IIM LUCKNOW ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

IIM Lucknow Mentorship Program Mentors Reference Manual

Aditya Julka IIM Lucknow Alumni Committee +91-8127414359

mentorship@iiml.org

INDEX
Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 2 First step.............................................................................................................................................. 3 Responsibilities and expectations ............................................................................................. 4 Schedule/Calendar .......................................................................................................................... 5 Interaction .......................................................................................................................................... 7 Additional Points.............................................................................................................................. 8

Introduction
What is mentoring?
Under the IIML AA Mentorship Program, mentoring is the process of seeking guidance from an alumnus, who has three advantages: experience, perspective, and distance. True mentoring within this program is an extended confidential relationship between two people who have mutual personal growth and corporate success as common goals.

Mentors gain:
Experience in developing professionals An expanded network A source of fresh ideas and feedback

Drivers for the Mentorship program

The requirements for IIML graduates to excel in their careers have rapidly changed over the past few years, due to a rapid opening up of opportunities around the world. With student exchanges, international summer placements, and multinational careers, an IIML graduate has the opportunity to excel on the world stage such as never before. However, this is tempered with increased competition from MBA graduates within India and abroad. Secondly, industry has been consistent in its feedback regarding PGPs not preparing enough for their careers, not having sufficient industry or practical knowledge, and not having clear focus and communication skills. A long-term mentorship program should greatly assist the IIML PGP/ABM students in not only overcoming these deficiencies but also provide them with the knowledge required to make the best of their stay at IIM Lucknow.

Time Line
Program Launch- 1st March, 2013 Program Duration- March13 to November13 Alumni Committee will officialy monitor the program till end of November, 2013. However, the mentor-mentee are encouraged to continue the relationship thereafter. We hope that you would have made a special connect with your mentee by then and the relationship would a be a fruitful one for both.

Volunteer Time Commitment

Preparation: None Ongoing: 2 - 4 hours per month No travel required

First step
Thanks (and congratulations!) on becoming a mentor. This is a sizeable responsibility, and will provide you the satisfaction of guiding someone to greater success in their life. The way the program works is: all PGP/ABM students interested in the program prepare a brief introduction of themselves highlighting their functional area of interest and lay out what the hope to achieve from the mentorship programme. We would do a preliminary mapping of the mentee whose career aspirations are most similar with your career path. You can decide to select a mentee urself or leave the final selection to us. In case you are interested to select a mentee yourself, we will provide you with an option of three interested students to choose from. From then on, youre ready to go!

Responsibilities and expectations

The Mentor is an experienced alumnus who provides guidance and serves as a special sounding board. By creating a safe environment where trust is established and by spending time with the mentee, the mentor expands the mentee's opportunity to gain the maximum from the PGP program, utilize time to the best while at IIML in preparing for a future management career, and demonstrate his/her best talents. The mentors responsibilities are to: Understand and advocate the goals and objectives of mentoring Commit to interacting on a regular basis Take time to get to know the mentee, find out interests and talents, skills that need to be developed, and what he or she wants from the mentorship and from IIML Keep confidential all information that is exchanged Share personal experiences and success stories to help mentee resolve problems and deal with similar issues Provide specific feedback, suggestions, and actions for any problems brought up, and monitor the implementation and effectiveness of those. Provide personal observations about what the mentee can do to develop a broad range of skills to address changing demands of a management career and to address likely demands post-IIML. Provide opportunities for the mentee to expand his/her network and develop a broader perspective Guide the mentee towards developing focus and interest in a particular field Assist the mentee in achieving his/her career goals upon graduation from IIML

The mentor can expect the mentee to do the following: Keep the relationship confidential Define goals, and means planned to achieve them, communicate problems clearly and be open about needs and deficiencies Ask for suggestions or advice, listen to and apply some of the advice, and keep the mentor updated on the results Work out concerns about the relationship

Schedule/Calendar
Phase I I. March13
Objectives : Initiation Activity : i. ii. iii. iv. v.

vi.

vii. viii.

Reply to the mentees introductory mail and set up a time/date when you may speak to him/her Have an initial call with your mentee to cover career goals and expectations; current situation at IIML; any current problems and apprehensions. Make the mentee comfortable by discussing your history, educational background, professional profile, hobbies and interests so that he may personally connect with you Lay out a schedule of calls with your mentee and the preferred medium of maintaining the communication Try to identify one or more areas of improvement, and one or more career development steps. Ensure the mentee understands these and has specific next steps to execute for this Your mentee is almost ready for their summer training. If possible, connect your mentee to people who may provide a close view of the organization, deliverables, tasks and tips, etc which will be useful during their summers. Emphasize on networking and relationship-building for the mentee during the summer internship Provide help in selecting courses for the 2nd year depending on the mentees career goals and academic interests. Ensure that a good choice is made, and is not based on fads or incomplete information.

II. April13
Objective : Summer Training Support Activity : i. ii.

Ensure your mentee has settled comfortably at their internship, is adequately supported, understands the scope of their summers project. Address any problems or questions they might have.

III. May13 June13

Focus: Summer Training Execution Activity : i. ii. iii. iv. v.

