By Jeff Westover
Bruce Hollings is no dummy.
He is 58 years old and a veteran executive. When his company was "acquired"
and he was given an early retirement, Bruce found a new opportunity at a
young computer-related company.
In spite of his experience as a Vice President of Training, Bruce struggled
in his new environment. He found the pace demanding, the rate of change
breath taking and his personal lack of computer knowledge a real liability.
He found the challenge a real stimulant but recognized that he could not
succeed unless he got some help.
Bruce actively recruited an individual with instincts for the business that
could advise him. He found a guy with the knowledge, savvy and contacts to
mentor him in using his old experience in such a new environment. His mentor
is 29 years old and the VP of another department in his new company.
This scenario may seem backwards from how mentors are traditionally viewed.
But it illustrates the value that many see in a concept to which others
merely give lip service. A mentor can be anyone that provides insight and
wisdom in a professional situation. Even if the situation is an old fish in
new waters.
Arranged Marriages Don't Last
Many companies have mentoring programs. But few are truly effective.
Successful executives like Bruce are often assigned by company management to
serve as a mentor. They are directed to share knowledge and build expertise
in individuals identified with long term promise. These arranged
relationships have mixed results at best. Some executives view their
proteges suspiciously, as if they may be a threat. Others contribute little
for lack of time or interest.
For the promising employee, an assigned mentor is a forced relationship.
They fear the exposure of weaknesses that may come to the attention of
management. They are uncomfortable when seeking advice in a relationship
that has not naturally evolved.
The mentoring relationship is most effective when initiated privately
between two people. They must be willing parties. The dynamics of any
relationship are much more pure when both seek the same things. The
mentoring relationship is really a form of networking and provides benefits
for both parties.
It is Called Mentworking
For the job seeker, a mentor is a fundamental tool used to exploit every
avenue of networking effectiveness. A mentor can instruct how and where to
make contact. A mentor will provide a seasoned perspective on the hiring
situation of the job seeker. A mentor can teach the skills that he or she
employs in nurturing a network that they have established.
Mentors have their reasons for involving themselves in these relationships
too. Assuming the role of mentor provides another way for them to expand
their contacts and build expertise. Every contact has value and potential,
even new and inexperienced contacts. Bruce's story is a good example of how
quickly a career can change. The ability to broaden the network to include
people in emerging areas of business only underscores the real savvy a
mentor may have.
In addition, through their teaching efforts a mentor helps develop
candidates that can be useful in either their own professional pursuits or
the endeavors of people in their own networks. This is the real benefit for
a job seeker and the mentor. The mentor may not have a job for them but
chances are they may know of a potential match that would serve both the job
seeker and a network contact.
Mentors benefit in other ways in this climate of quickly developing
technologies. At senior management levels the technical expertise and
hands-on detail of a job is quickly lost. With the responsibilities of
managing projects, people and budgets, mentors often suffer from fading of
the skills that got them to the management level in the first place. By
mentoring, they can re-establish their link to the nuts-and-bolts of the
business through a close relationship with one doing that duty.
Mentors also experience a managerial benefit from the honest opinions and
observations of those they mentor. A good teacher is one that is still a
good learner. They use the mentoring relationship to take the pulse of the
"real world", through the eyes of those they mentor.
From Training To Learning
Mentworking has made it possible to be both a mentor and protégé at the same
time. In fact, the changing workplace has made mentworking in both roles
necessary.
According to PC Computing magazine, the average 32 year-old has changed jobs
nine times and can expect to change employers every two years in the future.
This is in part due to a shifting dynamic in the workplace that takes
employees from "training" to "learning".
In the past, "training" meant giving specific skills to an employee to do a
specific job. But jobs these days change almost faster than training can be
implemented.
In the technology driven workplace of today where change is swift, companies
are engaged in "learning", not training. On-the-job "learning" is where
skills are transferred to employees to embrace change and adapt to new
technologies as they emerge. As the skill of learning is mastered, more job
opportunities present themselves to the savvy job seeker. The changing of
jobs as frequently as every two years is thus not only fueled by companies
making changes but also by job seekers finding better opportunities to
exercise their "learning" skills.
The job seeker that uses networking as a tool to improve career options may
want to become a mentor to someone else. This is an element of "learning".
In fact, encouraging these relationships helps the job-seeker-as-protégé
better manage relationships with mentors of their own and improve
opportunities that may be open to them.
New Fish, Old Fish
Bruce Hollings feels that way. He says that while he may feel like a fish
out of water in his new job he knows that he is not much unlike countless
others that feel like a fish out of water in old jobs.
As an experienced executive, Bruce is often identified as a
mentor-candidate. "I have learned to take every opportunity. It does not
matter to me whether they consider me a mentor or not. I win either way from
the relationship. If I can make a contribution in some way to them the
relationship will somehow pay a dividend for me."
Bruce should know. He got his new job through a young woman he had mentored
years before. He did not know then that he would be working for her now. But
the professional value of each in the relationship had been established
years earlier. For her, it made the hiring process simple and even
enjoyable. For him, it made swimming in the new waters of employment less of
a shock.
As an old fish, Bruce is doing just fine in his new waters. With his new
mentor, his former-protégé-turned-boss and an intern he is mentoring at his
new company, Bruce continues to practice a skill that transcends all jobs he
has had (or will ever have).
After all, Bruce is no dummy.
Jeff Westover is an Internet Content Developer based in Salt Lake City. He
has 15 years of executive level experience in personnel and project
management. Jeff writes for
myjobsearch.com, publishers of the largest
independent directory of online career resources.
