2013 09 29 EHRD Project Jerry Silmon FINAL

The information in this project report is CONFIDENTIAL,

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY J.L.SILMON / 33

Change Management Mentoring Initiative Project

Jerry Lane Silmon

EHRD 627

2 Credits

Dr. Homer Tolson

Texas A&M University



CONTENTS

PROJECT SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION 4

PROJECT STEPS AND OR EVENTS IN CARYING OUT THE INTERSHIP 4

STEP 1 – Examine the reasons for the mentoring workshop Initiative with

Engineering, Capital and Operations Service (EC&OS) continuing

Excellence Team Leaders 4

STEP 2 – Review the basics of “Competency Maps” and be able to share with

Mentoring awareness workshop attendees 8

STEP 3 – Understand the basics of CMap Utilization to perform skills

self-assessment in creating an Individual Development Plan (IDP)

and be able to share with mentoring awareness workshop attendees 14

STEP 4 – Understand the Mentoring without Borders program and be able to

share with mentoring awareness workshop attendees 15

STEP 5 – Mentoring workshop presentation is attached in the Appendix 16

STEP 6 – Explain how Mentoring can support other cultural change initiatives

such as Safety vision and living the corporate values and helping

employees to see how they fit in the Big Picture of Saudi Aramco

operations 16

STEP 7 – Participate as a Facilitator/Presenter in a series of 1 Day EC&OS

Continuing Excellence Talent Development program mentoring

workshops (three days a week for minimum of two months) 20

STEP 8 – Sample letter 22



EC&OS CONTINUING EXCELLENCE MENTORING

WORKSHOP SURVEY 24

STEP 9 – Survey Findings 27

EVALUATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 27

CONCLUDING REMARKS 29

REFERENCES 31



Project Summary

Introduction

Presented in the paper is a tangible review of my internship project serving as a

Workshop Facilitator/Presenter for the Engineering, Capital, and Operations Services

(EC&OS) Continuing Excellence Change Management Program’s Mentoring Initiative. The

initiative was in relation to the effective utilization of Saudi Aramco’s Training &

Development System for 11+ (professional grade code) employees based on Competency

Maps and development of Employee Individual Development Plans.

Moreover, described in the paper are the basic theoretical and practical bases for the

project activities. Presented are the lessons learned during my participation in the on-going

change management initiative. Recommendations for initiative enhancement are also

included.

Project Steps and or Events in Carrying Out the Internship

Step 1: Examine the reasons for the Mentoring Workshop Initiative with Engineering,

Capital & Operations Services (EC&OS) Continuing Excellence Team Leaders

What is a Mentor?

The Continuing Excellence Team defined a mentor as a “wise and trusted advisor”

who, along with trainers and coaches, assists mentees to progress along their chosen career

path. Mentors also provide employees with support, counsel, friendship, reinforcement, and

a constructive example. Of critical importance to Saudi Aramco is the development of human

capital (mentees) as both a driver in its Accelerated Transformation Program (ATP) as a

world player in energy and chemicals and continued Kingdom development more generally.



Human Capital Definition

Investing in its workforce and improving human resources evokes the idea that the

resources provided by people play a significant role impacting Saudi Aramco’s profitability

by improving productivity and competitiveness. The concept of human capital goes beyond

just the development of Saudi Aramco’s own employees. Human capital has major

implications for the Kingdom’s national development and responsible competitiveness.

Human capital includes more than a given enterprise's (or a given nation's) employee base. It

includes the entire range of potential employees, customers, strategic partners and

competitors in the region. The broader definition is appropriate because many factors affect

productivity and competitiveness. Porter (2005) noted, “Almost everything matters for

competitiveness. The schools matter, the roads matter, the financial markets matter, customer

sophistication matters, among many other aspects of a nation’s circumstances, many of which

are deeply rooted in a nation’s institutions, people, and culture” (para. 3 ).

Mentoring as a Link in Saudi Aramco Human Capital Investment

One of the most important and strategic contributions that large national companies

like Saudi Aramco can make to supporting national development and competitiveness goals

is to invest in human capital, ranging from education and training, to health and workforce

development. The efforts of Saudi Aramco linked directly to corporate value chains and

business models include:

• Lifetime learning programs for employees (Individual Development Plans and E-

Learning)

• Training for enterprises operating along corporate value chains (sharing Safety and

Ethics programs)

• Technical and vocational training for suppliers and other business partners



• Workplace diversity programs (increasing number of Saudi women moving into the

workforce and Saudi Aramco management supervisory roles)

• Workplace health and wellness initiatives (Dangers of Smoking, Weight Loss

Programs)

Mentoring Relationships (both formal and informal)

Firms traditionally work to develop human capital in two ways: by investing in

individuals or through strengthening institutions. Successful human capital initiatives can

offer businesses three types of benefits: (a) they contribute to improving competitiveness (a

firm’s own & nationally); (b) they can improve employee recruitment, retention, and

engagement; and (c) contribute to the long-term economic and human development for a

stable society.