Ensure your mentee is executing their summer project to the best. Ask that they go over and beyond the normal summer training, to obtain industry knowledge and information about the activities of the company as a whole. Encourage them to reach out to other alumni, industry managers, and build a meaningful network of contacts. Assure them of your continued availability for questions and support At the end of the summer internship, discuss key learning and how this can be built upon during year 2 at IIML.

Phase 2 IV. July13

Focus: Post Summer Activities Activities: i. Encourage your mentee to capitalize on his summers experience by undertaking deeper research in the area and publishing a whitepaper over it. ii. Review your mentees roadmap for the remainder of the year at IIML. Do they have a good balance between academics and relevant extra-curricular? iii. Encourage your mentee to discuss academic projects and any hot industry issues with you and recommend resources for research or extra reading up

V. August13- September13
Focus : Building Functional Skills Activity : i. ii. iii. iv.

Share any tips / experiences / tasks that to enhance industry knowledge and personal skills for the summer placements Follow up on the areas of improvement and career development steps Your mentee has begun with his specialization specific courses. Enquire how the course work is progressing and offer help if the mentee needs it Sometimes the students are not sure if they have made the right choice regarding the specialization and the courses. Enquire if the mentee is happy with the choices he made and how best to approach the course work

VI. October13
Focus : Career Path Activity: i. Its time that the mentee has clarity of thought on what exactly he/she wants to do in the future. Help you mentee make that choice ii. Put the mentee in touch with alums or other professionals from the same area of interest and with substantial experience to enable him make an informed decision iii. Discuss the pros and cons of that particular industry. Its very essential that you give him a very realistic picture

VII. November13
Focus : CV Preparation and Buildup to lateral placements Activity: i. Your mentee might be eligible for the lateral placement procedure. Review the CV of your mentee and provide remarks and feedback ii. Provide counselling on handling interviews and presenting oneself better iii. If possible, take mock telephonic interviews and identify areas that need improvement

Interaction
Suggestions for initial interaction
Take the initiative in the relationship. Get in touch with your mentee, suggest topics to discuss, ask if you can offer advice, etc. Remember, your mentee might be very hesitant to approach you initially. Take the time to find out what the mentee wants from the relationship Interact more frequently earlier in the relationship to establish the foundation of trust and open communications important to an effective relationship Be explicit about the best time and ways for the mentee to reach you. Be explicit about your own needs and limits (e.g., time constraints, style of interacting) Respect your mentees time as much as your own. Follow through on scheduled meetings whenever possible

On-going interaction
When you have built a level of trust in the relationship, consider exploring the following questions. Again, interaction through telephone calls with follow-up actions minuted through emails is the strongly recommended means of interaction. What career/s is the mentee interested in? (The answer could range from not defined, in which case the mentor needs to assist the mentee to define one, to general ones such as finance, to very specific ones such as derivatives research). What expectations does the mentee have from those career/s? What is the most satisfying/rewarding part of their current work at IIML? Ask the mentee if she/he has assessed their strengths and development needs with respect to career goals? Ask mentee to share learnings from course and non-course work at IIML and discuss how these learnings can be applied to other areas. (e.g. mentee might have irrelevant projects or extra-curricular activities)

Suggestions for activities or discussion points for subsequent meetings: Check if your mentee can visit your place of work Help mentee develop a network of contacts who can expand his/her knowledge of the industry he/she is interested in, or who you think have potential to help your mentee. Point out specific ways in which the contacts and the mentee can help each other (interaction might need to be very well structured). Coach on soft skills, communication, and presentation typically weak and ignored areas. Loan your mentee some materials (e.g., reports, books, articles, models) that have impressed you. Ask him or her to read them and discuss them with you later Ask mentees to share course assignments, projects, learnings, etc. and discuss how these can be applied to other areas or to the chosen career Discuss the mentees focus on placement as opposed to focus on an on -going career (often PGP concentrate on that one day of placement and getting into the most-hyped company, rather than targeting companies which offer their chosen careers even if those companies do not come for placement). Lead your mentee through discussions of various scenarios he or she faces (or could face). Discuss what if situations; role-play different strategies; change details to call for different solutions.

Keep a record After each discussion or interaction, make sure some kind of minutes detailing any specific action points are prepared and maintained.

Additional Points
The following points are additional tips to consider using to enhance the success of your mentoring relationship: Maintain confidentiality Encourage self-reliance by attempting to coach the mentee on addressing issues rather than you providing the answers or solutions yourself. If in your judgment, there is a situation where the AA should get involved or IIML needs to intervene, do escalate accordingly. Remember open, frequent communication is vital to the success of the relationship. If you havent heard from your mentee, check in. Strike a healthy balance between listening carefully and offering suggestions and criticism. Check with the mentee if he/she is finding your feedback useful. Make only positive or neutral comments about your mentee to others. If you disagree with your mentees behaviours or values, discuss them with him/her, accept them or move on but do not talk negatively about your mentee behind his/her back. Do not disclose your mentees name on the mentorship egroup; this will assist free and frank discussion and exchange of experiences on that group. Exchange information on activities, concerns, etc. with other mento rs so that you wont feel like a pioneer. Be an active participant on the mentorship egroup.

Aditya Julka IIM Lucknow Alumni Committee +91-8127414359

mentorship@iiml.org