Gilly Johnson – Australian Mentor Centre

1. Mentoring –The challenges & the opportunities for Health Executives - ACHSE Breakfast – 21 September 2005 Gilly Johnson – Australian Mentor Centre

2. In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should be thankful for those people [mentees and mentors] who rekindle the inner spirit.’ ~ Albert Schweitzer (Philosopher, Physician & Humanitarian)

3. Today’s ‘Chat’ Focus 1. Mentoring – ‘Old Grass – New Growth’ 2. Mentoring – Current Situation 3. Mentoring – The Challenges 4. Mentoring – The Opportunities 5. Mentoring – The Future Situation

4. Old Grass – New Growth Professor David Clutterbuck in his article Quiet Transformation: The Growing Power of Mentoring says: ‘Suddenly the word mentoring is on everyone’s lips. … Wherever you look around the world, mentoring is becoming part of the solution to issues of community or business development.’ Why is this so?

5. Mentoring ‘Mentoring is a voluntary professional relationship between a mentor and a mentee. It is carried out around mutually agreed upon purpose and expectations, and is general career focussed rather than clinically orientated.’ (Mentoring Fact Sheets for Nursing in General Practice, 2005) A Few Mentoring Facts • History • 1200BC • Odysseus – King of Ithaca – appointed guardian to Telemachus • Guardian – said to be Mentor • Greek Goddess Athena – appeared as Mentor • Synonymous with a person who acts as: • trusted advisor, • teacher and wise person, and • with the concept of 1-to-1 development • Approaches • North America • Europe & United Kingdom

6. Coach Clinical Supervisor Preceptor Mentor Mentoring & Other Helper Roles in Healthcare • Resources: • Mentoring Fact Sheets for Nursing in General Practice, 2005. • Hanging from a String in the Wind – Development of a National Framework for Mentoring for Nurses in General Practice, 2005. • Mentoring, clinical supervision and preceptoring: clarifying the conceptual definitions for Australian rural nurses. A review of the literature, 2005.

7. Mentoring – Current Situation • Australian Mentoring Community • Corporate Australia – graduate programs; executive mentoring/coaching • Business Australia – small business programs; paid business mentoring • Professions Australia – attached to professional registration & membership organisations • Youth programs – across a range of community groups • Equal Opportunity programs – across a range of EEO areas • Special interest programs – ‘wildly wealthy women’ • Australian Healthcare Mentoring • Recruitment activities – scholarship support systems • Graduate activities – as part of graduate programs • Profession activities – as part of support by individual professions • Professional organisation activities – as part of membership based services • Management activities – as part of health management programs

8. Mentoring as a Strategic Tool Where does mentoring as a workforce strategic tool exist in your organisation? The mission (how you are going to achieve your vision) of ACHSE includes: … facilitating networking and mentoring … FANTASTIC Well done ACHSE! 

9. Commitment of the healthcare profession to mentoring – what is the ‘macro’ level view of mentoring? Role definition of mentoring – where does it fit into the formal career progression of healthcare professionals and links to improved healthcare outcomes Alignment of mentoring to the strategic role of the organisation & other helper functions Lack of centralised resource pool to share mentoring resources & activities Model of mentoring being used currently in healthcare – formal programs vs informal or ad-hoc mentoring activities – framework of mentoring Funding & infrastructure for mentoring – difficult to measure a ROI for mentoring which in turns affects ongoing funding for mentoring programs - sustainability Coordination & information relating to mentoring – no central point coordinating the use of mentoring in healthcare – a lot of ‘re-inventing’ ‘Program’ rather than ‘culture’ view of mentoring – moving past the program Mentoring – The Challenges What are the challenges about mentoring in healthcare?

10. Personal Environmental Professional Mentoring – The Opportunities What are the opportunities about mentoring in healthcare?

11. Professional Environmental Developing the health management executive’s role in the organisation Accessing support & information from other healthcare professionals Accessing information, advice & resources Career planning Being motivated to seek developmental opportunities such as training courses Sharing experiences Networking with other health management executives Role modelling Personal Gaining new and different perspectives on problem situations Gaining support & encouragement Identifying strengths & areas to be developed Seeking guidance with problem solving Mentoring & Professional Development P2E Model of Mentoring P2E Model of Mentoring is designed to guide the conversations in a mentoring partnership, along with the focus of why the mentoring partnerships exists.

12. Mentoring has a clearly defined ‘place’ in the healthcare workforce Mentoring in healthcare has a body of shared information & resources Mentoring is valued at all stages of the workforce life-cycle Mentoring is part of the strategic plan of all healthcare organisations Mentoring – The Future Situation

13. Link mentoring to the learning and development outcomes of healthcare organisations & individuals Identify and define the role of mentoring alongside other existing support networks and helper functions in healthcare Coordinate mentoring resources, information and guidelines across all areas of healthcare Align mentoring with other strategies that promote professional development and ongoing training for healthcare professionals Coordinate Identify Align Link Encourage healthcare professionals to have a ‘mentoring mindset’ and to take on mentoring roles – both ad-hoc and structured Encourage Moving Forward

14. Mentoring – Some Final Thoughts Leadership is about doing the right thing Management is about doing things right Health professionals in management have the opportunity through their mission of influencing health policy to facilitate mentoring in all areas of the healthcare workforce. Furthermore – as managers and leaders of the healthcare workforce, ACHSE members form the nucleus of the management team to influence the strategic role that mentoring can have across all healthcare sectors. Your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to discuss, debate and raise awareness of the role of mentoring for future healthcare workforce members

15. Thank You • Gilly Johnson • Work in Progress Mentoring Professional • Director & Founder, Australian Mentor Centre • Project Officer, RCNA • Email: gilly@australianmentorcentre.com.au • Telephone: 03 9685 7594 • Website: www.australianmentorcentre.com.au • Have you registered for the National Mentoring in Healthcare Conference? WHAT – YOU HAVEN’T?? Don’t delay – we start this afternoon – join us at the Hyatt at 5pm for cocktails (and you can register at the same time!)  Or call RCNA on 1800 061 660