Mentorship

1. Patrick Nana-Sinkam MD
Director, Mentorship, Center for Faculty
Advancement, Mentorship Engagement
Mentorship in Academic Medicine (What I Know Now that I
Wish I Knew Before)

2. Objectives
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 Understand the impact of mentorship on productivity
and retention
 Myths about mentorship
 Components to successful mentorship
 Mentorship in the context of professional
development
 FAME Mentorship program
 Exercises

3. Common Themes
 JS is a second year faculty member on the clinical
track. He states that “ I have no idea where I am
going with my career” “Should I just go into private
practice?” ” I am not sure how I am ever going to be
promoted”. “I think that I need a mentor”
 AM is an assistant professor on the tenure track. He
has struggled to secure extramural funding and as a
result, his clinical responsibilities have increased. “ it
is now even harder for me to do research” he says.
“How am I going to figure this out?” he says
 WJ is an assistant professor on the clinical track.
She has been very successful and has become
increasingly interested in transitioning to
administration. Her mentor does not have that type
of experience. What should she do?
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4. Road to Professional Development
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Professional Goals and Purpose:
What do you want out of your career?
Needs assessment
Who? (Mentor, mentee, collaboration)
What? (Resources, skills)
How? (where do I start?)
Aligning your professional and
personal goals
Developing a focused plan of action
and alignment with organizational
goals
Course correction
Career Growth and Satisfaction
Promotion

5. Obstacles to Academic Pursuits
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Tong et al, JACC, 2014

6. Retention: Why Do Faculty Leave?
 Initiated by the Medical Education Research Group
(MERG), subcommittee of FAME
 Period of Interviews: October 28, 2014 to July 10,
2015
 65 interviews requested
 34 accepted and completed (52.3%)
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7. Overall Themes – Associate Professors
 Too much pressure to see patients and generate more
revenue
 Burnout is an issue
 Lack of mentoring
 Positives: friendly colleagues, good environment,
teaching residents, watching students succeed
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8. Overall Themes – Assistant Professors
 Physician contracts are not understood and take too
long to get to the physician
 Lack of mentoring
 Lack of recognition for the good work they do
 Work/life balance
 Too much bureaucracy
 Positives: variety in patient care, colleagues and staff,
like their specialty and working with residents
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9. Feedback from retention question
 Treat faculty with respect and listen to them
 Pay attention to the career development of faculty
 Work/life balance needs to be considered when
setting expectations
 Support research faculty with salary recovery $ and
protected time for clinical faculty who want to do
research
 Transparency
 Change the culture
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10. Mentorship in an Academic Medical Center
:How are we doing?
 Survey of 289 assistant
and associate professors
 51% of faculty identified
established mentor
relationship with at least
one faculty member
(fewer in clinical track)
 53% assistants versus
37% associates
 Mostly self identified
 Variability in frequency of
meeting
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Binkley and Brod, Am J Med, 2013

11. Does Mentorship Matter?
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 Mentee (% vs. no mentoring ) (Holincheck, 2006)
 Compensation 25% vs. 5.3%
 Retention 72% vs. 49%
 Mentor (% vs. no mentoring)
 Compensation 28% vs. 5%
 Retention 69% vs. 49%
 Faster time to promotion (Morrison et , 2014)
 71% of Fortune 500 companies have a
mentoring program
Holincheck, J., “Case Study: WorkforceAnalytics at Sun,” Gartner, Inc., 2006

12. 8 Myths regarding mentoring
 Mentoring is only for researchers
 Mentoring is only for junior faculty
 Mentoring is static
 Mentorship is altruistic
 You only need one mentor
 Mentoring cannot be learned
 Mentoring is a long-term relationship
 Mentoring takes too much time
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13. Role model
Advocacy
Sponsorship
Guidance in
writing
Guidance in
promotion
Work/Life
balance
Networking
Simple
advice
Type of mentors

14. Keys to Successful Mentoring Program
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Organizational Culture
(support from the top)
Mentor Leads
(onboarding)
Programming
Access and
Flexibility
Track Specific
Programs +
Success
(avoid too many
deliverables)
Recognition
Awards/annual
reviews
Aligning mentorship
with individual
needs (mentee
drives)

15. Role of the Mentor
 Honesty and transparency
 Foster YOUR success and
open to your goals (Advocacy)
 Engagement and LISTENING
 Accessible
 Open-minded
 Positive
 Prepared and knowledgeable
of norms and culture
 Model character
 Structure and timelines (short
and long term)

16. Changing Mentors (“ They are just not
that into you”)
 Are you straying from the path of your mentor?
 They withhold on introductions and expanding your
network
 They are not curious about you (“asymmetry of
attention”)
 They discourage growth or moving out of your
comfort zone
 They do not acknowledge your progress
 They do not share the same values (“chemistry”)
 Conflict of interest (mentor is your direct supervisor)
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17. Defining the Mentee
 Engage, engage, engage
 Honesty
 Be prepared and deliberate
about your goals
 Be open to feedback and give
feedback.
 Follow agreed upon time lines
and benchmarks
 Discuss any challenges or
impediments (FAME can help)
 Course correction
 Reassess your mentor’s
competency
 Be willing to change
mentors

18. 5 Mentee Questions
 What is it that you want to do?
 What do you do really well that is helping you reach
your goals?
 What are you not doing well that is preventing you
from getting there?
 Can you think of 3 positive qualities of a current or
previous mentor?
 Can you think of time when a mentor relationship did
not work and why?
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19. 19

20. Structure of FAME Mentoring Program
(Mentoring Lead)
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 Each Department Has a Mentoring Lead
 Assists Junior Faculty: Network, Expectations,
Goals, Alignment (experience and goals)
 Assists Senior Faculty: Expectations, Directs to
training opportunities
 Onboarding
 Troubleshoots and problem solving
 Professional mission statement
 Coordinates with Department Chair
 Assist with faculty development plan and annual
review

21. FD4ME
 25 online interactive modules
 4 modules dedicated to
mentoring
 Mentorship I: overview
 Mentorship for the
mentee
 Mentorship for the
mentor
 P and T
 Professionalism
 Feedback
 Difficult conversations
https://fd4me.osu.edu/

22. FD4ME
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23. Mentorship for the Mentor
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24. How do you find a mentor?
 Know your purpose
 Meet with the mentoring lead in your Department to get
suggestions
 Know what you have to offer: enthusiasm, new ideas,
ability to amplify your mentor’s career as well as your
own
 Personal statement
 You do not get a mentor, you build the relationship and
it takes time
 Attend FAME training sessions

25. FAME Mentor Programming
 Mentor Open House (interaction of tracks)
 Speed Mentoring/Networking (addressing hierarchy)
 Mentorship for the mentor
 Mentorship for clinical faculty
 Professional Mission statement
 One on one consultation
 Online modules (FD4ME)
 Mentor Leads

26. Keys to Successful Mentoring
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Organizational Culture
(support from the top)
Mentor Leads
(onboarding)
Programming
Access and
Flexibility
Track Specific
Programs +
Success
(avoid too many
deliverables)
Recognition
Awards/annual
reviews
Aligning mentorship
with individual
needs (mentee
drives)

27. 5 Ps of Developing Mentorship
 Purpose
 Passion
 Partner
 Plan
 Progress
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28. References
 Bauman et al, Academic Medicine, 2014
 Morrison et al, Medical Teacher , 2014
 Sambunjak et al, J Gen Intern Med, 2010
 Sambunjak et al, Acta Medica Academica, 2015
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