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By Fran Quittel

    "Junior Ments " Computer Currents (First Published June 16, 1998 Bay Area Edition)

Junior Ments
Reversing mentoring roles can revitalize your career

Mentoring has been around for a long time, since Odysseus departed for Troy leaving his son Telemachus with a wise and trusted senior advisor named--what else?--Mentor. But given the pace of technological change, the persistence of large company mergers, and the rise of alluring young technology companies, work roles have changed. In fact, if you're an experienced worker and you've decided to revitalize your career by moving to the next Netscape or even to a hot technology project within your own company, your new manager might be significantly younger than you. That's not reason to panic. Instead, enlist him or her as your "synergistic mentor," an advisor who can help you tap into the base of knowledge, values, behaviors, and even vocabulary of today's young workers. Although this new style of mentorship can have some pitfalls, it can also be filled with rewards for both you and your newly minted mentor.

Typically, the rewards of these relationships are mutual: Older people get to work with newer technologies dominated by younger workers, and the younger people have access to people with good work ethics who know how companies operate. "The new, younger mentor may be much more facile with the latest developments in technology but have far less experience in managing people," says Larry Ambrose, managing partner of the Chicago consulting firm Perrone-Ambrose Associates. That's especially true among high-tech workers, since their educations typically emphasize analyzing technical facts and objective data rather than human development issues.

It's also true that both groups come to the table with different preconceived ideas about age, values, behaviors, and the language the other group uses. "Without proper training, a younger person might discount an older person's age and experience, thinking that the older person isn't with it, is inflexible, or lacks up-to-date technical knowledge," says Dr. Garry McDaniel, manager of AMD's Corporate Leadership Design Center in Austin, Texas.

And the more experienced people might have some apprehensions about Generation Xers as well. "Typically the older person feels that the younger person is on the better side of the power curve," Ambrose says. "They might say: 'I used to be a hot shot, and now I am being led by the kind of people I used to manage. What did I do wrong?'" In addition, there's an overwhelming fear among older workers about making mistakes. Technical recruiting veteran Darla Sotelo says, "In certain technology environments, younger managers may lay out what they want and expect you to deliver without any sensitivity to your strengths and weaknesses or who you are as a person. To that kind of younger person, if you can't deliver, you're out."

Making These Relationships Work

A lot of your success in working for a "junior ment" involves selecting the right organization and mentor, so pick the company and person carefully. Tantalizing though start-ups may sound, you may find it far better to target a company that already has a culture that emphasizes growth and mentoring rather than a young, immature organization that is intent on pushing products out the door in a wild growth spurt. "If you join an absolute start-up, there is no time for introspection and proper mentoring," Ambrose says. "In fact, if [the company was] to take the time to do this at its first level of wild momentum, it would lose its focus."

Mentoring means you have time to develop people, that there are human values that come into play, not just money. To find out if a company would be a good place to look for a junior ment, check the company's cash flow, level of debt, and ratio of people to revenue. If every employee must generate $1 million in revenue to maintain the bottom line, chances are there's no time for mentoring. Also, find out how long the company has been around. Here are some good questions to ask when you're looking for a mentor-friendly company: How often are people reviewed? What is the training budget? How much money is spent on education per employee? If you can find a firm that reviews its workers regularly and invests in their training, it's a good bet that it is mentor friendly.

Look, too, for companies with systems in place that reward people for helping other people learn faster. Some companies even have formal mentoring programs set up. Dr. McDaniel says AMD has implemented a process where individuals who understand the value of developing people within an organization become the champions for their divisions. They then identify people who would make excellent mentors and others who could benefit from being mentored within the program. The champion is responsible for monitoring these relationships to see what is going on, what is succeeding, and what help is needed. "In our leadership program, whether they are mentoring an older or younger individual, every mentor I talk to says, 'I am stunned at how much I have learned,'" McDaniel says. "That's because in today's fast-paced business environment, wise people listen. They understand that they are still learning."

Chris Sandoval, chief operating officer of Human Ingenuity Industries in Berkeley, Calif., says he's learned a lot while managing an older person, Web developer and consultant Joseph Gauthier. "Joe came to us knowing Cold Fusion and picked up ASP very quickly," says Sandoval. "But I can get a lot of people who are willing to do this work." Sandoval says what really matters is that he and Gauthier have developed a two-way exchange that helps both of them.

Gauthier says Sandoval used to come to his work area about once an hour. "On about the second day I told Chris that I didn't want him to micromanage me," Gauthier says. "I think that shocked him. I explained to him that I worked better if I was left to my own devices after I was assigned a project and that we could set up a predeadline meeting to review the work. To his credit, Chris left me alone and the project was completed on time. In situations like this I have to suggest a better way of working together without stepping on any toes. This can be a delicate procedure because it puts me in the position of educating my manager."

