Today’s Bosses Find Mentoring Isn’t Worth the Time and Risks

Since he became chief executive officer of Irvine, Calif.-based Freedom Communications in January, Scott Flanders has been crisscrossing the country to meet and talk with employees at dozens of locations. But Mr. Flanders has also told his managers that they can’t afford to constantly offer advice and guidance to their staffs.

"In this flatter world, where most managers have a broader span of control, there aren’t enough hours in the day to double-check everything employees do," he says. "We can’t tolerate mediocrity, but we have to presume the competence of employees — and then, when we’re disappointed, spend time coaching and training," or weed out failures.

This new model of management — teaching by example and offering employees intermittent feedback rather than meticulously reviewing everything they do — is being adopted formally and informally at many companies. It’s a change many managers have to make. Their staffs are larger because of restructurings that have cut layers of managers, and increasingly they are expected to produce work themselves while supervising employees’ output.

By Carol Hymowitz

From The Wall Street Journal Online

Full Story: http://www.careerjournal.com/columnists/inthelead/20060315-inthelead.html?cjcontent=mail