Discussions with continuing excellence team leaders noted a number of challenges

and opportunities present in Saudi Aramco as it works to increase cultural change (Mentoring

Concept) and innovative business practices in general.

The most important challenges to mentoring identified were:

• A lack of awareness of Mentoring, both in terms of the overall ‘business case’ for

Mentoring, and in terms of concrete Mentoring practices, implementation tools,

and methodologies.

• Cultural factors, such as tribalism and nepotism, and most importantly the difficulty

people have in challenging the opinions of someone more senior to them, make

this a steep learning curve.

• Lack of institutionalization of mentoring throughout the Saudi Aramco organization,

within other Saudi national companies and within the business community.

• A mismatch between the need for Mentoring practices and the management skills

taught by local colleges and universities



• A lack of mentoring resources available in Arabic

• A lack of employee trust in company mentoring initiative sincerity.

Opportunities for Furthering Mentoring Acceptance

Identified in the discussion were the following opportunities for furthering mentoring

at Saudi Aramco and in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a whole, among others:

• A strong, longstanding and deeply embedded ‘culture of giving’ already exists

through the Islamic pillar of Zakat (at the core of mentoring is a desire to give

back). In Saudi Arabia knowledge is becoming as important as money as a source

of capital. So the step from giving money to giving knowledge and insight is a

small one and there is a growing acceptance that mentoring is both compatible

with and reinforcement for Islamic beliefs and behaviours.

• A growing interest in mentoring among the younger generation of Saudi Aramco

employees could provide the momentum for change and full implementation of

mentoring programs and individual development plans. Senior Vice President of

Aramco Industrial Relations, Mr. Abdulaziz Al Khayyat, noted in his speech at

the 2013 Management Development Seminar in Washington DC, that in barely 2

years the average Saudi Aramco employee will be under the age of 30. He noted

that the younger demographic makeup of the employees adds urgency to the

transition to a knowledge based economy in the Kingdom. The mind-set is

changing.

• Leadership emerging from the higher levels of Saudi Aramco management that

support the establishment of committees and initiatives for employee engagement

and mentoring.



• Increased government support for improving economic competitiveness and for

exploring the linkages between innovative business practices and Kingdom and

corporate competitiveness.

Step 2: Review the basics of “Competency Maps” and be able to share with Mentoring

Awareness Workshop Attendees

Competency Map Definition

The use of competency mapping helps an individual to identify the individual's

strengths and weaknesses. The aim is to enable the person to better understand him or herself

and to point out where career development efforts need to be directed. Competencies are

derived from specific job families within the organization and are often grouped around

categories such as strategy, relationships, innovation, leadership, risk-taking, decision-

making, emotional intelligence, etc. So far as the way to go about for competency mapping

is concerned, the first step is job analysis, where the company needs to list core competency

requirements for the job concerned. The next step should be development of a competency

scale for the job on the parameters previously identified. The actual mapping of employees

can be a self-done exercise or done by others like superiors. It can also be done by using the

360-degree method where peers, first reports and customers also rate the employee (360

Degree Feedback, 2013).

History of Competency Maps in the Oil and Gas Industry

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, people were joining the industry faster than

they could be brought up to speed effectively. As a result, performance declined. It was

evident that the oil industry needed to do a much better job of developing competency

quickly and reliably (Brett, 2007).

Competency management is in many ways identical in theory to quality

management—the difference is in what you measure. Quality management measures a



physical quality (e.g., pipe dimensions and strength), while competency management

measures and controls not some physical property but rather the ability of a person to perform

an activity. The important thing is to know how to measure someone’s skills. Quality

management begins by creating specific operational definitions that describe what something

is and how it is measured. Competency management follows a similar path by specifically

defining how competent someone is at a skill. This means that competency management

starts with a complete definition of the skills necessary to perform specific tasks necessary for

success. What gets measured gets managed; if you cannot measure competency, then you

cannot manage it. Unknown is how to measure competence. The Table 1 includes a basic

example (Brett, Salah, & Lilly, 2006). This is a small section of a Reservoir Engineering

Competency Map. Such competency maps allow the skills of a particular individual to be

quantitatively analyzed.

The map lists all of the skills necessary for reservoir engineering and defines the

competency for each skill in one of four levels: Awareness, Basic Application, Skilled

Application, and Mastery. The idea is to describe measurable levels of competency required

for a job. If skill definitions are comprehensive enough, it is possible to describe job roles

and an individual’s capabilities in sufficient detail to effectively manage what is needed for a

job and instruct employees on what skills they should master.

