2013 09 29 EHRD Project Jerry Silmon FINAL

The information in this project report is CONFIDENTIAL,
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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 (jerry.silmon@aramco.com)
The survey should take approximately 10 minutes to complete. Your response is greatly
appreciated.
Jerry Lane Silmon
Mentoring Workshop Facilitator

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),
JERRY.SILMON@ARAMCO.COM.
ANY QUESTIONS PLEASE CALL MY MOBILE: +966 569258085

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.

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2013 09 29 EHRD Project Jerry Silmon FINAL

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