Business Mentoring Matters

I recently was alerted to an article in the Wall Street Journal by a Professor of Psychology titled, "When Mentoring Goes Bad."  Though an excellent article in many respects, there was the following statement:

GIVE FEEDBACK: Mentors can share appraisals with the protégés' supervisors, who have a vested interest in the protégés' development. If problems arise, someone from HR or another supervisor should be in the loop to give objective advice or mediate.

My response is an emphatic "No" to this suggestion.  It is a best practices principle that in a formal program, managers are never the mentors of their direct reports.  This is because mentoring is about building a trusting relationship with someone who doesn't have any control over your current job.  I am most unlikely to share my real performance issues with my immediate boss simply because s/he controls my career at the organization.   To allow a mentor to communicate with my immediate manager confuses the managerial role with that of a mentor. 

So, good article but please ignore the "Give Feedback" advice.  It will compromise your mentoring relationship.