Sandoval formed a rapport with Gauthier and likes the work his older coworker has been doing. Gauthier's been learning from Sandoval's industry experience. "Even though Chris is younger, he has a few more years experience in the computer business than I do," Gauthier says. "I don't think a week goes by that I don't learn some new bit of technical knowledge from Chris. Another sort of benefit is that my association with him gives me insight into a generation that grew up with computers. The pace is different. This is a youth-oriented business and change is the only constant. No other industry has so many companies owned by twenty-somethings, and the impetus that drives them didn't exist when I was their age. Knowing Chris helps me to tap into that."

Taking the Initiative

For a win-win situation, the contract between the two people must be crystal clear. Both people must acknowledge the value of the other person and know what they can expect the other to deliver. Paul Raczynski, an experienced director of information systems at the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation, says, "Younger people may be mentors as far as the technology is concerned. But older people are mentors when it comes to understanding product life cycles, knowing what can possibly go wrong, estimating, managing projects, and motivating staff. If someone makes a mistake, I am experienced enough to know that such things happen. I also know how to counsel the person so that the process goes differently next time."

And when Darla Sotelo began consulting for a company manager several years her junior, the "trade" was apparent from the start. "I wanted the job," Sotelo says, "and I understood that the younger person who was managing me was knowledgeable about the business and the organization. What I gave to her was an assurance that I could provide the type of results and level of customer service she was looking for."

But regardless of how often people call these new mentoring relationships "mutual," don't be fooled: The onus for certain kinds of behavior rests squarely on the older workers. First, don't depend on your mentor to teach you the needed technology, especially if you want to jump from an older technology to the latest bells and whistles. Use your own initiative to get the technology under your belt before you take the leap. "I understood it was my responsibility to learn about the Internet," Sotelo says. "No one said I had to, but I knew it was an upcoming technology that was here to stay. I felt I would get left behind if I didn't."

Finding Alternatives

Success in a symbiotic mentoring relationship can be your ticket to new career success. If you cannot form such a relationship with someone inside your company, find someone from outside who is willing to educate you. For example, if you are more experienced with older technologies or more formal work environments, such as the military, find a user group that specializes in the technology that you want to learn and attend those meetings. You might find someone who will take the time to mentor you. Once you have a mentor and some sort of semiformal experience, it is easier for a company to take a chance on you.

Similarly, understand you may need to learn a new vocabulary, new terminology, and even new behaviors. Pay attention to how younger coworkers talk. Maybe there are certain phrases you can learn to include in your vocabulary that will show you speak and understand the same language as your new younger peers. Be a little cautious, though. While two people of the same age might shout, "You go, girl!" to reinforce an achievement, it might not come off the same way if said by a 50-year-old to a 23-year-old. Also, don't lecture. It comes off as parental.

Last but not least, be aware that these relationships can erupt when least expected. If you're working for a fast-paced younger manager who isn't used to making mistakes, when something does go wrong, the situation can become explosive. So you may want to test your own tolerance for a younger boss by working first as a contractor rather than a full-time permanent employee. But either way, these relationships have a lot to offer. Older workers can get up to speed on the latest technologies and revitalize their careers. And younger workers can benefit from the hard-core, in-the-trenches experience that's right there on their teams.

© 1998 Fran Quitel. All rights reserved.

Internet recruitment and technology staffing consultant Fran Quitel is the author of Firepower! Everything You Need to Know Before and After You Lose Your Job (from Ten Speed Press). Her Web site at www.careerbabe.com provides additional tips and resources for employer companies and job seekers. You can reach her at francq@aol.com or care of Computer Currents.

Job Searching Online for Dummies, Pam Dixon. Publisher, IDG Books.

CareerXroads, Mark Mehler and Gerry Crispin. Publisher, MMC Group.

When Smart People Fail, Carole Hyatt and Linda Gottlieb. Publisher. Penguin Books.

Job Interviews for Dummies, Cover Letters for Dummies, Resumes for Dummies, Joyce Lain Kennedy. Publisher, IDG Books.

The Damn Good Resume Guide, Yana Parker. Publisher, 10 Speed Press.

 

(You can read them in hard copy or on the web).

Red Herring, www.redherring.com

Wired, www.wired.com

Upside, www.upside.com,

Be sure to check out Upside’s 100 top privately-held companies http://www.upside.com/texis/feature/99/hot100

Industry Standard, www.thestandard.com

Business 2.0, www.business2.com,

Fast Company, www.fastcompany.com

 

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