Exploring mentoring and leadership development in health care organizations : Experience and opportunities

Purpose – To improve understanding of mentoring and other leadership development practices in health care organizations, focusing on three questions: What has been done? What is being done? What should be done? Design/methodology/approach – First, 160 key informant interviews explored mentoring and leadership development practices in health care between September 2003 and December 2004. Second, all US hospital chief executives were surveyed between August‐December 2004 (844 respondents) and asked about mentoring and leadership development. Findings – No interviewed executives and fewer than one‐quarter of chief executive respondents reported participating in formal mentoring programs as a protégé. Nearly one in three executives surveyed reported that a formal mentoring program was available within their organizations; however, only three key informants described programs in existence longer than five years. Issues such as assuring senior leadership support, sustaining budgetary commitment, and dedicating qualified personnel were all reportedly important for health care organizations striving to design and implement mentoring and other leadership development practices. Research limitations/implications – While limited by a modest response rate within a chief executive population, survey results highlight the importance of mentoring in framing perceptions about leadership development. Future research should attempt to better understand how perspectives guide program development decisions. Practical implications – By considering opportunities to use mentoring to help employees advance, organizations can build investments in leadership development, ideally helping under‐represented groups to attain higher management ranks. Originality/value – This paper is among the first to combine qualitative and quantitative methods to explore mentoring and leadership development in health care organizations.