Mentoring Is About Accountability, Not "Fluff"

“People think mentoring, generally, is fluff,” said Connie Fako Shoemake, vice president, public sector sales, for IBM’s central region. “You get together. You have a great time. But let me be very clear. While mentoring is fun, mentoring is about accountability.”  It also can improve a company’s bottom line, panelists said.

Shoemake was one of four panelists leading a discussion about mentoring at the 56th Annual Management Conference panel at Gleacher Center on May 16. She was responding to a question from panel moderator Jane Ranshaw, ’72, who had posed the question, “Why do you need a mentor? Can’t you just get some help from your boss and colleagues?”

Ranshaw, president of Ranshaw Consulting, led the University of Chicago Women’s Business Group (UCWBG) in its launch of a mentoring program more than two years ago. Members of the group which sponsored the panel, backed the effort because they had benefited from mentoring relationships in their own careers.

While some situations call for advice from a superior or a colleague, mentors can often be more candid without impairing the relationship, said Margaret Doyle, vice president and senior human resource partner for the Bank of Montreal.

Maggie Coleman, director of the M&A Advisory Services group, a division of Staubach Capital Markets was among the first group of UCWBG’s protégées. “Having reached out to so many senior level mentors, I now have the confidence to interact with senior level people; I have no problems contacting people I don’t know very well — or at all — and asking for their time,” she said.

Informal mentoring can take place between “anyone at any time,” Shoemake said. And some firms name sponsors within a company who are two or three levels ahead of an individual in an organization and “go along the front lines” on behalf of the employee they sponsor in various business scenarios.

Before seeking a mentor, Coleman said, determine what you want to get out of a relationship. Doyle echoed the thought. One protégé in her company’s formal mentoring program who was fearful of giving presentations was paired with a mentor who was an adept presenter. Another protégé looking to change jobs within the company was paired with a mentor already in a similar role to gain from that person’s subject expertise. Even agreeing on a “plan to dissolve the relationship” may be a good idea, Coleman said.

Panelists said mentoring relationships can even improve the financial results of an organization. “We’re going to have similar values as we go through business together, we’re going to drive better efficiencies and processes, we’re going to feel better about ourselves, and you should see that shift in business,” Shoemake said. “Make no bones about it, we do mentoring in business because we are businesses, and businesses thrive on doing well with people’s relationships.”

—Emily Hiser Lobdell