A guiding light.

Mentoring is the assignment of a skilled and experienced professional to help accelerate the performance of another manager. In the 1980s, the mentoring procedure was widely implemented to escalate the productivity of entry level positions and new assignments driven by experience, diversity and goals. Entry level mentor relationships are decreasing. Long term, career-nurturing bonds are becoming rare. Kathy Kram, an Associate Professor at Boston University's School of Management, observes that, "One of the consequences is that people are forming shorter work relationships."

The mentoring procedure has moved to higher levels of management in the 90s. The time-patience factor for managers is ever shortening. Investors and owners must demand performance objective attainment from top management more quickly. Separate, but related, is the need to use mentoring as a means of identifying and managing effective succession plans.

Managers at higher levels find that a professional mentor with proven skills and significant experience in the same general business or industry can shorten the time frame for them to get "on top of their job" and stay there through market and competitor structure changes. Some typical situations addressed through the use of mentors are brought about by such situations as:

* The business has grown and changed direction or culture.

* A family-owned business must accelerate the management effectiveness of the new generation.

* An entrepreneurial step is taken with a start-up or acquisition of a business with critical cash-flow time-frame parameters in order to ensure long-term success.

* An identifiable succession plan is in place so management can move upward and work relationships can be lengthened for those important to the future of the business.

In the reference points above, the time it takes for a manager to be effective is a critical factor in deciding to retain a mentor.

A manager faced with new situations as a result of a recent assignment or growth/change in the business or its culture provides an opportunity for an experienced mentor to be used, with advantages such as:

* a more personalized peer relationship than that provided by directors;

* longer term and broader help than the normal project orientation of professional consultants;

* more candid feedback and help than can be expected from subordinates;

* personalized support and soundings based on the manager's specific actions and responsibilities.

An emerging generation manager of a family-owned business has needs for non-family mentoring. The Wall Street Journal published an article written by Barbara Marsh who discussed this situation in detail. Marsh made the following points:

* It is often hard for kids to learn the management game from Mom and Dad -- so much gets in the way, including the parents' high hopes, the offsprings' need for approval, and the market's changing demands;

* Parents have trouble teaching their children because they feel responsible for their success; they can be inaccurate in assessing the capability and capacity of their children;

* It can be difficult for the emerging generation to assert themselves with their parents regarding policy-making, establishing strategic intent, and taking leadership for operational imperatives; they tend to back down.

Succession is an issue that is often postponed for a large number of reasons such as power, sharing, day-to-day exigencies, and the like. Mentoring is an accelerator for effective succession because it can speed the performance and effectiveness of those expected to succeed.

When an entrepreneurial step is taken, management skills are needed immediately. Lenders and investors measure their return from Day One. Problem solving is an ongoing activity; cash flow management is critical. An experienced mentor can provide a great deal of help in ensuring a successful entrepreneurial venture. The Small Business Administration established a program named "The Woman's Network for Entrepreneurial Training" in 1988. This group matches successful women mentors and the women business managers who want to be proteges. The mentors in the program are experienced CEO's of companies with at least five years of successful business growth.

Mentors are available for all of the described reference points. The sources for mentors are varied. There are firms whose charter is mentoring. There are semi-retired operating executives who are available for mentoring. Senior, experienced management consultants are in place to provide mentoring services in addition to traditional project assignments. Directors, associates and trade associations can identify candidate mentors as well.

Mentoring does have a cost. Generally the mentoring activity is measured in days of face-to-face meetings. One mentoring firm, which focuses on family-woned businesses, can project one day per month assignments at an annual cost of less than $25,000 to the client. There may be retainer agreements for three months, six months, 12 months or indefinite periods. Agreements regarding reasonable non-face-to-face communication should also be considered.

The mentoring help should be specific and include ways of measuring progress and performance. Experience, which allows sharing of ways to identify problems and solutions, is an accelerator of the mentoring process.

Mentoring has earned its way to the highest levels of management. It has proven that what was greatly successful as a performance accelerator for entry and start-up levels in the 80s is a great enhancement tool for top management and succession in the 90s.

The mentor provides a sounding board for planned strategic initiatives, operational imperatives, and the prioritizing and odds of success for each. It is this process of short-cutting the experience track that accelerates professional management and successful attainment of operational objectives within acceptable time frames.

Mentoring is available, and it works. It relies upon common business interest and open, face-to-face interchange of thoughts and concerns. The mentor should be knowledgeable of the business organization and the generic market in which it participates or plans to participate. An effective mentor can truly be an accelerator.