EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

What thoughts do you   have when you hear the term mentor? For those of us who have had the experience of learning and growing under the watchful guidance of a senior leader, it can often bring back memories and feelings of gratitude and thankfulness.However, for those who have never experienced the potential of a dedicated and productive mentor, it may simply be a word without much meaning.

Due to the nature of modern business organizations and the ever increasing competiveness and corporatization associated with the business environment, the number of individuals working without a mentor is growing. In one study, the authors found that all subjects over 40 years of age could name a mentor in his or her professional life, but the majority of those younger than 40 could not.¹ Many people can point to a time or know of an individual that has started with a new organization only to be left on their own without guidance or direction. For individuals at the beginning of their careers or those expanding their responsibilities to include additional service lines, the lack of a strong and willing mentor can increase the learning curve and frustration of the leader.

Meryl Cohen and Jeffrey Jacobs point out in a 2005 article,“Part of the responsibility of being a professional is self regulating the profession, taking measures to improve the state of the art in this profession and in the process raising the bar.”² Is this what imaging professionals strive for?

The field of imaging services must embrace the concept of mentoring new or young leaders. It is no longer an option but a necessity for the continued growth and success of the industry. How do we continue to renew top leadership talent for the upcoming challenges healthcare will present? How do we reduce leadership gaps between current senior leaders and those leaders that will take their place? How do we help prevent new leaders from becoming frustrated and leaving? Successful mentoring, along with certain professional organizations, will allow us to make successful strides toward renewing and growing leadership within the imaging services field.

How did the healthcare industry reach a point where mentoring was an exception rather than the norm? Mentoring has decreased primarily as a result of increasing competition within the industry and the increasing demands placed on mid and senior leaders. Imaging directors and managers find that they have additional requirements placed on them almost daily. There are new and higher revenue targets, increased pressures to decrease costs, and additional regulatory requirements. Leaders are left feeling overwhelmed and disenfranchised. Additionally, young professionals tend to view themselves as “free agents” and stay with an organization only until the next opportunity comes along.¹ This often leaves more senior leaders with the attitude of, “Why should I invest time in someone that will leave at the first opportunity?”

Healthcare leaders require complex professional skills that often take years to develop. They require maturing through various learning curves. In the past, the healthcare environment may have allowed organizations to slowly develop potential talent. The time needed to mentor and develop potential candidates was tolerated and often expected. In the current healthcare system, organizations look for those individuals ready to take on the challenges facing the organization. The complexity of our ever changing system and the increasing challenges it presents does not allow for organizations to hire potential talent to fill vacant postions.³

A Different Approach to Mentoring

Mentors and the act of mentoring are important to organizations and the imaging industry.However, if an organization is to be successful in mentoring for new leadership, there needs to be awareness of a few mistakes that influence the overall success of the program.

First, there must be a culture of mentorship where individuals understand they each have a role in the process.Mentoring is not a one way street with responsibility placed on the experienced leader. Senior and experienced leaders need to be open to the opportunity of developing those with less experience, but the new leaders must understand it is their responsibility to seek out appropriate mentors. Additionally, individuals need to be open to mentoring each other as peers. As the saying goes, it’s not just a job; it’s a way of life.

Second, less emphasis needs to be placed on a traditional mentoring model where a senior leader is paired with a junior leader for education and mentorship. More of today’s young professionals want an informal customized service model rather than a strict system or corporate approach.^1,2,4 A mentoring relationship is very complex. Pairing candidates together by chance often leads to a dysfunctional process that breeds contempt among those involved.

Finally, mentoring must become part of daily operations. If we are going to integrate mentoring into our busy schedules, we have to meld the process into planning, strategic development, process improvement, and all of the other things we as leaders do every day. Mentoring cannot be an additional item on the calendar or we will never make time for it. While this may be a very conscious effort in the beginning, the real satisfaction comes from realizing we are doing it subconsciously.

The Mentoring Relationship

If we look at the mentoring relationship more closely, we again see the complexities. The roles of the mentor and mentee, along with the steps or phases a mentoring relationship progresses through, can be both broad and involved. The mentor takes on many possible roles ranging from advisor, coach, and teacher, to counselor, role model, and guide.While the mentoring relationship may be professional in nature, these relationships often have the same social and psychological aspects any human relationship contains.⁴

Questions are often posed regarding gender differences in the mentoring relationship. Mixed gender mentoring relationships can add value due to men and women having different perspectives and experiences. However, it is important for each individual to clearly define the distance that promotes the greatest level of learning and professional growth. It is interesting to note that several key findings are presented in a 2006 article regarding mixed gender mentoring relationships. Males express less satisfaction with female mentors, female mentors spend more time developing social relationships than male mentors, and male mentees do not receive any more mentoring with male mentors, but they do receive greater monetary compensation. It was also noted that female mentors often fear being judged by their female peers if the person they are mentoring exhibits failure or is not successful.⁴

Similar to any relationship outside of the professional realm,mentoring relationships can be dysfunctional.⁴ Although it is rare, dysfunction in a mentoring relationship occurs when the relationship is ineffective for either of the individuals involved.Dysfunction in a mentoring relationship can be characterized by anger and hostility or disregard and disrespect. This type of outcome is more common when formal mentoring programs pair together mentor and mentee, especially when the mentor is part of a direct reporting relationship. Power dynamics can cause conflict due to the control over career development, assignments, and even termination.

