Follow me: mentors guide proteges to success. (Management).

If it weren't for Jed Pitcher, I wouldn't have reached this position," reports Kevin Bischoff, vice president of Public and Corporate Affairs for Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah. "I didn't see myself rising to this level, but he did." Pitcher, at the time president of BlueCross BlueShield of Utah, recognized Bischoff as a talent to be nurtured and gave him challenges and opportunities. Now Bischoff seeks young people to mentor, saying, "I like to think there are three or four people in this organization who consider me their mentor."

Defining mentor

The term "mentor" comes from Homer's Iliad. During the war with Troy, Odysseus entrusted his son, Telemachus, to his friend, Mentor, while he was gone. A mentor helps a younger person learn the skills and values necessary for success, while fostering leadership abilities and loyalty.

Many industry leaders and managers attribute their success to mentors. As Julie Cronquist. a branch manager at Zions Bank, explained, "We don't have a formal mentoring program. But when I was a new teller, my manager, Marsha Thompson, took an interest in me. She saw potential in me and kept me advancing. For example, not long after I started as a teller, she coached me on handling customers who were angry or difficult. Her mentoring gave me a new attitude about my work. She helped me stay with the bank."

Coaching differs from mentoring in several subtle ways. Suppose you are a baseball pitcher. A coach motivates you to perform better and play smarter, A mentor is different. He may be an experienced member of the team who gives you pointers and tips. Or he may be on another team, and watch your pitching with interest. Although a mentor may coach, he also sponsors, introduces, helps network, and gives political pointers, preparing you for higher assignments. In many organizations today, executive coaching is outsourced to specialists who work on developing skills and improving performance. A mentor should be within the organization, with power to sponsor and promote.

An effective mentor is at least two levels above his protege on the corporate ladder. Immediate supervisors coach; they generally don't mentor. Mentoring can create a perceived dilemma for the immediate supervisor, since his protege is a potential competitor. The greater the vertical separation in the organizational hierarchy, the greater potential benefit to the protege. In an effective mentor-protege relationship, the mentor will never feel threatened by his protege's progress.

A lateral mentor can also be helpful. Salt Lake resident Keith Malnar says, "When I was 26, I was promoted to vice president of maintenance at Skywest Airlines. I was naive in the ways of corporate operations and relied on my mentor, Earl Snow, the vice president of flight operations, to help me. Because of Earl, I learned that great managers prepared people to take their places."

Either a lateral or a two-to-three-level-removed mentor can instill confidence and generosity in a new employee--qualities that are vital for leadership development. The best leaders focus on their contributions to the organization, rather than self-advancement. Bischoff speaks with appreciation about how Pitcher gave him challenging projects and encouraged him to discover his own path to success. Bischoff says, "Jed told me his management style was to find good people and push them as far as they could go."

Spontaneous and Policy-driven Mentoring

Mentoring is often informal and spontaneous. In conversations with high-performing executives, nearly every one had a significant mentor. This fact alone would suggest that since so many successful people have had mentors, companies should explore a mentoring program. Does your organization's culture promote mentoring? Do you discuss proteges and how they are developing? Does the CEO demonstrate personal interest in how middle managers are progressing in their careers?

Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch was famous for his obsession with developing leaders, saying that half of his time was spent in leadership development. He characteristically asked detailed questions about how particular middle-level managers were progressing. Malnar credits Skywest's CEO, Jerry Atkin, for creating a culture of mentoring, sponsoring and coaching. Skywest's current profitability is evidence that the mentoring culture pays dividends.

A 1994 study of executives, reported in The American Psychologist, found that half fail to advance in their career, They don't usually lack talent, the researchers found; they lack development. Successful mentoring means having a company culture that identifies and sponsors talented people.

Not everyone is a successful mentor; being a mentor requires a generous spirit, led Pitcher mentored promising young executives; those he mentored continue the process. The organization's culture was generosity and commitment to talent. The payoffs were leadership development, loyalty and executive depth. Most top executives can immediately name one or more mentors. Executives stuck at mid-levels generally cannot.

Lynn Johnson (jjohnson@ solution-consulting.com) is a Salt Lake-based business psychologist and freelance writer.