Table 1. Skills and Competencies for Reservoir Engineering



The Figure 1 includes an outline of a basic approach to managing competencies

(Diggins, Muir, Bell, & Elder, 2003; Waterfall, Young, & Anazi, 2006).

Figure 1. Approach to managing competencies.

The process starts by creating a tailored functional competency map. Human

Resource Department professionals along with the appropriate subject matter experts create

by consensus a tailored map by selecting the skills necessary from comprehensive

competency maps. The tailored map is a list of only those skills needed for a specific role,

and may include specific local requirements. In some organizations using this approach,

job functions are fairly nonspecific (e.g., Level II drilling engineer), while in other

organizations they are specific for each job role (e.g., Northern Division Senior Gas

Production Engineer). In a tailored functional competency map, for each job family (e.g.,

reservoir engineering), the applicable generic competency maps are selected and then



used as a guide to create a set of skills necessary for that family. For example, a

reservoir engineer needs at least some competencies from the petrophysics, geophysics,

geology, production, and drilling competency maps in addition to the reservoir

engineering competency map. Of course, some of the skills will need only an

“awareness” or “basic application” level of competency. With a tailored competency

map defined for key job roles as a foundation, individuals then can inventory

competency levels for each skill.

The idea is to allow individuals to create skill inventories and skill gaps, and then

the employee and a supervisor/mentor can have a discussion about those competencies,

look at the gaps, and see what development activities are required to prepare the

employee for future job roles.

Competency inventory tools allow development activities to be linked to specific

skills. That way, individuals can readily see the development options that exist (both

formal training and work experience) and how they may be used to close the competency

gap. Individual Development plans should include not only courses, but appropriate job

assignments and work experiences.

Basic Competency Management Approaches

Most organizations with formal competency management programs use one of

two basic approaches when choosing the number of job roles with formal competency

definitions: either the “two-level” approach or the “job position” approach. In the two

level approach, organizational leaders define two levels for each job role (drilling

engineer, petro physicist, etc.). An Exploration an Production (E&P) organization may

have 10 to 20 such broad job roles. Then, for each of the roles, they define two

competency levels. The purpose of the first level competency definition is to ensure a

common foundation of competencies and perhaps be used as a criterion for first



promotion. The second level aims to ensure proficiency in the application for specific

roles. The two-level approach has the advantage of being easier to implement and

maintain. It requires significantly less on-going staff work to assess personnel because

formal assessment comes in frequently at one of the two levels, not for every possible

job. It also can be organizationally easier to implement because a consensus can develop

more easily around the definition of two levels than one definition for each job.

In the job-grade approach, detailed competency definitions for each job and pay

grade ensure that competencies are a specific part of every promotion discussion and, if

properly done and implemented, that each person will have the competencies required

for each job role. The job-grade approach requires more effort to implement and

maintain (Brett et al., 2006).

Organizations implementing a competency management approach generally have

one of four approaches to competency assurance: Self-Assessment, Supervisor

Validation, Formalized Review, or Formal Testing. The self-assessment approach relies

on individuals to complete their own competency inventory and then use it for

development planning. Organizations using this approach rely on the normal

performance evaluation process to evaluate capability and use the competency system as

a development aid. They often allow individuals to attend training courses only if they

have a self-identified competency gap. This approach is the easiest to implement, and it

has the advantage of individuals buying into their own assessment and normally

becoming motivated to close any identified competency gap. The disadvantages are that

individuals may not be qualified to assess their own competence, there are often

organizational forces inducing them to overstate their competence, and organizations

using this approach help individual development by describing in specific terms what

competencies are required for specific roles but cannot consistently ensure competencies.



Supervisor validation is an approach whereby the supervisor reviews and validates an

individual’s competency and skill inventory. This validation by the Supervisor provides

some assurance of the competency inventories and facilitates detailed development

discussions between the employee and his supervisor. Disadvantages to this approach

include the added time for a supervisor to review and approve the competency

inventories, and supervisors are sometimes not qualified to assess the competency of

their employees. There also may be variations among supervisors on how they assess

individuals.

The formalized review approach is similar to the supervisor validation approach

in that humans assure the validity of an individual’s inventory. The difference is that

instead of the employee’s direct supervisor assuring competency, one or more specially

trained formal reviewers conduct the assessment. This formal review creates more

consistent assurance, at an added cost. The primary difficulty with the approach is the

time required to ensure the competency, both on the part of the reviewers and the time

the employee spends collecting information to document competence. Finally, the formal

testing approach uses exams to ensure that an individual’s competency inventory is

accurate. An assessment needs to be developed for each skill and competency level and

then used to verify individual competencies.

