title: Structured Mentoring for Workforce Engagement and Professional Development in Public Health Settings.
abstract: Mentoring is commonly used to facilitate professional growth and workforce development in a variety of settings. Organizations can use mentoring to help achieve broader personnel goals including leadership development and succession planning. While mentorship can be incorporated into training programs in public health, there are other examples of structured mentoring, with time commitments ranging from minutes to months or longer. Based on a review of the literature in public health and aggregated personal subject matter expertise of existing programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we summarize selected mentoring models that vary primarily by time commitments and meeting frequency and identify specific work situations to which they may be applicable, primarily from the federal job experience point of view. We also suggest specific tasks that mentor-mentee pairs can undertake, including review of writing samples, practice interviews, and development of the mentee's social media presence. The mentor-mentee relationship should be viewed as a reciprocally beneficial one that can be a source of learning and personal growth for individuals at all levels of professional achievement and across the span of their careers.
authors.affiliation: 1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Stephanie A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Dopson
authors.affiliation: 2 Sue Mentors, Columbia, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Sue
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Griffey
authors.affiliation: 1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Neelam
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ghiya
authors.affiliation: 1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Laird
authors.affiliation: 3 Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Aubrey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cyphert
authors.affiliation: 1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Iskander
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D000071252:Mentoring / Q000458:organization & administration*; D024382:Professional Role; D011634:Public Health / Q000193:education*; D016337:RNA, Catalytic; D013192:Staff Development / Q000458:organization & administration*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D016337:RNA, Catalytic; C113411:leadzyme
keywords: leadership development; mentoring models; professional development; structured mentoring