Promoting the Joy of Mentoring

Although the value of mentoring should be self-evident, it is also clear that healthcare executives have a moral obligation to mentor the next generation of leaders. Doing so benefits both our successors and the organizations we serve.

In 2001, in response to the impressive inquiries being posed by Jeff Noblin, a young executive matched with me through ACHE’s Leadership Mentoring Network, I asked if he would join me in co-authoring an article for Healthcare Executive, which would include my answers to his questions (see sidebar on this page for a list of some of these insightful questions). In that article (“Mentoring Dialogue: Critical Questions and Answers,” November/December 2002), we wrote that mentoring benefits mentees in three ways:

• The person has convenient access to a senior executive who has an interest in his or her career, and the relationship’s objectives and expectations are jointly determined.
• Learning the intricacies of management through observations and analysis, followed by timely discussions, helps the junior executive become more sophisticated in addressing organizational issues.
• A young manager might feel hesitant to ask certain questions of a colleague or direct supervisor, but the mentee should feel less inhibited in raising issues with a mentor.

In retrospect, Noblin and other mentees would probably agree there are additional advantages to having an effective mentor. These include refining their professional values; developing stronger communication and leadership skills; honing other skills and expertise they need to succeed; establishing short- and long-term career goals; improving job satisfaction, performance and self-confidence; being exposed to new and different perspectives; expanding their professional network; being better prepared for interview questions; and identifying and addressing possible gaps in skills and knowledge. Of course, a good mentor will also share one of life’s most critical lessons—the need to maintain a healthy work-life balance. 

At the time the 2002 article was written, Noblin was a project manager at a health system in Albany, Ga. Not surprisingly, given his perceptive questions, he is now board certified in healthcare management as an ACHE Fellow and the CEO of Pleasant Valley Hospital in Point Pleasant, W.Va.

Benefits of Being a Mentor
It is unlikely that any effective executives have succeeded without having multiple mentors during their careers. Administrative residents and fellows are tutored by preceptors. Junior managers are mentored either formally or informally by their supervisors. Once becoming a senior executive, one should feel an innate instinct to reciprocate. It is rewarding—often in intangible ways.

Being a mentor is immensely satisfying and fulfilling. Based on my experience, early careerists who apply to ACHE’s mentoring program (the Leadership Mentoring Network) or the National Center for Healthcare Leadership’s Mentorship Program are unfailingly highly motivated and conscientious. Healthcare executives should also be strategic about how they approach mentoring and identify the programs that best fit their individual needs. The National Association of Health Service Executives and the National Association of Latino Executives have robust mentoring programs, as do many ACHE chapters. Every mentee has different strengths and needs, making each interaction with a mentor, whether by email, phone, an online video platform or in person, stimulating and thought provoking. Being a mentor also helps one become a better listener. 

Yes, all senior executives have full schedules. But the time required is nominal, and the good feeling derived from contributing to the profession is immeasurable.

Both ACHE and NCHL ask mentors and mentees to complete a brief questionnaire soliciting feedback on the experience. However, mentors should frequently request informal confirmation from mentees that the experience is meeting their needs.

Mentees are encouraged to determine the interval between conversations. Typically, mentees and mentors meet monthly for an hour with the understanding that emails raising questions or giving updates are appropriate at any time. Though the duration of the relationship is usually six to 12 months, I always inform mentees that they can and should decide when it will conclude. Some associations have lasted for more than a year.

Fundamental to any relationship is mutual trust, thus building a strong foundation for this trust should be a high priority. For example, the mentee must feel conversations will be kept confidential by the mentor, especially if the mentor is employed by the same organization. 

Never Too Late to Consider Mentoring
Ideally, organizations that promote the joy of mentoring will benefit because eventually they will become more recognized as having nurturing cultures and enjoying higher rates of employee engagement and retention. In a June 8, 2021, Harvard Business Review article titled “You Need a Skills-Based Approach to Hiring and Developing Talent,” LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky noted a LinkedIn 2018 Workplace Learning Report that indicated 94% of employees admitted they would have stayed at a company longer if it had invested in their career.

Having a meaningful and ethical professional career is crucial for countless reasons, including ethical ones, so it is never too late to be reminded of Winston Churchill’s astute observation: “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”

Paul B. Hofmann, DrPH, LFACHE, is president of the Hofmann Healthcare Group, Moraga, Calif., and co-editor of Managing Healthcare Ethically: An Executive’s Guide, published by Health Administration Press, and Management Mistakes in Healthcare, published by Cambridge University Press (hofmann@hofmannhealth.com).

Questions Mentees Should Ask

The following questions appeared in the article “Mentoring Dialogue: Critical Questions and Answers” in the November/December 2002 issue of Healthcare Executive. They remain relevant questions for mentees to ask their mentors today:

• What specific skills should I be developing at this point in my career?
• If you were recruited to another institution, how would you evaluate the organization?
• What are the best steps to determine how a competing facility or health system is doing financially and operationally?
• Given the number of opportunities available in rural areas, what are the pros and cons of working in these settings?
• How will the role and influence of physicians be changing in the future?
• How should leadership respond when union organizing is initiated?
• If one or more individual board members begin to intercede by crossing the sometimes-ambiguous boundaries between governance and management, what should be done? 
• Will physician influence in the healthcare setting become more prominent or diminish in the future?