This approach, if complemented by appropriate work experience inventories, has

the advantages of being transparent, and if properly done, quite accurate. This approach

is not really viable when using the job-grade approach because of the number of tests

required for each specific job. Also, if not extended to include some kind of assessment

of work experience, formal testing can sometimes prove to ensure only the knowledge,

or cognitive, component of competency, and not behavioural/motivational aspects. For

example, it is possible for someone to pass a “Certified Purchasing Professional” exam



and yet still be a poor procurement planner. Formal testing needs to have an added

work-experience dimension to be effective.

To ensure the success of the Accelerated Transformation Program, Saudi Aramco

has to fully implement the use of Competency Maps and Individual Development Plans

to meet the challenges of the huge number of returning inexperienced university

graduates and the large number of experienced employees leaving the company without

transferring their job knowledge. The transformed Saudi Aramco organization cannot

afford the staggering cost of inefficacy manifested in low employee engagement, unsafe

work practices, and ethical lapses in decision making tolerated in years past.

Step 3: Understand the basics of CMap Utilization to perform a skills self-assessment in

creating an Individual Development Plan (IDP) and be able to share with Mentoring

Awareness Workshop Attendees

The Saudi Aramco Training and Development Department has an online self-

assessment tool for employees/mentees to perform their assessment of skills against the

assigned development profile for CMaps based development. The mentee self-

assessment and the mentor skills assessment must be completed 100% on all areas for

assessment on the development profile in order for the “Gap Analysis” to be performed.

Also the mentor and mentee must meet and resolve any areas of disagreement prior to

proceeding with the process.

A problem noted by workshop participants was that some CMaps were too generic

and did not truly reflect the development required for their particular job category. Also

some rapidly developing new organizations such as “Power Systems” did not have any

CMaps at all and needed to work diligently with the Training and Development Department

(TDD) to develop CMaps for its employees from ground zero. In response to this, EC&OS

Continuing Excellence incorporated a feedback mechanism on the ShareK website so issues



with existing CMaps could be captured and reported to the appropriate CMap designers in

TDD. Also Operations Excellence in conjunction with TDD worked with Power Systems

Subject Matter Experts to create required new CMaps.

Due to lingering Internet connectivity issues in some training facilities from the

Internet Virus Attack, Mentoring Workshop participants worked as teams of three to four

people (mentees and mentors) to develop an Individual Development Plan utilizing paper

copies of a particular job function CMap. The manual process proved to be a bit tedious but

did drive home the importance of agreement on the assessment between the mentee and the

mentor. Also the organization guideline of only three or four development activities over the

coming 3 years was encouraged so the created Individual Development Plans would be

realistic and actionable.

The assessment of the mentees’ skills by the mentor goes through a very similar series

of steps. Therefore, the information is not included in a step-by-step discussion. Overviews

of the Individual Self-Assessment steps as provided by Saudi Aramco Training &

Development Department are attached in the Appendix.

Step 4: Understand the Mentoring without Borders program and be able to share with

Mentoring Awareness Workshop Attendees

The Mentor without Borders program is part of the Continuing Excellence Mentoring

Initiative, which encourages all Mentoring Workshops participants to enlist as informal

mentors to share their knowledge and experiences with other employees without regard to

organizational rank or departmental boundaries. The breaking down of rigid Saudi Aramco

“communication silos” is essential to the Accelerated Transformation Program success and

Saudi Aramco’s ability to compete in the fast paced global market place. The list of

volunteer mentors is found on the EC&OS ShareK website under the link MENTORS as

displayed in Figure 2.



Figure 2. ShareK website snapshot.

The cultural change in Saudi Aramco of opening channels of knowledge between

organizations and encouraging knowledge transfer and sharing to all our employees is an

uphill challenge faced by the Continuing Excellence Mentoring Initiative Team. As the

Initiative leader, Kathleen Owen often states “It is like eating an elephant, you take one bite

at a time” (Fall Mentoring Workshops, 2013). The link to the “Mentoring without Borders”

website is: https://sharek.aramco.com.sa/orgs/30018526/osi/ytm/SitePages/ECOS-

Talent%20Development%20Program.aspx

Step 5: Mentoring workshop presentation explaining origin of Mentoring and

Mentor/Mentee Characteristics

Mentoring workshop PowerPoint presentation is attached in the Appendix.

Step 6: Explain how Mentoring can support other cultural change initiatives such as

Safety Vision and Living the Corporate Values, and helping employees to see how they

fit in the Big Picture of Saudi Aramco operations.

EC&OS Safety Vision: Everyone is a Safety Role Model in everything we do.

