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Everyone Gains From Mentoring Young Engineers
By Bernard Berson
As
a senior member of the design professional community -- I celebrated my
68th birthday in September -- I've had many years to reflect on the growth
of my career and watch the careers of hundreds of others develop. As my
past grows longer and my future shorter, I focus on things beyond making
a living. What is good for our profession, our community, our species?
I don't claim any great philosophical understanding or to have a full
answer to these questions, but a few areas have become crystal clear to
me. One is the duty we have to ensure that those who follow in our footsteps
are prepared to assume the leadership necessary for our society and profession
to flourish.
Young design professionals need our help. Many leave college with appreciably more technical training than those of us who went to school before the advent of the Internet and cell phones. It seems the educational process has evolved with changing times. Seniors can learn a lot from younger members of our profession. But the kind of knowledge we can transfer to them transcends technical training. We need to make an effort to transfer our experiences in business, the engineering profession, career development, legal and ethical matters, management, and leadership. We need to help them understand the balance of personal achievement goals with the needs of their employers, their families, and the greater community. In short, we need to take a role as mentors and promote mentoring.
Last year, as chairman of the Professional Engineers in Private Practice (PEPP) Division of the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), I conducted the group's annual Products and Services Meeting in Lambertville, New Jersey. There, a group of the division officers and committee chairmen brainstormed for three days about the driving forces for the year's activities. Our information sources included results of roundtable discussions held at the NSPE Annual Meeting in Detroit, Michigan.
One of the PEPP topics was mentoring, and participants discussed their personal experiences with mentoring programs. Many participants expressed the lack of formal mentoring programs in their firms, while others told of well-organized and formal programs that lead to significant benefits for employees as well as the companies that had them in place.
Under the leadership of Maddox (who was 31 when she assumed the chair), a group of about 15 young engineers from throughout the nation collaborated, researched, compiled, wrote, and produced a manual to guide firms in setting up programs, including guidelines, forms, references, and Internet links. It is available for download at http://www.nspe.org/product_detail.asp?cntProductSection=0&cntProduct=361&strKeywordList=&intPosition=2 for a nominal fee to cover costs.
We are proud of our YEAC and exceptionally proud of the outcome of their project. This manual will give guidelines to companies and other organizations, no matter their size, to create and maintain an effective mentoring policy. The personal and professional development of your people is essential to their careers as well as their performance as employees. We believe an effective mentoring program will present a win-win opportunity for you and your staff. If you manage young engineers, please take the time to review and use these guidelines to tailor your own program, and be grateful for the effort of the PEPP YEAC to carry out this much needed function.
Bernard Berson is a forensic civil engineer in Perrineville, New Jersey and a fanatic Washington Redskins fan.
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Progressive
Engineer
Editor: Tom Gibson
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