Get More from Mentoring

InTech, Nov 2006 by Policastro, Ellen Fussell

Dear Career Coach: I'm starting a new job just out of school. I work for a great company, but I don't feel up to speed on a lot of issues others seem to know inherently. I'd like to know more about mentoring. How does that work, and can it really help boost my career?

Mentoring is becoming more important than ever now that seasoned engineering professionals are starting to retire from the workforce and are taking their well-honed knowledge with them. So instead of having on-the-job knowledge at their fingertips, new engineers need to seek it out. That's where mentoring programs are making their mark.

Mentoring is analogous to parenting in the workplace, said Brian McGaulley, an engineer at Advanced Automation Associates in Thorndale, Penn. "At home, we train our children and give them the tools to succeed, but at some point, we need to let them experience things on their own," he said. "If things don't go exactly as planned, we discuss what went wrong and what could have been done differently. Of course, we don't let them get into situations where major harm can be done."

It is the same with mentors in the workplace, McGaulley said. "Mentors can provide training and guidance that instruction manuals cannot. They build confidence and pass on knowledge that might otherwise be lost through attrition. Not having a mentor or mentorship program creates the risk of losing undocumented knowledge. When someone retires or moves on, incredible amounts of knowledge go with that person."

Harold Wade, president of Wade Associates in Houston, has participated in ISA's mentoring program with moderate success, he said. Wade would typically mentor a student or recent graduate in a control or instrumentation program, "often outside the U.S.," he said. One roadblock Wade experienced was responding by e-mail, which he said limited the effectiveness of the program. When asking the mentee's expectations, the relationship "would die out" after a few e-mails. "It certainly is not like one-on-one, face-to-face mentoring," he said.

Wade had more success tutoring local students at a nearby community college. "Long-distance mentoring is certainly not the same thing. Guidelines are helpful in establishing a successful mentoring relationship," he said.

One company that has established guidelines for mentors and mentees is Genentech, a biotech firm in San Francisco. In fact, the company has a Web-based toolkit, whereby mentors and mentees can visit to formulate their own mentoring relationship based on a series of questions and guidelines.

"We had programs run by Human Resources (HR) managers, and we wanted to consolidate those programs to offer something more comprehensive to employees," said Genentech's director of learning and development, Steven Kowalski. The toolkit is a self-service Web site where employees can put together a mentoring program for themselves. "The five-step process helps you determine your objectives for a relationship to get the right match," Kowalski said. "Then you can maintain that relationship and the momentum you've started, and you can figure out how you will end that relationship. It's a great developmental opportunity for mentee and mentor."

The toolkit has several uses. One is for individual employees who want to start a mentoring relationship with someone who fits the bill. Another use is for managers who want to set up an informal mentoring program with their group to build cross-functional knowledge across the department. "How I market myself and my career goals and my business acumen and knowledge is critical for advancement. And sometimes that advancement is not necessarily around a prescribed career ladder. If I have cross-functional knowledge, I'm more likely to get picked for cross-functional projects," Kowalski said. With cross-functional knowledge, employees can market themselves in a way that gets them more opportunities.

A third use for the toolkit is for HR managers and organizational development consultants who might want to come in and formalize a program. "One of our managers in manufacturing is using it for that purpose," Kowalski said. She directs people to do three-month check-ins, using metrics in the toolkit. You can come at it from an HR perspective to run an entire program," he said.

The toolkit asks specific questions to form objectives. And because it is self service, you choose how in-depth you want to go; you can get as formal as you want to. "By giving people that choice, we put more responsibility on the individual users. We wanted to build something to give people the opportunity to do what's right for them," he said.

Companies who sponsor mentoring programs also have something to gain. Motivated employees are crucial to the success of any organization. Building relationships and feeling connected are two huge motivators for employees. "So the company benefits by having more of an engaged workforce," Kowalski said. "Work here is done in teams, so a mentoring relationship is a great way for people to build those skills. The company benefits from a higher level of collaboration. Plus, development is expensive, and mentoring is a low-cost developmental opportunity," he said. All in all, there's greater exchange of knowledge, development of employees, and grooming for cross-functional roles.