 Welcome to Hack and Sack Meridian Health's podcast series for Women's History Month. I'm your host Jody Mayberry. This episode we're going to talk to Ann Gavzi. Ann is an executive vice president and health network general counsel. With Ann we're going to explore the topic of mentoring. We're going to discuss the impact a mentor can have on your career and much more. This podcast is part of a series of dynamic short interviews sponsored by the Hack and Sack Meridian Health's Women in Leadership Team Member Resource Group. This group selected topics of this series they knew were important to your career. Let's get started with Ann Gavzi. Ann what impact can a mentor have on someone's career? Mentoring is huge. I really am a big believer in mentoring because it connects to so many other things. Mentoring not only helps somebody as it relates to their career but it helps them to connect to the organization that they're working for. Mentoring drives culture, it drives team member engagement, it drives a sense of belonging because if a mentor helps the mentee become successful that person is a happier person. They feel more engaged and rewarded and fulfilled in their job and as a result, you know, and I think the studies show this as it relates to whether it's patient satisfaction or team member engagement they do a better job. So it's a home run all the way around and it allows people to develop relationship and mentoring really is a huge component of that, very important. We're a very large organization, 33,000 team members strong but I think of us as a family. It's the nature of what we do, it's the nature of the culture, it's the nature of what is incredible leadership at the top with our co-CEOs and our board. So mentoring is really, it's woven into a lot of different aspects of a person's success, the organization's success, it's just a home run all around. Until you gave that answer, I had always thought of mentorship really in one way, that it helps me as the mentee and it does help the mentor, it really does help to teach somebody else what you learn. I had never thought of the impact on the organization on how it can help pass on institutional knowledge and culture. Do you think that is one of the reasons an organization should look towards mentoring? Yeah, I think it's a confirmation that one not only do they believe in their team members, not only do they want to help them succeed and engage in professional development, but again, I think it really does align the organization's goals with leaders and team members that are being mentoring together. I really think there's a solid connection between a strong mentoring culture and the success of an organization. So if we're somebody who is looking for a mentor, what are some simple ways to initiate an informal mentoring relationship with a leader we may admire? That's a great question because very often organizations have formal mentoring programs. But mentoring happens every day in less formal ways. I'll take my team, for example. My team is a very, very connected, cohesive, collaborative team. I meet with my direct report once a week and that meeting can be 10 minutes if they really don't have anything that they need to talk about. It can be an hour if we have a project or an issue or an initiative that we need to focus on. But I consider every one of those interactions a form of mentoring and coaching. And then what happens is as I model that role with my direct reports, they model the same role with their direct reports and on and on and on it goes. So mentoring happens every day. Sometimes we don't even know we're doing it. And then there are very formal programs that you couldn't have. I was involved in a formal program many years ago at what was then Meridian health. And it was a development program for people. We used to call them high potentials and it was a leadership development program. And as part of that program, there was a mentoring component to it. I was assigned a mentee and they were assigned me. They were not in my area so that it wasn't as if it was a subject matter connection, but it was a connection because they were on the rise and I was already in senior management. And it didn't deal so much with substantive expertise, but other types of leadership characteristics. And it was so much fun for me because she was wonderful and she was very receptive to the program. And we really addressed questions and areas that she really wanted to improve on. One of the examples is that she was a little hesitant to speak in large groups that were composed of senior leaders outside her subject matter expertise. And so we practice, we actually practice together and lawyers like to talk. So we usually don't have problems given presentations. So it was in the area that I could give her a number of tips and suggestions on. And it worked out really well. She advanced throughout the organization and she is now one of our senior executives. So it was a great experience for her, I think, because she really was able to ask questions in a very safe setting with me. And I really enjoyed it as well. I don't know if she knew how much I enjoyed working with her, but it was it was really great. That example you gave is a perfect example of a very good mentor-mentee relationship. How do you know if a mentor and a mentee are a good match together? It may be sort of a cliche, but I think that there's a certain click, you know, how you meet, you can meet somebody for the first time and you hit it off. I mean, that's another term that's used. You know, sometimes it may not work. There may not be that smooth connection because people have different styles, right? And get comfortable with certain styles and not with others. If that happens, both sides should really speak up because you really do need that click, that fit, that ease of communication to get the very best results in a mentor-mentee relationship. So if that happens, and sometimes it doesn't mean anybody's done anything wrong, but sometimes it just isn't that immediate click. What advice do you have to keep a mentor in relationship active and healthy? I think it takes effort on both sides. It takes an understanding as to what the ground rules are. More important than anything else, when a mentor-mentee are working together, that environment has to be safe. Think of it as almost like a privileged conversation, right? So they have to be willing and able and comfortable enough to share what are either concerns or areas where they feel they may need some improvement. And it opens up a little bit of a vulnerability for somebody to say, well, you know, I have these issues, I'm concerned about this. And then the other side of it is on the mentor side is that what a mentor does very often is give encouragement, give suggestions. But they're also giving constructive criticism, and there's a way to deliver that so that it's positive, even though you're dealing with something that needs to be improved, I believe in honest dialogue, open dialogue, you know, a free flow of ideas. And then it usually goes from there. And it usually goes fairly well if everybody understands that it's really a safe environment and everybody's going to put the time and effort into it because the number one factor around here, because this is such a large act of health network dealing with so many different issues is time, right? Because in addition to the time that you spend at work, you also have your family and your other interests that need time as well. So if the mentor is going to spend the time and take that precious resource and hopefully assist the mentee, everybody's got to be working, working towards the goal that's agreed upon. As a mentor, do you have an expectation of the person that you're sharing with that they're they're going to do something with what they learn? My expectation is that they'll hear me and evaluate either the experience or the advice that I have. You never expect your mentee to be a robot and just do what you suggested, right? These are suggestions based upon experience, based upon, you know, various knowledge points. So long as it's taken in in an open way, considered. And then the mentee has to make their own decision. So that would be my expectation. Take advantage of the fact that the culture here at Hackensack Meridian Health is so giving and so open to things like coaching and mentoring. And push your mentors a little bit, ask the hard questions. It's a lot of talent in this organization. They're they're all up to it. It should be good for the individual, good for the organization. I'm a strong supporter. Thank you for listening. After hearing from Anne, I hope you are excited about working with a mentor. If you enjoyed this conversation, check out the other topics in this series of podcasts.