Beyond the Myths and Magic of Mentoring: How to Facilitate an Effective Mentoring Process, New and Revised Edition

Chapter Four

Payoffs and Penalties for the Protégé

Traditionally, those at the top of an organization have assumed the responsibility for planning the career path of an employee. Someone “up there” decides when to train, when to reassign, and when to promote employees at all levels. In many accounting firms, for example, the junior auditor is moved to auditor to senior auditor to manager to partner. It is assumed that the employee will go up or go out. In one organization in which I worked, there was a secret “ready now” binder that included profiles on managers who were targeted for movement in the company. (Often the first clue one had of being in the binder was a request to have a professional photograph taken.)

This ready-made career ladder ...