When a Mentor Neglects You

A few years ago, Jeremiah Bishop, a new college graduate fromCampbellsville University in Kentucky, found a job as an entry-levelaccountant at an accounting firm. He also found a mentor.

The firm had recently set up a formal mentoring program to help newemployees get acclimated to the public-accounting profession. Mr. Bishopwas paired with a senior manager. But over the next eight months, he andhis mentor met only sporadically for lackluster conversations. Eventually,the tenuous relationship petered out.

Looking back, he said the firm never bothered to follow up to see if therelationship was working out. "I had really high hopes and had all theseideas," said Mr. Bishop, now an accountant for a Louisville, Ky.,restaurant company. "Now, as far as mentoring goes, I'd rather just do myown thing."

During the past few years, many employers have embraced formal mentoringprograms as a way to connect lower-level employees with senior executives.But these formal mentoring relationships often don't work out the way theemployers hope. Many of the programs aren't regulated. Employees may end upmatched with people with whom they're incompatible. Mentors and those theyhelp also say it is tough to stay enthusiastic about a "forced friendship."The biggest complaint from those being mentored is neglect.

"Formal mentoring is often compared to computer dating -- sometimes itworks and sometimes it doesn't," said Belle Rose Ragins, a professor at theUniversity of Wisconsin at Milwaukee who has conducted extensive researchon mentoring.

"We have just found that informal mentoring is more effective," shesaid.

Formal mentoring programs may work better in some industries than inothers. High-tech and manufacturing companies appear to have had bettersuccess with formal mentoring programs, while people at law firms seem tostruggle, experts say.

"Once someone has made partner at a law firm, he or she has become anindependent, so it's a lot harder to make formal mentoring work in thiskind of environment," said David Wilkins, a professor at Harvard LawSchool. "It actually doesn't work at all."

Betty Owens, director of attorney development at the big Houston lawfirm Vinson & Elkins LLP, said her firm is launching a mentoringprogram for its new associates this fall and is addressing the battle "onseveral fronts."

First, each new associate will be matched with a midlevel associate anda partner. The firm developed a handbook that lists the guidelines for theprogram and responsibilities for both mentors and those being mentored. Thehandbook, which helps ensure that everyone in the mentoring relationshipknows what to expect, attempts to avoid the problem of mismatchedexpectations that can arise when responsibilities aren't spelled out.

Every few months, Vinson & Elkins will have an event to give theparticipants the opportunity to share information about good mentoringpractices. In January, the firm will launch a mentoring program forsecond-year and third-year associates. "I really believe we are taking theright steps," said Ms. Owens.

Other companies are trying to devise solutions to their failed formalmentoring programs. A few years ago, BearingPoint Inc., the consulting andtechnology-services company based in McLean, Va., tested a formal mentoringprogram in which about 500 employees participated. But the pairings weren'tthat well conceived and within six months it fizzled out, said NatalieMcCleaf, BearingPoint's managing director of global human resources.

The company started researching different kinds of programs and recentlyrolled out a new initiative. Instead of being paired up, employees canaccess an online kit that provides information on how to select a mentor.The employee identifies his or her goals and objectives, and then finds aparticipating BearingPoint executive who is a good fit.

"This is a mentoring initiative, as opposed to a formal program," saidMs. McCleaf. "Mentoring has to be something that is encouraged, but notmandated, in order for it to be successful."