Showing the way.(personnel perspective)

Jack appeared in my office quite despondent. He had recently been promoted at work. What was going on?

Jack had originally been hired to work in the factory on the assembly line and to help out in shipping. After six months, he caught the eye of a supervisor who promoted him to a job with more responsibility. In charge of a few people in the shipping department, again, Jack did very well. After about a year, a position opened up with major responsibility, which was offered to Jack. In this position, Jack would have six direct reports and be responsible for a line operation involving more than 100 people.

While his instincts served him well and he was a great people person, Jack had little foundation to prepare him for the position he was being thrust into: He had very little supervisory experience and no formal education beyond high school. When I asked him how he felt about his newly acquired job, Jack said he loved what he was doing but was being worn down by the stress of keeping ahead of the curve.

Jack was insecure and fearful. He simply was not in command of the skills that this job required. While Jack was a very fast learner with excellent instincts, the question remained whether he could continue the pace he was keeping to learn his role and be productive.

Now Jack was in my office, feeling troubled and having difficulty admitting his symptoms were work-related. When I assured him they were and his responses were perfectly normal given the situation he found himself in, he began to settle down.

How could we solve the problem underlying his anxiety? Jack and I discussed his need of a mentor to help him gain the needed security that would allay his fears. But there was no one at the company he would trust with his fears. He was convinced he would be exposing himself in a way that could jeopardize his career there.

Given this scenario, I realized my role was to become his much-needed mentor. During his time with me, we discussed problems he was having on the job and explored various solutions. As his mentor, I assigned him articles to read, which we would later discuss. I also encouraged him to take several business courses at night. Jack was pleased to enter into this partnership. His symptoms cleared up as he became more confident and competent on the job.

This problem of rising too fast on too little knowledge is so common that best-selling author Peter Drucker created a name for the malady: the Peter Principle--promotion to the level of one's incompetence.

If companies wish to reward good workers with more responsibility, then a mentoring program has to be in place. People are bound to stumble in new roles, and they need to have a safety net beneath them. The ability to seek help from a mentor can spare employees and companies from making mistakes that might be costly.

A mentoring program sends a clear message to employees that the company understands people need help as they are promoted to higher-level jobs that require different skills than they had previously. Mentoring also allows companies to be more productive than they would otherwise be if they left people to fend for themselves as they struggled to feel good about their promotions.

Eileen Berman, Ed.D., is a practicing psychologist and consultant in Rhode Island. She is also the author of two books, Dealing Effectively with Job Loss and Building Productivity. E-mail her at e.berman@cox.net with comments or suggestions.

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