Finance Mentorship Program

Update: The Finance Mentorship Program is not currently active. We will update this page in the future if that changes. For information on GitLab Mentorship programs, see this page

As discussed in GitLab’s Remote Playbook, the intentionality behind communication, especially in remote settings, is a critical element of success. This pilot program aims to support GitLab’s communications plan by purposefully creating and cultivating opportunities for mentors, mentees, and connection.

In the finance team, there’s a great untapped opportunity for cross-training and relationship building. We are launching our first mentorship pilot program to establish whether mentorship is a good way for the finance team to facilitate learning and development and normalize knowledge sharing in our department.

For reference and guidance, you can refer to the L&D Mentorship Documentation.

Program Structure

1:1 Coaching Sessions

Sessions will take place every other week for 30-minutes and will last for up to 3 months (with the possibility of an extension), as long as both mentors and mentees remain engaged. The mentor/mentee relationship will be cross-divisional, meaning that both parties will have the opportunity to work with and learn from team members outside of your usual roles.

Program Slack Channel

All program communications will be sent through the slack channel #finance-mentorship-program.

Program Timeline

Phase	Timeline
Call for Mentors and Mentees	5 April - 30 April 2021
Pairing process	3 May - 7 May 2021
Mentor program kickoff meeting	Tuesday 10th May 2021
Mentorship period	10th May - 10th August 2021
Mid-program feedback survey	1st July 2021
End of program feedback survey	10th August 2021

Engagement Criteria

The program will last for up to 3-months if both the mentor and the mentee remain engaged. Being engaged in the program will be defined as:

• Attending all scheduled sessions
• Actively participating in all sessions
• Preparing for calls (mentees will drive agenda)
• Implementing learnings (namely for mentees)

Recommendations for Mentees

Mentees identify, at minimum, one development goal that they’d like to discuss with their mentor.

How to identify a goal?

• Themes from 360 feedback
• A skill that you’d like to improve
• An experience that you’d like to obtain to learn and grow closer to a career development milestone that you are interested in obtaining
• Remember to make goals SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely)

Program Participants

Mentor	Mentee
Daniel Parker	Dillon Wheeler
Melody Maradiaga	Sylwia Szepietowska
Bryan Wise	Mark Quitevis
Dale Brown	Nicole Ann Precilla
Andrew Murray	Michelle Cooper
Igor Groenewegen-Mackintosh	Sindhu Srivastava
Sindhu Tatimatla	Naomi Khan
Craig Mestel	Erica de longpre
Israel Weeks	Karuna Singh
Brian Robins	Courtney Cote
Aleshia Hansen	Alex Westbrook
Paul Armstrong	Melody Maradiaga
Justin Stark	Wendy Lam
Sushma Nalamaru	Paul Laurinavicius
Dennis van Rooijen	Harley Devlin
Rob Parker	Daniel Parker

Success Metrics

• 80 or greater NPS score across mentors and mentees (9’s or 10’s for the following question: “Overall, I would recommend this program to another GitLab team member” at the end of the pilot program survey).
• 100% participation in program-related calls

DRIs

@dparker and @bryanwise