The Value of Mentorship Programs
Mike Silverstein, Managing Partner & Director of HIT
Direct Recruiters, Inc.
August 2014
There’s a common thread when I speak with Thought Leaders in the Healthcare IT Industry. Most of them
attribute a big part of their success to having a great mentor.
Mentoring is more than simply answering occasional questions or providing ad hoc help to mentees.
Mentoring is about an ongoing personal relationship of learning and having a dialogue with a more
experienced or more knowledgeable person who helps to guide a less experienced or less knowledgeable
person.
I’m a firm believer in mentorship programs and their value. Individuals who have gone down this road before
have a great deal to offer. They help us learn from their experiences, successes and mistakes. They can also
help build a foundation of industry knowledge and skills and help you achieve the level of success you want.
There are four types of mentorship programs that organizations specializing in Healthcare IT offer:
ï‚· Formal Mentoring: Offers employees the opportunity to participate in an organized mentoring
program. Protégés are usually matched with a mentor by a program administrator or a mentoring
committee.
ï‚· Informal Mentoring: Takes place in organizations that develop a culture of mentoring but do not have
formal mentoring program in place. These companies may provide some tools and resources and
encourage managers to accept mentoring requests from members of the organization.
ï‚· New-Hire Mentorships: Set up to help new employees acclimate more quickly into the organization.
Newcomers to the organization are paired with more experienced people in order to obtain
information, good examples, and advice as they advance their careers.
ï‚· High-Potential Mentoring: Used to groom up-and-coming employees deemed to have the potential to
move up into leadership roles. Here the employee is paired with a senior level leader (or leaders) for a
series of career coaching int