The Phases of the Mentoring Cycle

The mentoring cycle typically starts with the junior leader taking inventory of his strengths and weaknesses. From this inventory, the mentee must determine what leadership quality or skill development is desired and identify those individuals who currently posses those skills.⁵

The individual looking for a mentor may automatically choose someone who is nonthreatening or has been through similar situations. Often this is due to the

perception that this person will be more open to being a mentor. While this may be true, an open mind should be kept about mentoring options. The mentor should be dedicated and committed to helping the mentee reach his goals even if there is a chance the mentee will pass the mentor in achievement. A good mentor will be very confident in his abilities but will be honest with the mentee when they are unable to help and need to refer the mentee to other resources. Over the course of a career, the mentee may be required to assemble a mentoring team.⁶ No one mentor will be able cover all the aspects of professional growth that are desired.

After individuals are identified who have the appropriate skill set, a period of time must pass where the 2 parties get to know each other.⁷ Similar to any interpersonal relationship, a successful mentoring relationship must be based on trust and mutual respect. It is very hard for mentees to be open and honest about their failures and weaknesses if there is not an established level of trust. Equally important, it is very hard for mentors to be open and honest and take a sincere interest in someone they know very little about.Additionally, it will be hard for mentors to share potentially sensitive information with someone with whom they do not have a level of trust.

The next step is the growth of the relationship and the exchange of information and knowledge.⁷ Goals are typically set during this stage and the process of personal and professional growth begins. Mentoring relationships often take on a gradual evolution where the mentee relies heavily on the mentor during the beginning stages then slowly moves to a more independent approach. Over time, the mentee and mentor may move toward more of a peer to peer level than mentor to mentee. It should be noted that an effective mentoring relationship can and should be as valuable for the mentor as the person being mentored. The relationship allows the mentor to examine his own skill set, develop a better understanding of other points of view, and to gauge what type of problems are being dealt with in the industry or organization, as well as the self satisfaction of watching a mentee learn, grow, and acquire success.

Although a mentoring relationship does not have to end, in most cases there is a transition into a different type of relationship. As the mentee reaches a stage where he is closer to being a peer of the mentor or the mentee has acquired all the knowledge he is going to receive from the mentor, the relationship naturally changes. Former mentors can and should remain great resources for networking, information, and possible friendship.

The Mentor

From the perspective of the mentee, what are the responsibilities and characteristics of good mentors? Eight responsibilities of a mentor include⁸:

1. Establishing effective working relationships
2. Facilitation of learning
3. Assessment and accountability
4. Evaluation of learning
5. Creating an environment for learning
6. Context of practice
7. Leadership

In addition to these responsibilities, effective mentors should have characteristics that include friendliness, a good sense of humor, patience, effective interpersonal skills, approachability, and professional development abilities.⁸

Following are even more characteristics of a good mentor¹:

1. Someone absolutely credible, whose integrity transcends the message, be it positive or negative.
2. Tells you things you may not want to hear but leaves you feeling that you have been heard.
3. Interacts with you in a way that makes you want to become better.
4. Makes you feel secure enough to take risks.
5. Gives you the confidence to rise above your inner doubts and fears.
6. Presents opportunities and highlights challenges you might not have seen on your own.

Potential mentors should be cautioned about a few mistakes that are often made. Mentors should never agree to mentor an individual if they do not believe they can effectively manage the process.⁶ The reasons for this could be many. Potential mentors may feel the other person’s values are not in line with their own or there could be questions about the motives for wanting the mentorship. Either way, the process should not be started unless the individual is committed to mentoring.

Another common mistake mentors make is lecturing rather than listening. A mentor should guide the mentee through a process rather than directly telling him what to do. Part of the mentoring process is for the mentees to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills that allow them to process problems on their own in the future. Due to the differences in experience, it is sometimes all too easy for the mentor to simply give the answer rather than guide the student.

Finally, the mentor and mentee have to keep an understanding that the mentor does not take the place of the mentee’s manager. The mentor should not interfere with decisions or instructions from the mentee’s manager and the mentee should not use the mentor as a workaround to the actual manager.

Conclusion

The process of mentoring is not easy and it is not successful without a great deal of effort.However, the results of not mentoring are far worse. The healthcare industry as a whole will never be short of challenges. It only takes a brief look at today’s political messages and news media to understand that healthcare is a major concern for our country today and into the future.

The industry has great leaders in many organizations but the question that must be asked is: Who is going to take their place? Are we allowing future leaders to become frustrated with the process only to leave and start second careers? Are we addressing our professional duties by working to “raise the bar”for our industry? Can we afford gaps in leadership as challenges continue to grow? Are we using our intellectual resources synergistically by engaging opportunities to mentor or be mentored? While we may feel we do not have time to mentor, the reality is that we do not have time not to mentor.

References

¹Delong T, Gabarro J, Lees R.Why mentoring matters in a hypercompetitive world. Harvard Business Review. January 2008; 86(1): 115–121.

²Cohen M, Jacobs J, Quintessenza J. Mentorship, learning curves, and balance. Cardiology in the Young. 2007; 17(2): 164–174.

³McLane S. A day in the life of a manager: incorporating leadership,mentoring, and role modeling. Oncology Nursing Forum. 2005; 32(1): 23–35.

⁴Tracy C,Nicholl H.Mentoring and networking. Nursing Management. 2006; 12(10): 28–32.

⁵Kowalski R, Campbell M. Leadership skills help financial managers achieve career success. Healthcare Financial Management. April 2000; 54(4): 50–52.

⁶Liu R, Ansbacher R. Assembling the optimal mentor team.Obstetrical and Gynecological Survey. 2008; 63(4): 199–201.

⁷Pieper S. The mentoring cycle: A six phase process for success. Healthcare Executive. Nov/Dec 2004; 19(6): 17–24.

⁸Ali P. Professional development and the role of development. Nursing Standard. 2008; 22(42): 35–39.

Joshua Scheller, MHA,RT(R) is the director of medical imaging for Community Hospital South in Indianapolis, IN.Joshua received his MHA from the University of Southern Indiana and is an active member of the AHRA. He may be contacted at jscheller@ecommunity.com.