Peopleconnexion: Mentoring Matters

In April 2021, I joined Business Coalition for Women (BCFW) in launching the flagship Director Mentorship Program designed to enable female leaders in Papua New Guinea the opportunity to develop as mentors and empower the next generation of women leaders (mentees). Just over a year later, Peopleconnexion Training, in Partnership with BCFW, have successfully launched our Mentoring Matters program with 15 women in leadership and Director positions to mentor aspiring and emerging professionals within Kumul Consolidated Holdings, Papua New Guinea. 

This pilot focuses on supporting female employees in PNG with high potential into positions of leadership through mentoring, networking, and training. BCFW assembled a team of experts to inspire and guide both the mentors and mentees through the program. In this program we: 

• expertly match mentors and mentees to help foster connections.
• commit mentors and mentees to meet at least once a month, for the course of this program.
• facilitate virtual training to introduce mentors and metees to mentoring and effective mentoring relationships, to help them get the most out of the experience.

In the long-term, this Program will assist Mentees (through the provision of advice, guidance, and support of Mentors) to achieve their professional goals and set them up for success into more senior positions. 

More women, with more chances, is key to PNG’s future

There are few places in the world with greater need and opportunity than Papua New Guinea for a program like this.

Whilst according to the Pacific Women Association, women now occupy nearly a quarter and a third of senior and middle management positions respectively in central government agencies and there has been an increase in the number of women contesting elections, there is still enormous inequalities between men and women remain entrenched in Papua New Guinea. 

Women face barriers inside and outside the office, they experience discrimination and difficulties being taken seriously in their professions, and they also experience sexual and family violence outside the workplace. The opportunity to see more women in leadership roles is so important and can even be transformative for the nation. I think it is really powerful to be able to bring together the women currently in senior leadership positions and the next generation of Directors in the program. 

To succeed and create an extraordinary career, you must make decisions and take certain steps to continually develop and learn new skills, one of the principles that guide career growth is mentoring. People involved with mentoring are more satisfied with their jobs and advance faster in their careers. The benefits of becoming a mentor extend from improvements in your leadership and communication skills to career growth and the opportunity to gain a new perspective from your mentee. As a mentee, you will expand your professional networks and learn so much from your experienced mentor, and gain valuable insight into the development of your career goals.

As a business leader in PNG and the Pacific, I am proud to give back and be in partnership with BCFW to lead a program like this in PNG. It is our goal that we will give women clear leadership paths and a voice at the board table, and initiatives like this will help change the narrative to support women in leadership in PNG.

Legislative requirement for non-citizens to take on mentorship roles

On 15 June 2022, the Chief Migration Officer, Immigration and Citizenship Authority, released a public notice pertaining to the screening and assessing renewal of work permit applications.

As per conditions set out on work permits under Section 15 of the Employment of Non-citizens (Amendment) Act 2021, all non-citizens (expatriates) must engage with training their national counterparts (i.e., mentoring, coaching). This legislation is in place to ensure that organisations are complying with the commitment to the upskilling of Papua New Guinea’s local workforce, through training and development.

Peopleconnexion Training was inspired and formed to achieve exactly this purpose – upskilling the local workforce in PNG.

With programs such as our Cultural Intelligence program, we have the ability to prepare, develop and equip non-citizens (expats) coming into PNG, into leadership positions, with the necessary tools to be effective mentors and contribute to the development of their local counterparts and colleagues.

We are committed to supporting both Australian and Papua New Guinean organisation’s sending expatriates to PNG with their training and learning and development requirements.  

Head to out Training page to find out more about our offerings, or contact us today to chat about your learning and development requirements!