The need for a cultural change in the Saudi society concerning “Driver Safety” is very

apparent when one review the statistics on the number of traffic related deaths and injuries in

the Kingdom every year. As part of the Mentoring Workshop, encouraged is a dialogue on

the root cause of the disregard for safety laws and regulations in the Kingdom. The safety

segment starts with a 60 second animated video clip of a Saud father playing ball with his



young son and daughter in the yard – then the camera breaks away to the dad sitting in a

wheelchair by an upstairs window looking sadly down at the children playing alone in the

yard. Then the clip mentions the number of traffic deaths and disabling injuries every day in

the Kingdom. This video seems to have a strong impact on the workshop participants. In the

discussion focus is on why people drive the way they do here. Everything is mentioned from

lack of police enforcement, road conditions, and lack of proper driver safety education in the

school system. All are contributing factors. The facilitator then asks if driving was in the

Eastern Province 10 years ago – was it better or worse. The majority say the driving was

better as people were respectful of each other because it was a smaller community where

everyone knew each other. It is pointed out that respect and good manners are an integral

part of Saudi society. This leads into encouraging Dad’s to set the right example for their

children by using seat belts and abiding by the traffic rules. The topic is finalized by

encouraging mentors to also be good role models for their mentees and other Saudi Aramco

employees not only while driving inside the Saudi Aramco company compound, but also on

the roads of the local community.

EC&OS Ethics

Broadly speaking, ethics is concerned with right and wrong, good and bad, justice,

and related concepts. Islamic values and norms of moral conduct are the cornerstone of what

are held as true, right and good by Saudi Arabian nationals. In Saudi Arabia, the teachings

are of Islam influence on all aspects of life (Al-Shaikh, 2002, 2003). The majority of Saudis

can recite verses from the Holy Koran or from the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed

which urge people to be honest and practice ethics in every aspect of life and business (Al-

Shaikh, 2002, 2003). There has been a multitude of studies on business ethics based on

Western assumptions; there is still a need for additional studies that incorporate ethics from

an Islamic perspective. Hofstede (2000) offered that one way societies differed was how



individuals related to society and the collective will of the society. This is known as the

individualism-collectivism dichotomy (Herbohn, 2004; Hofstede, 2000; Whiteoak, Crawford,

& Mapstone, 2006). In individualistic cultures, people tend to act autonomously, whereas

collectivistic cultures place greater emphasis on groups or communities (families or tribes) to

which one belongs. In collectivistic societies, there is a blurring of lines between work,

family and home; there is no definitive part of life that is essentially work or private life. The

community lives, works and plays as a group with community relationships taking

precedence over work tasks. This is in contrast to individualistic societies, where the

opposite is true, with personal goals and professional life taking precedence over community

relationships. Collectivists, because of their commitment to work, are likely to seek to be

more accommodating and to save face; they also tend to have a stronger commitment to their

organization (Robertson, Al-Khatib, & Al-Habib, 2002). The Arab world is generally viewed

as a collectivistic society that de-emphasises the individual (Whiteoak et al., 2006).

Ethics is in the forefront of emphasis by Saudi Aramco management. In light of the

emphasis on ethics, EC&OS Continuing Excellence Mentoring Initiative encourages mentors

to convey to their mentees acceptable ethical behaviours and standards and what are not. The

hope is that the mentors will be able to break out of the collectivist mindset (family/tribe) and

engage their mentees in discussions on how to deal with ethical issues and behaviours that

may be questionable and go against Saudi Aramco policies and standards (Yousef, 2000).

The outcome desired is that the mentors will serve as a point of ethical reference throughout

the mentee’s career (Ferrell, Fraedrich & Ferrell, 2005; Hartley, 2005).

The Big Picture (How does the mentee fit in the organization?)

EC&OS Mentoring Program encourages mentors to make sure their mentees

understands the “Big Picture” of how Saudi Aramco works, where the mentee fits into the

company and the importance of the mentee’s role. By doing this, it will help the mentee



remain engaged and provide a challenge to the mentee to link the job they are performing

with areas that are key for the success of the Saudi Aramco Accelerated Transformation

Program.

Mentors can initiate the following conversations:

Do they currently perform their job in the safest manner possible? Is this reflected

in their work environment?

Does their behaviour with our customers convey that they practice business to the

highest ethical standards and that customers can trust them to be fair in all

dealings with them?

If the mentors help the mentee to “connect the dots” between the Big Picture and key focus

areas, the Mentee will be better equipped to think strategically and exercise good judgment in

facing the ethical and safety challenges they will be confronted with.

Mentors should consider the following communication guidelines:

1. Make your communication positive.

2. Be clear and specific.

3. Recognize that each individual sees things from a different point of view.

4. Be open and honest about your feelings.

5. Accept your mentee’s feelings and try to understand them.

6. Be supportive and accepting.

7. Do not preach or lecture.

8. Learn to listen.

9. Maintain eye contact.

10. Allow time for your Mentee to talk without interruption; show you are interested

in what he or she has to say.

