Mentorship is an opportunity to learn from personal experience, background, and perspective. Mentorship builds trust, provides a safe space to make mistakes, and encourages growth for both the mentor and mentee. Reach out in the #mentoring Slack channel with questions or feedback.
The Power of Mentoring
Team members have multiple options to participate in mentorship at GitLab.
Although not directly, but my mentor has indirectly helped me with my OKRs. My mentor has given me more confidence and knows-how in approaching my OKR goals.With advice from my mentor, I was able to adjust the way I was reporting on my OKRs & projects to better communicate my progress. I also was coached on how to prepare myself for feedback & criticisms on my projects and how to better receive those comments - not taking them personally, and striving to be a part of the solution to fixing problems versus thinking I am the problem.I have learnt to navigate GitLab code and improve my debugging skills, which directly feeds into delivering exceptional experience to my efficiency, customers results and skills development.My mentor has been a force in my life. She is incredible - from helping me navigate new manager styles to how to prospect to how to deal with my mental health better - she's so so good. I hit the jackpot! I am in such a better place to actually work hard with her on my team, so the impact is indirectly directly related to my ability to sell.In FY23 Q1, mentees in current organized mentorship programs reported the affect their mentorship had business and personal results. 17% of mentees completed the survey.
| Expectation | Description |
|---|---|
| **Mentees lead conversations ** | Mentorship is led by the mentee, similar to how 1:1's at GitLab are driven by direct reports. |
| Maintain Boundaries | Maintain clear and appropriate boundaries. Be clear on your responsibilities and those of their manager. |
| Set Goals | Mentees should create goals, put them in writing, and frequently revisit goals to measure progress. |
| Build Trust | Colleague first, expert second. Spend time getting to know one another. Be open, honest, and fully authentic. |
| Set Expectations | Be realistic and uphold your commitment. Share access to resources and people, but make it clear you do not wield your influence over others. |
| Listen | Establish trust and openness in communication. Give your full, undivided attention. Hear concerns before offering advice and guidance. |
| Acknowledge Independence | Recognize mentee goals and autonomy. Your role as a mentor is to guide; it’s up to the mentee to decide what to implement in their own career. |
| Respect Diverse Experiences | Recognise that underrepresented groups might face additional barriers to advancement. Educate yourself and ask for advice and support via the appropriate DIB channels. |
| Practice Self-Awareness | Identify your strengths, weaknesses, and biases. Be aware of and respect other's experiences, ideas, and goals. |
| Advocate | Mentor others on being effective managers or colleagues to those who might have different experiences to them. Teach your mentee how to become a mentor themselves – by example and by encouragement. |
| Express Gratitude | Share openly about your experience. Express gratitude for the skills or experiences developed over time. |
| Maintain a Growth Mindset | Practice a growth mindset. Both parties can learn and grow from mentorship |
| Iterate | Iterate on goals throughout the mentorship. Focus on quick wins that the mentee can reach, then keep growing. |
| Confidentiality | Respect the trust built between mentor and mentee. Challenges and conversations shared in mentorship sessions should be kept confidential unless the mentor and mentee are okay with them being shared. |
Adapted from the NCWIT Mentoring-in-a-Box Mentoring Basics - A Mentor's Guide to Success, section What Are the "Dos" of Mentoring and People Grove resources
The following team members are available as mentors. Schedule a coffee chat to get the conversation started!
The Expertise column comes from the team member .yaml entry and might not include all subjects they can help you with.
mentor status to true. This will appear on the team page with a line that reads Available as a mentor. Example MRLearn more about organized mentorship programs for team members:
Resources below are designed to guide mentor/mentee relationships in both synchronous and asynchronous formats. Adopt what fits and leave what doesn't.
Take the LinkedIn Learning training called How to be a Good Mentor and Mentee. It covers strategies for finding a mentor, setting clear expectations, and achieving goals through mentorship. Content from this training has been adapted in the following Google Slides presentation for learners who prefer to read the material at their own pace.
In their book Burnout: the secret to unlocking the stress cycle, authors Emily and Amelia Nagoski explain the difference between goals and purpose:
| Idea | Definition |
|---|---|
| Goal | the what - outcome driven |
| Purpose | the why - value driven |
Mentees should set a foundational goal and purpose for their mentorship. Mentee goals should drive the relationship.. Mentors might also set a goal around their own growth objectives as a mentor. Both mentors and mentees bring their own original purpose to mentorship.
| Criteria | Description |
|---|---|
| Time-bound | When will the goal be complete? |
| Certain | Is achievement of the goal within your control? |
| Specific | What is the desired outcome? |
| Positive | What positive impact will the outcome create? |
| Measurable | How will success be measured? |
| Personal | Why does achieving the goal matter? Tie goal to purpose. |
Using the matrix below, fill in each empty space based on the descriptions above to draft your goal:
| Time-bound | Certain | Specific | Positive | Measurable | Personal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
This structure is adapted from Burnout: the secret to unlocking the stress cycle and the SMART goal framework. Learn more about goal setting by taking the Setting Team and Employee Goals using SMART Methodology LinkedIn Learning course
Goals that are specific to learning a tool, like increasing confidence with GitLab, might be challenging to fit in the SMART model. Consider asking yourself these two questions to help clarify your goal.
Then, try breaking down your goal into clear actions as shown in the examples below:
Example 1: Improve my understanding of GitLab product by X date 1. Move all personal projects to GitLab 1. Configure CI/CD tools to automate 1 manual task 1. Track career development in a personal project
Example 2: Learn about Ruby by X date 1. Take X course 1. Resolve 3 ruby bugs in the product 1. Create 1 blog post with learnings
Purpose is value-driven and based on your values. Determine what values drive you to be part of a mentorship and complete the following statement:
I'm a mentor/mentee because I care about value. Value drives me to be a mentor/mentee because your why.
Discussions about goals and purpose should be part of your first mentorship meeting. Progress and iterations on goals should be revisited often.
Set clear expectations with your mentor/mentee about when, how often, and for how long you will formally meet. Below is a suggested format for this meeting cadence:
Mentorship agendas are important for resources documentation and future planning. The mentee should be the DRI for each session and use the agenda to set meeting goals and ask questions. Use and customize the following meeting agenda templates as a baseline for each session. Please make a copy of these templates and save to your own Google Drive.
Sample agendas below are inspired by resources from Arizona State University and People Grove.
Watch this short video of how you can use GitLab issues to collaborate async in a mentorship:
You can explore the issue shown in this video in our GitLab L&D project. There is also a issue template you can copy and use in your own mentorship project.
Use this issue template to track progress on goals set for both mentor and mentee.
Mentorships end or change over time. Review these guidelines for how to end your mentorship with grace and some suggested actions to take as your mentorship ends.
These resources are meant to provide both mentors and mentees with additional personal and professional development. Consider reviewing these resources asynchronously and discuss/debrief them during a session with your mentor/mentee.
Why the Power of Mentoring can Change the World
Consider the following practices and lessons learned by the GitLab team when organizing your own all-remote mentorship program. Open a Merge Request to contribute your own learning to list!