As in other fields, aspiring EMS leaders require role models and guidance. This is especially true in EMS, as we have a higher-than-average turnover rate, and an increasing number of our managers opt for work outside the EMS setting or leave to start careers in different fields. There are even some who say we're at a crisis point in regard to this "brain drain" of talented managers in EMS, and without current leaders mentoring the next generation, this crisis could become worse.

   At some point during your career, you may have considered becoming a mentor but dismissed the idea, thinking it wouldn't be worth the energy you'd put into it. It may be time to rethink your decision. Being a mentor is more important than ever--and you may get more out of it than you think.

What Is a Mentor?

   A mentor affects the professional life of a protégé by fostering insight, identifying needed knowledge and expanding growth opportunities. This assistance supplements the coaching an individual receives from his or her direct supervisor. The mentoring relationship traditionally consists of a more experienced person providing guidance and advice to an associate with less experience. The associate is looking to move up the career ladder, usually by learning from someone successful and respected.

   Mentors typically play four overlapping roles:

• Coach, showing how to carry out a task or activity;
• Facilitator, creating opportunities for learners to use newly acquired skills;
• Counselor, helping the mentee explore the consequences of potential decisions;
• Networker, referring the mentee to others when their own experience is insufficient.

Why Become a Mentor?

   Mentoring gives you the extraordinary opportunity to facilitate a protégé's personal and professional growth by sharing knowledge you've accumulated through years of experience. While the primary intent of your mentoring role is to challenge the protégé to think in new and different ways, the protégé is not the only one who gains from the arrangement. As a mentor, there are various ways you can benefit as well.

   You enhance your skills. The experience you gain by mentoring someone can facilitate your professional growth, making you more of an asset to your EMS agency or even later when you leave it. Mentoring lets you strengthen your coaching and leadership skills by working with individuals with different backgrounds and personality types. Your ability to manage people different from you is a valuable commodity, especially as the workplace grows more diverse. Besides enhancing your skills, mentoring can improve your performance. One of your roles as a mentor is to set a good example for your protégé. Knowing you are responsible for providing appropriate and accurate guidance to that person motivates you to work harder. Further, mentoring can give you a fresh perspective on your performance.

   You develop and retain talent in your organization. As an EMS manager, you know the importance of developing and retaining good employees. By priming promising employees to become top-performing managers and by providing them with the challenges, support and commitment needed to keep them in your organization, your mentoring efforts effectively address issues of succession planning and retention. They will also assist in identifying and developing internal talent and provide upper management the option of promoting from within.

   You create a legacy that has a lasting impact on your protégé and the EMS field. Not only will you gain the satisfaction of helping develop future talent, the knowledge you foster can inspire new ideas for generations to come. You also help carry on your organization's legacy by passing its values and mission on to your protégé.

What It Takes

   After reading all of the above, do you feel you have what it takes to be a mentor? It takes commitment and confidence in your own abilities and requires that you be sincerely interested in someone else's growth. You won't win any awards, but you will have the satisfaction of doing an important job.

   There is no one element that can make or break the mentoring relationship. Each relationship will be influenced by a variety of factors. While one may progress smoothly, another may take more time to develop. If you find a relationship is not going as planned, make some changes. Remember, the underlying goal is to create an opportunity for open dialogue and feedback between an experienced operator and an underling looking for guidance and wisdom.

Conclusion

   Although mentoring can be a rewarding experience, becoming a mentor is a weighty decision that shouldn't be taken lightly. The benefits to you, your agency and the field of EMS, however, can be well worth your effort.

Mentoring Resources

• MENTOR: www.mentoring.org
• Mentoring: http://managementhelp.org/guiding/mentrng/mentrng.htm
• The Mentoring Group: www.mentoringgroup.com
• National Mentoring Center: www.nwrel.org/mentoring/index.php
• Coaching and Mentoring for Dummies: Marty Brounstein, For Dummies, 2000.
• The Elements of Mentoring: W. Brad Johnson, Charles R. Ridley, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
• Power Mentoring: How Successful Mentors and Proteges Get the Most Out of Their Relationships: Ellen A. Ensher, Susan E. Murphy, Jossey-Bass, 2005.