11. Get feedback to be sure you are understood.



12. Listen for a feeling tone as well as for words.

13. Ask questions when you do not understand.

14. Set examples rather than giving advice.

(The guidelines were compiled from workshop discussions with mentors and

mentees)

Step 7: Participate as a Facilitator/Presenter in a series of 1 Day EC&OS Continuing

Excellence Talent Development Program Mentoring Workshops (3 days a week for

minimum of 2 months).

The ADDIE model served as the basic framework for the preparation and presentation

of the Mentoring Workshops. The Mentoring Workshop Team went through the five phases:

Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation to hopefully build an

effective mentoring training tool (Swanson & Holton, 2009). During the series of

workshops, I participated in tasks from setting the classroom up, greeting workshop

attendees, reviewing and revising workshop materials, coordinating with other workshop

facilitators on what role to play either as discussion leader for the mentor or mentee breakout

sessions. As a facilitator I had to be prepared to take any workshop role at any time.

Explain the History of Mentoring

The story behind the origin of the word mentoring is that according to Homer’s

Odyssey, the first mentoring relationship involved a wise teacher and the son of a Greek

King. When Odysseus, the Greek king, left to fight the Trojan War, Odysseus left his young

son and household in the charge of his trusted friend, Mentour. It was Mentour who guided,

developed, and taught the young Greek prince since his father would not be able to do so as

wars in that time lasted 20 years or more. This is how Mentour gave his name to the guiding

relationships we know today as mentoring (Megginson, 2006).



Highlight the Qualities of a Good Mentor/Mentee.

While there is no single set of qualities or characteristics that all mentors/mentees

must have, the list created includes some that many share. It was noted that every person was

different and would not have every characteristic however the list would help them focus on

the strengths they possess and help them to be aware of areas they may face challenges

(Ragins & Kram, 2007). Some of the characteristics are summarized as:

Strong Interpersonal Skills – Are you a people person? Do you like working with

others?

Technical Competence - How strong are your skills? Can you guide people toward

finding an answer, even if you do not know the answer yourself?

Patience- Change takes time. What seems like second nature to you may seem like a

second language to a new user.

Trustworthiness- You must learn that some shared information should not go any

further. Your professionalism will be destroyed if you are not trustworthy.

Belief in Lifelong Learning- Mentors and Mentees both need to understand that

Learning is a continuing lifelong process for both.

Good Listening Skills- Taking time to really listen to the person will go a long way in

have a clear understanding of individual needs and how to address them.

Workshop Observations

The experience was insightful as each class was totally different depending on the

attitude and engagement of the workshop participants. In general, some long-time employees

where a bit cynical about mentoring. Younger employees are more open to the idea. One

take away from the experience is that one person can derail the workshop if the facilitators

are not careful. We learned to put divisive or negative comments that could not be resolved



timely in a “parking lot” to be followed up with that particular workshop participant on an

individual basis.

Again level of employee engagement or disengagement of either the mentor or

mentee will have a significant impact on the effectiveness of the program. It is clear that

years of experience and knowledge are worth nothing if the mentor is not able or willing to

share it. The present system matching of the mentors and mentees will require fine tuning.

The program is in its second year and due to the Business Line reorganization in late 2012,

there is even more work to be done to introduce additional employees to the Mentoring

Program and follow-up on the implementation. The question remains will the new upper

management continue its support of this initiative?

Step 8: Survey a random sample population of Talent Development Program Mentoring

Workshop participants (from 2012 and 2013 workshops) concerning clarity of the

workshop and use of recommended meeting tools. Explore if the Mentor/Mentee

relationship was established and is continuing. What areas would participants

recommend for change or enhancement?

See sample letter and survey follow.



SURVEY LETTER SAMPLE

Dear MENTEE/MENTOR,

Thank you for participating in the EC&OS Continuing Excellence Talent Development

Mentoring Workshop.

The intent of the Mentoring Program was to pair you with an individual (supervisor/mentor)

who has expert knowledge or skills that could boost your knowledge and prepare you for new

experiences. The program is confidential in nature and to be successful requires the full

cooperation and participation of both the Mentor and the Mentee.

With that said, we would like to gain general knowledge of how the program is working,

what benefits you may have experienced, and perhaps some ideas that can be shared with the

EC&OS Leadership Team about the program.

We’d like to ask you a few questions about your experience with the mentoring program to

date. Your answers will be kept confidential. We will consolidate all answers into one general

‘snapshot’ on how the program is benefiting the participants of the EC&OS Talent

Development Mentoring program.

Please take a moment to answer the following questions in the attached link and return them

to me ([email protected])

The survey should take approximately 10 minutes to complete. Your response is greatly

appreciated.

