The Development of a Mentoring Program for a Local Public Health Agency

Abstract

Mentoring programs have many advantages for the agency, mentor, and protégé. The focus of this project is a Local Public Health Agency [LPHA; pseudonym] that is experiencing the attrition of many top executives. The purpose of this project was to develop a plan for implementation of a formal, organization-wide mentorship program for the LPHA. Appreciative Inquiry is recommended as an organizational development (OD) tool to design the mentorship program. Appreciative Inquiry is a positive approach to organizational development that seeks out success stories to build a positive future reality. In addition, organizational readiness is assessed to determine the extent which the agency is ready to implement a new program. A program planning framework is described as a means to develop the mentoring program. The framework provides step-by-step guidance for program development to ensure important steps are not overlooked that could jeopardize the success of the program. Finally, Adaptive Mentorship® is recommended as a framework for designing the mentoring program. Adaptive Mentorship is based on the premise that the mentor adapts his or her mentoring behaviour to match that developmental level of the protégé.