ECITB launches mentoring scheme
The fifth annual oil and gas industry Project Management Mentoring Programme, which is coordinated by the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB), has been launched in Aberdeen.
A total of 15 mentees and their mentors from 16 oil and gas companies, along with members of the Offshore Project Management Steering Group, met for the official start of the 2019 programme.
The event set the scene for this year’s initiative, with mentors and mentees from previous years also attending to offer top tips on how to get the best out of both the programme and the relationships they will be forging in coming months.
Evidence shows that while technical skills can be learned online or in a classroom, behavioural and leadership skills can be enhanced via mentoring. The eight-month programme allows qualified and experienced project practitioners to 'mentor-forward', imparting wisdom and providing guidance to less experienced project professionals with the aim of accelerating their performance and careers.
To date, almost 50 participants have benefited, many of whom are working towards chartered status with professional bodies such as the Association for Project Management.
ECITB chief executive, Chris Claydon, described the mentoring programme as an excellent way of sharing learning and experience from delivery of oil and gas projects, something that is vital to the future well-being of the sector.
“The Project Management Mentoring Programme requires a lot of commitment and hard work from both the mentor and the mentee; both sides learn a great deal, not just about the work they do, but also about themselves and their own ambitions,” he said.
“The ECITB is proud to support this and the other project management development programmes that the OPMSG is leading. The fact that we are now in our fifth year shows that the results speak for themselves.”
Those companies taking part this year are Sealand Projects, Wood, ConocoPhillips, TechnipFMC, Spirit Energy, DOF Subsea, PD&MS, Stork, Oceaneering, Subsea 7, Shell UK, Pearl Engineering, Cephas Projects, ADIL, Pro-fection and EnQuest.