Corporate Mentoring Programs Offer An Edge In Competitive Labor Markets

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June 4, 2003

Mentoring programs offer an inexpensive, yet highly effective way for organizations to enhance their employees' individual growth and on-the-job effectiveness by fostering their ability to adapt and develop, especially in health care's ever-changing environment. Benefits of a corporate mentoring program include:

Recruitment. A mentoring program sends an important message to prospective employees that the organization values an employee's personal and professional development and that communication is a priority.
Retention. Mentoring programs can develop an employee's sense of loyalty to a company. According to the 1999 Emerging Workforce Study, employees with less than one year of service are twice as likely to seek employment elsewhere if there is no mentoring at their current workplace.
New employee orientation. Mentoring can help facilitate a new employee's entry into the organization's culture by helping the protégé negotiate his or her organizational role.
Diversity. Mentoring programs can help organizations provide a level playing field for women, minorities, and other groups.

Important elements of a mentoring program

Mentoring programs are as diverse as the organizations that host them; however, there are some features that successful programs have in common:

Leadership buy-in. Possibly the most critical element of an effective mentoring program is a supportive organizational climate. In order for employees to feel that the workplace encourages their growth, senior management must be visible, frequent, and on-going program advocates. One way of achieving this is to include mentoring as part of the corporate strategic plan.
Program orientation. Potential mentors and protégés may be interested in the idea of mentoring but not know much about it. Possible orientation activities include presentations that describe what effective mentoring looks like, mentoring self-study materials, informal coaching for mentors and protégés, and the circulating of examples of effective mentoring. These activities can help get people acclimated to the mentoring concept and to avoid unreasonable expectations.
Thoughtful mAudio Webcasthing. Making the mAudio Webcasth between mentor and protégé should involve both parties. MAudio Webcasthes can be made taking into consideration the mentor's and protégé's preferences, availability, recommendations from supervisors or other colleagues, individual goals, and organizational goals. Some mentoring programs allow protégés to rotate among several different mentors to benefit from diverse perspectives, knowledge, and strengths.
Clear expectations and goals. Both mentor and protégé should begin the mentoring relationship with a clear understanding of the other's expectations. These expectations include not only the projected outcomes of the relationship, but also how the relationship will work (regular meetings during office hours or lunches away from the office, for example), how much time each party can commit to the relationship, and the duration of the relationship.
Evaluation. As is true for any program, mentoring programs need a mechanism for evaluating effectiveness. Methods may include interviews, questionnaires, or informal feedback. Some mentoring programs encourage protégés to complete a personal development plan that can be used throughout the mentoring relationship to measure progress. However it is accomplished, protégés should be encouraged to give feedback on the effectiveness of the program to enhance its value for all participants.

Program structure

There is considerable discussion in the mentoring literature about formal versus informal mentoring programs. In a formal mentoring program, mentors and protégés are assigned to each other based on their positions within the organization or the outcome the organization wishes to achieve.

In an informal program, participants volunteer for the effort and are mAudio Webcasthed depending on the outcomes the participants wish to achieve. It should be noted that "informal" does not mean unstructured. An effective informal mentoring program has a great deal of structure but is flexible enough to allow the participants to accommodate their goals, preferences, and personal styles.

Research on the outcomes of each type of program, while somewhat inconclusive, suggest that protégés in formal mentoring relationships report receiving less career-related support from their mentors than do protégés in informal relationships, while protégés of informal mentors perceived their mentors as more effective.

Conclusion

Mentoring programs can support a variety of organizational goals, especially in a work environment that is evolving as rapidly as health care. Pairing protégés with mentors to guide, shape, and direct current workers and future leaders is a smart idea.

SOURCE:

Allyson Pahmer, HFMA Specialty Forums Manager.

Additional Resources

A Handbook for Professional Advisors, an HFMA Career Development Service
A Handbook for Those Who Wish to be Advised, an HFMA Career Development Service
"The Danger of Being Indispensable," HFMA Wants You To Know, April 10, 2002
Why Mentor? For Yourself (The first of a two-part series); Black Ink Archive
Mentor Programs Make a Difference: Creating the Next Generation of Leaders (The second of a two part series) Black Ink Archive
"Imagine the Possibilities," Connie Cape, FHFMA, CPA, Healthcare Financial Management, June 2000, page 14 (available on-line to HFMA members only).
"Finance professionals benefit from mentoring," by E. S. Genser, Healthcare Financial Management, December 1998, 70-71.

If you have questions or comments about HFMA Wants You to Know, contact editor Laura Noble.

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