The Hewlett Packard women’s mentoring program has gone from strength to strength since its inception in 2003. The program was expanded to run across the entire Asia-Pacific region, with mentees and mentors from countries including Singapore, Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, matching high profile women to both internal and external mentors.
Two mentees from the first round of the program have since been promoted through the ranks to Directorship level. Here, we talk with them about the role that mentoring has played in their career and personal development.
JANICE COX
Vice-President & General Manager of Personal Systems Group, HP South Pacific
Janice was a Commercial Sales Manager for Compaq Australia when she joined the program in 2003, having been nominated by her manager. Janice had never taken part in a mentoring program before and did not know what to expect, however she hoped that participating would be good for her future career prospects. She was not disappointed!
“I was paired with a very capable external mentor who was easy to talk to and was very approachable. She showed me different perspectives and was very encouraging in terms of my own capabilities, which helped me to accelerate the things I was doing. My mentor made me realise that I was better at my job than I thought I was.”
“I was able to act with more certainty and confidence at work, and to feel good about the decisions I was making and the concepts I was applying.”
Janice’s mentor influenced her in other ways too. “My mentor was involved with counselling for people who have suffered brain injuries, and through discussions about this, she really helped put things in perspective for me and to think about what’s important in life. She also taught me more about handling stress.”
“It is so easy to be overtaken by pressures of work life. Talking with my mentor made me stop and think, and to feel more grounded.”
When asked how she has changed as a result of the program, Janice says it all came down to one thing – increased confidence. “I gained more confidence in a number of ways; being nominated gave me the sense that I was valued by the organisation; my mentor made me realise that I was actually doing better than I thought I was; it made me more conscious of thinking ahead and the analysis process; and definitely confidence to take more risks and to be more aggressive in my ambitions – previously I waited to be approached, but mentoring made me more career-focused and more likely to look for my next role.”
Being involved in the HP mentoring program as a mentee also encouraged Janice to take more of an active interest in leadership and personal development. It also made her conscious of her own ability to mentor others, both informally and formally.
Janice believes that the mentoring program has had a positive impact on the younger female population at Hewlett Packard, and is an integral element for IT companies (and other male dominated industries) where attracting and retaining female staff is a challenge.
Janice is very proud to say that her group within HP is 45% female – significantly higher than other divisions of HP and the IT industry in general – and attributes this partly to the fact that she is now a visible, positive role model for other women within the company.
When asked what she would say to other women considering mentoring, Janice says “it was a worthwhile experience for me personally, and my company clearly got value for money in terms of investment and return. I really enjoyed it and think mentoring is a wonderful way for women to gain more confidence in their own qualities and capabilities.”
ANNE LA FONTAINE
Finance Director and Financial Controller, HP South Pacific
Anne was a mentee in the pilot round of the Hewlett Packard mentoring program in 2003, and was thrilled to be nominated as a high potential female in HP, in which the company was willing to invest and develop.
Going into the program, Anne was looking forward to gaining an external perspective on some of the topics and challenges she faced, as well as some new ideas that would assist her career development.
While Anne was initially sceptical about being matched with an external mentor, she found that having a mentor from a different industry sector actually proved incredibly useful and “brought up healthy discussion. She had an outside perspective on issues I was facing. This also gave me an insight into another industry without having to leave HP.”
Anne was also glad to find that she clicked with her mentor from the beginning and had no trouble finding things to talk about in their 2 hour mentoring sessions.
“I found I could talk freely with her.”
In the mentoring sessions, Anne and her mentor shared experiences and discussed different ways of thinking through situations and solving problems. The one-one-one sessions “allowed me to talk to a senior woman in a large organisation about challenges that she had faced, and how she managed them. This was particularly useful in some instances, as she could give me insight into Sales / Operations, whereas I come from a strong Finance background.”
“I was able to bounce off potential career development options with my mentor, and look at different aspects of what would be my next role. Being able to talk through the pros and cons of my next role was extremely helpful for me.”
“My mentor helped me realise that I have a lot of valuable experiences that are transferable to other roles. Also, that I must have confidence in my own abilities and be able to market those skills where job opportunities are presented or new challenges are faced.”
Not only did the mentoring help Anne’s confidence to put herself forward, but also other women. “Some women think more about why they couldn’t do the job as opposed to why they could do it. Across the board it was felt that there were not enough women in the senior positions… so part of the mentoring discussions was about how I could give other women the confidence to say ‘I can do it’ and rise up to senior level.“
Anne believes that being matched with a female mentor strengthened the bond she shared with her mentor. “I had someone who could innately understand some of the issues, challenges and topics that I was facing. We were able to share experiences relating to the balance of work and life, like how our children were dealing with high school and how we could support them – this made the mentoring relationship more personal."
Some of the biggest benefits of participation for Anne were increased confidence and objectivity.
“Mentoring has helped me to understand how to move outside my comfort zone and look at things differently.”
Anne’s experiences as a mentee also helped foster a passion to assist others, and she now acts as a mentor to others in the industry through both formal and informal mentoring arrangements. One of the more challenging aspects for Anne is in overseas mentoring relationships where language and cultural barriers add to the difficulties of not being able to meet face to face.
Anne found the mentoring program to be a valuable experience that had a positive impact on her career. “I definitely got a lot out of the program and have a high regard for my mentor. We still keep in touch.”