The Manager's Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change

by Camille Fournier

These programs can be nice, but often the mentor and mentee are given very little guidance beyond the fact that they have been matched together. Most of the time, these programs yield very little to either party. If the mentor is not engaged or is too busy to spend any time on this project, it’s a disappointment for the mentee. If the mentee doesn’t know how to ask for help or what to do with the mentoring relationship, it often feels like forced socializing and a waste of time for both parties. So if your company is setting up mentoring programs outside of new hires and interns, try to make sure that there is some guidance and structure to the program before you push people into it. Secondly, recognize that this is an additional responsibility for the mentor. If the mentor does a good job, her productivity may slow down some during the mentoring period. If you’ve got an engineer involved in a time-sensitive project, you may not want to push him into mentoring at the same time. Because this is an additional responsibility, treat it as you would any other important additional responsibility you might hand out. Look for someone that you believe can succeed in the role, and who wants to distinguish herself beyond her coding ability.