If you were lucky, there was a professional who acted as a teacher to you, not so much in imparting technical knowledge, but rather information and advice that helped in your career development. Most likely, it was someone in your firm, a direct supervisor, or someone in a different practice area.

This worked so well for many that firms have incorporated mentoring into the professional development of their staff. There is no uniform approach to how it is done, and programs vary widely with regard to who is selected as a mentor, the subjects covered, the responsibilities of the mentor, and the confidentiality of the discussions.

In part, the development of formal mentoring programs can be attributed to the staffing problems that the profession has experienced over the last decade or so. Anita Ford, assurance partner with Clifton Gunderson at its Racine, Wis., office, indicates that her firm recognized staff retention was an issue for the firm, and mentoring was one aspect of its efforts to improve retention. "It was part of a multi-prong approach to how we interviewed, hired, and trained people. The initial focus is getting the right people into the firm. The mentoring program focused on helping to retain those people, and giving management the tools to develop those people and make them as successful as they can be," explains Ford. The mentoring program has been a huge success as she indicates, "as of last year, our turnover was half of what it was when we started the program."

Pairing Off

Firms such as Plante & Moran have had mentoring programs for decades. Bill Bufe, a partner and it human resources director, reports, "I've been here for 34 years, and it has been a formal program longer than that. When you walk in the door, you are assigned two people who are in charge of your welfare--a team partner and a buddy."

Yeo & Yeo also has had mentoring for a long time as David Schaeffer, principal with the Saginaw, Mich. office indicates. "Mentoring of one sort or another has been in our firm since its inception in 1923." He indicates a breakthrough occurred about two years ago. "The principals in our office decided that if we wanted to assure the future success of Yeo & Yeo, then we needed to take direct personal responsibility for the career development of each and every member of our staff. That is when things really started taking off, and when the formal process that we currently use was initially begun. We have already seen strong improvements in all areas of our practice, including revenue, productivity, training, attitude, and cooperation."

Mentor relationships are not assigned at Yeo & Yeo, but are mutually agreed upon. Each senior manager or manager forms a mentor relationship with a principal, each senior forms a mentor relationship with a manager or senior manager, and each staffer forms a mentor relationship with a senior or manager. Amber Rzepka, marketing coordinator, at the Kalamazoo, Mich. office indicates that mentors are also assigned at the paraprofessional/administrative staff level.

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