Succession Planning in EMS

   No matter the type of service you work for, you need to understand the concepts of succession planning in order to pass on the mantle of leadership. Wikipedia defines succession planning as "the process of identifying and preparing suitable employees through mentoring, training and job rotation to replace key players ... within an organization as their terms expire."

   Succession planning establishes a process that recruits employees, develops their skills and abilities, and prepares them for advancement, all while retaining them to ensure a return on training investment. Succession planning involves:

• Understanding the organization's long-term goals and objectives;
• Identifying the workforce's developmental needs;
• Determining workforce trends and predictions.

   There is no single best way to conduct succession planning. In fact, many individuals involved in succession planning find it beneficial to use concepts from several sources, rather than one primary theory. The following provides an overview of key aspects that might be considered.

How to Proceed

   As an EMS administrator, how do you change the traditional reactionary mind-set of your agency to develop a succession plan that's well-thought-out, rational and, eventually, complied with?

   Before initiating the planning process, determine which key positions you feel require succession plans (this may only be one or two positions). Obviously, your own position is included, but consider requiring your entire management team to create succession plans for their positions as well. In doing so, assure them that the need for creating a succession plan is not because their current employment is at risk, but to be sure they are promotable if that option becomes available.

   Consider potential successors in light of their abilities and commitment to the mission and vision of your agency. You need not limit potential successors to those within your organization, or even within the EMS industry. If a position is truly management or leadership, the key element is core skills. There is often great debate about whether it's easier to teach an EMS field provider management and leadership skills, or hire a person with great management and leadership skills and teach them about EMS.

   Once you identify a person or two, let them know you think they'd be a good successor. It's important that both parties understand each other, so you can both lay out some goals and expectations. Be sure they realize that through the identification and development process, you are not guaranteeing a future promotion, but rather creating options.

   If a potential candidate agrees to be part of the succession program, work together to develop a written action plan to prepare them appropriately. This may include educational programs, internships, shadowing of key personnel at the workplace or any other developmental opportunity you both feel would be valuable. This is the time to clearly delineate the actual work (both day-to-day and longer-term) associated with the position. When establishing this program, set reasonable time frames for completion that correlate with the goals as written, as well as a written expectation of how costs, logistics and other areas will be handled.

   The last step is to determine with the potential successor an estimated time frame to prepare, with specific dates for milestone completion. The overall development period may be six months or six years. The duration does not matter as much as setting the actual goals. This way, the expectations are clearly understood on both sides.

   An often-overlooked but critical element is the ability for the person being succeeded to step aside, which is often harder than you'd think. Once you and your agency have determined that a succession plan will occur, participants should remain true to the purpose of the process. Allowing successors to make decisions at all levels (business, operational and administrative), while experiencing both the positive and negative consequences, is perhaps the most critical step in succession planning. Stepping aside can be challenging for managers, but is critical to success.

Conclusion

   Usually, the head of an EMS agency plans well in advance for departure, leaving a lot of time for things to be handled appropriately. Sometimes, though, fate has a way of not allowing much time. Planning by following the steps above may be one of the elements that keeps your EMS agency on track through otherwise bumpy times. With effective, well-thought-out and followed-up-on succession planning, a current employee will be ready to step up when someone leaves.

Resources

• Succession Planning: http://humanresources.about.com/od/successionplanning/Succession_Planning.htm
• Succession Planning: http://managementhelp.org/staffing/planning/sccs_pln/sccs_pln.htm
• Succession Planning 101: www.successionplanning101.com
• Effective Succession Planning: Ensuring Leadership Continuity And Building Talent From Within: William J. Rothwell, AMACOM, 2005.
• Succession Planning Basics (ASTD Training Basics Series): Christee Gabour Atwood, ASTD Press, 2007.
• Workforce Planning: 90 Day Action Plan Handbook: Jeffrey H. Gross, TopGrade Workforce Planning, 2009.

Raphael M. Barishansky, MPH, EMT-B, is program chief of Public Health Preparedness for the Prince George's County (MD) Health Department and a member of EMS Magazine's editorial advisory board. Reach him at rbarishansky@gmail.com.

EMS EXPO

Ray Barishansky is a featured speaker at EMS EXPO, October 26-30, Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, GA.