Having mentor can make the difference

By David Willis
Asbury Park (N.J.) Press

To Dan Stecchini, Tom LaBanca is more than just his boss.

LaBanca 42, senior project manager at Brinkerhoff Environmental Services in Wall, N.J., has taken the younger Stecchini, a 22-year-old environmental scientist, under his wing.

The two have developed a relationship as mentor and protege.

"I see a lot of myself in him. I think it works both ways," said Stecchini.

LaBanca has taught Stecchini the details of the job. When he started seven months ago, "I was at zero. I have been able to catch up with everyone else," Stecchini said.

LaBanca said he is playing a role he never had for himself. "Whenever I can help him out, I help him out. I have been through the mill, too," he said.

If you want to get ahead in the workplace, establishing ties with a mentor is crucial, experts say.

Employees with mentors are more likely to advance faster in the company, receive higher pay, and feel a greater sense of job satisfaction than those who don't have one, said Belle Rose Ragins, a professor of management at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

"Everyone who makes it has a mentor," said Ragins, who has studied mentoring extensively.

And for women and minorities, mentoring is "nearly mandatory," Ragins said.

Women and minorities face barriers to advancement that can be overcome with the help of a mentor, she said.

One study of female executives who held the title of vice president or above at Fortune 1000 companies found that 91 percent had a mentor.

"Mentoring was a key resource that those women used to break through the glass ceiling," Ragins said.

They provide relationships that are helpful to all employees. Ragins said mentors:

• Give coaching and suggestions on ways to do the job better.
• Provide challenging assignments that make the protege stretch his or her capabilities.
• Buffer their charges from forces in the company. "The mentor puts the Good Housekeeping stamp-of-approval on the protege," Ragins said.
• Provide counseling, support and a strong role model.
• Teach employees the "rules of the road" at the company, tips they won't find in any orientation manual.

But formal mentoring programs are not widespread. Only one-third of large U.S. companies has a mentor program, Ragins said. However many employees are finding them on their own. Ragins estimates that about half of mid-level managers have informal mentors.

So how do you find a mentor? "We all need role models who can guide us in that journey of both personal and professional development," said Jane Stone, director of resource development at the United Way of Ocean County, N.J. "It doesn't happen by accident. For too many people, it doesn't happen at all."

First you have to figure out your goals, said Terri Kurtzberg, assistant professor of management at the Rutgers Business School.

Are you looking for someone to help you figure out how the company works? Are you interested in having someone encourage you or listen to your complaints?

"That is different from trying to find someone who will give you the skills you need to do another job," Kurtzberg said.

Sometimes a relationship with someone will develop naturally. "If it is not happening, you have to take the first step," Kurtzberg said.

And that can involve knocking on doors and saying: "I need a little guidance. Is it OK if I come by once in a while?" Kurtzberg said. "If you have career advancement in mind, personally I don't know why you wouldn't want to seek this out."