

The current pandemic had shifted the dynamics of the workforce. A lot of people are now teleworking and companies are adapting to the virtual environment. As we navigate in this new normal, workplace predicaments have changed — we thought WFH would be a lot easier, but it is not. Leaders need to have more empathy as a mentor. Mentor and mentee relationships have shifted with the new normal. The job of the mentor is more on helping his mentee prioritize, how to stay focused, and helping him maintain that positive energy. Gone are the days where mentoring was all about older individuals mentoring the young ones.

Modern Mentoring is the new trend of mentorship now, where anyone who has more experience on something can be a mentor. Especially now that we are in the age of technology, younger generations who are more exposed to technology are now mentoring the older generations, which is very acceptable as mentoring is all about growth.

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About the author:

Liranel is a strong believer of the golden rule, “Do unto others, what you want others to do unto you.” She loves to explore, go places, and immerse herself in different cultures. She’s fond of meeting new people, who are passionate about travelling, food, and family. She is a self-confessed thalassophile — the sea is her happy place.