Jerry Lane Silmon

Mentoring Workshop Facilitator

mailto:[email protected]



EC&OS CONTINUING EXCELLENCE MENTORING WORKSHOP SURVEY

1. Since the inception of the Mentoring Program, how many times have you met with your

Mentor?

1

2

3

4

5

more than 5

2. Was it easy to set up the appointments?

YES

NO

Other

3. Were the appointments respected?

YES

NO

Other

4. What was the result of the visit(s) (multiple choice)

I felt at ease

I felt uncomfortable

I felt supported by my mentor



My Mentor listened

My Mentor provided good insight

Other

5. During your meeting(s), did your Mentor provide you with effective feedback?

6. Did you agree with the specific development actions your Mentor may have suggested?

7. On a scale from 1 (low) to 5 (high) please rank the following:

1 (low) 2 3 4 5 (high)

The mentoring program

has helped me to further

develop my strengths


has helped me to work on

my areas of improvement


has helped me to consider

new opportunities & ideas


has helped me to overcome

threats and obstacles

The mentoring program is

supporting my

development so far

8. After participating in this mentoring program, ...

Strongly Disagree ...................... Strongly Agree

I am more

satisfied

with my job

than before.

1 2 3 4 5 6



I feel more

socially

connected in

the

workplace

than before.

1 2 3 4 5 6

I feel more

comfortable

in the

workplace

than before.

1 2 3 4 5 6

I feel more

certain of

my career

path in this

organization

1 2 3 4 5 6

I feel more

valued in

this

organization

than before.

1 2 3 4 5 6

My

technical

skills have

improved.

1 2 3 4 5 6

9. Was the mentoring program clearly explained? Did you utilize the recommended meeting

tools?

10. What suggestions do you have to improve the result/effect of the mentoring program?

THANKS AGAIN FOR PARTICIPATING IN THIS SURVEY.

PLEASE RETURN TO JERRY LANE SILMON (SILMONJL),

[email protected].

ANY QUESTIONS PLEASE CALL MY MOBILE: +966 569258085

mailto:[email protected]



Step 9: Survey Findings

The percentage of workshop participants that responded to my survey request was just

over 10%; 16 responses were received out of 150 requested surveys sent. Most of the

respondents rated their mentoring workshop and mentoring experience highly and with very

few comments. Some of the mentors and mentees may not have provided honest feedback or

failed to disclose some concerns assuming that they would be in trouble with their

management. Of course, this lowers the value of the survey result. Most respondents rated

the questions in the middle; neither high nor low, neither very neutral nor cautious. Even

though I stressed the confidentiality of their responses, evidently the trust level was lacking.

The comments and recommendations noted by respondents included:

The suggested meeting/communication tools were helpful.

Mentors should have as strong a voice in Mentee career advancement as the line

supervisor.

C-Maps need a major overhaul, as some of the assignments are impossible to take.

Give more time for the Mentor and Mentee to interact during the workshop

Provide more time for actual hands-on experience developing the Individual

Development Plans.

Management needs to show more commitment to the individuals development

path and be more supportive as at the end of the day other factors such as Dept.

budget hinders some individuals plan implementation and progress.

Evaluation and Recommendations

The present Continuing Excellence Mentoring Program needs a full time

coordinator dedicated solely to this initiative.

Establish guidelines for managing grievances, re-matching, interpersonal problem

solving, and deviation from the C-Map.



Newsletters or others communications to mentees, mentors, supervisors, and HR

advisers to highlight the mentoring success stories, best practices must be

developed as a low percentage of our employees are using the Mentoring site on

ShareK.

Develop a clearer strategy for ongoing evaluation of the program and application

of lessons learned.

Share program information and lessons learned with Senior Management,

Mentees, Mentors, supervisors, and HR advisers on a quarterly basis.

Offer refresher mentoring workshops to explain the program objectives, goals, and

other best practices that will help Mentors and Mentees to overcoming the

challenge of mentoring.

Offer potential mentors a dedicated separate training session.

Continuing Excellence will sponsor periodic advanced mentor trainings; these

trainings will be for the purpose of discussion, interaction, and problem solving.

Ensure that individuals who are not interested or capable of mentoring do not

suffer any repercussions from declining a role as a mentor. Not everyone is eager

and ready to go.

Some mentees and mentors were quick to embrace mentoring relationships, while

others may need additional support to engage in a mentoring relationship. A

follow up support mechanism may be helpful. Mentors could receive monthly

“check-in” calls from the Continuing Excellence Mentoring Program Coordinator

inquiring about the progress of the relationship, problems encountered, successes,

etc.

Mentoring for mentors is not their primary job, and mentees can get frustrated by

their mentor not giving them enough time. Experienced employees who are



willing to be mentors should be given less work and extra compensation to focus

on mentoring.

Enlist more Saudi women professionals to act as mentors to the growing female

workforce in light of lingering society views on men and women interactions.

The ratio of mentors to mentees needs to be addressed. Some mentors have been

assigned up to six mentees. They cannot mentor effectively. Two or at most three

should be limit.

Continue utilizing the ADDIE model’s five phases Analysis, Design,

Development, Implementation, and Evaluation to provide a guideline for building

effective Mentor training and support tools that can be useful in the future

evaluation and enhancing of the mentoring program. The simplicity of this model

is a positive attribute.

Figure 3: ADDIE Model. Adapted from United Nations Institute for Training and Research

(2013)



Concluding Remarks

The overall conclusion from my experience in this project is that even with its

shortcomings and misconceptions the Change Management Mentoring program is a

beginning step in the right direction to support the Saudi Aramco transformation into a fully

integrated global petroleum and chemicals enterprise. Change does occur in Saudi Arabia.

For example, King Abdullah shifted the weekend from Thursday/Friday to Friday/Saturday

when it was noted that the business opportunities the Kingdom were losing business.

Mentoring can be a valuable technique by which to ensure the success of young Saudi

professionals and aid in the transfer of knowledge from departing older employees. It can

offer significant positive effects if implemented throughout the entire Saudi Aramco

organization.



References

Brett, J. F. (2007). Lessons from history. Talent & Technology I(I),, 8-11.

Brett, J. F., Salah, M. G., & Lilly, L. L. (2006). Competency management: Value approaches,

and challenges. Paper SPE 101405 presented at the Abu Dhabi International

Petroleum Exhibition and Conference, Abu Dhabi, 5-8 November. Retrieved from

http://www.onepetro.org/mslib/app/Preview.do?paperNumber=SPE-101405-

MS&societyCode=SPE

Diggins, E., Muir, B., Bell, R., & Elder, L. (2003). Management of the Well

Construction Process using an Intranet-based learning system. Paper SPE 84442

Presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Denver, 5-8

October.

Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L. (2005). Business ethics: Ethical decision making

and cases. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

Hartley, R. F. (2005). Business ethics: Mistakes and successes. Upper Saddle River, NJ: John

Wiley and Sons.

Herbohn, K. (2004). Informal mentoring relationships and the career processes of public

accountants. British Accounting Review, 36, 369-393.

Hofstede, G. (2000). Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviours, institutions,

and organizations across nations. London, United Kingdom, Sage.

Megginson, D. (2006). Mentoring in action: A practical guide. London, United Kingdom:

Kogan Page.

Porter, M. (2005). What is competitiveness? Retrieved from http://www.lese.edu/en/ad/

AnselmoRubiralta/Apuntes/Competivedad_en.html

Ragins, B. R., & Kram, K. E. (2007). The handbook of mentoring at work: Theory, research,

and practice. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.



Robertson, C., Al-Khatib, J., & Al-Habib, M. (2002). The relationship between Arab values

and work beliefs: An exploratory study. Thunderbird Int. Business Review, 283, 101-

104.

Al-Shaikh, F. (2002). Ethical orientations in developing countries: Empirical evidence from a

multicultural business environment. Journal of Al-Gazeera and Gulf Studies, 28(107),

13-35.

Al-Shaikh, F. (2003). The practical reality theory and business ethics in non-western

context: Evidence from Jordon. The Journal of Management Development, 22(7/8),

679-693.

Swanson, R., & Holton, E., (2009). Foundations of human resource development (2nd ed.).

Sand Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.

Waterfall, K., Young, C., & Anazi, K. S. (2006). Health, safety, security and environmental

competence finds a level playing field in the industry. Paper SPE, 98516

presented at the SPE International Health, Safety, and Environmental Conference, Abu

Dhabi, 2-4 April. Retrieved from http://www.onepetro.org/mslib/servlet/

onepetropreview?id=SPE-98516-MS

Westerman, J., Beekun, R., Stedman, Y., & Yamamua, J. (2007). Peers versus national

culture: An analysis of antecedents to ethical decision-making. Journal of Business

Ethics, 75, 239-252.

Whiteoak, J., Crawford, N., & Mapstone, R. (2006). Impact of gender and generational

differences in work values and attitudes in an Arab culture. Thunderbird International

Business Review, 48(1), 77-91.

United Nations Institute for Training and Research: ADDIE Model, Retrieved from

www.unitar.com (September 29, 2013).

360 Degree Feedback. (2013, June 5). Retrieved from www.EconomicTimes.com



Yousef, D. (2000). Organizational commitment as a mediator of the relationship between

Islamic work ethic and attitudes toward organizational change. Human Relations,

53(4), 513-537.

2013 09 29 EHRD Project Jerry Silmon FINAL

Documents

Transcript of 2013 09 29 EHRD Project Jerry Silmon FINAL