The power of mentorship cannot be underestimated. Both mentors and mentees derive benefits from working together. Four ASCP mentors share how mentoring has enriched their lives and what it takes to be a mentor.
Tiffany Gill, MA, MLS(ASCP)CM
Professor and Medical Laboratory Technology Program Coordinator
College of Southern Maryland, La Plata, MD
a.k.a. “Medical Lab Lady Gill”
ASCP 2022 40 Under Forty Top Five Honoree
I decided to volunteer as an ASCP mentor as a way to give back to the medical laboratory profession. When we work to help others in laboratory medicine to advance in their careers, we are helping to improve the profession overall.
Everyone can use a mentor; it doesn’t matter how long or how briefly you have been in the profession. We can all benefit from having someone else to turn to for another perspective or to help understand a situation better.
The most precious gift you can give someone is your time. As an ASCP mentor, I am able to positively affect someone’s life to help them advance in their career faster, while also helping to improve the profession, and that is great! If I could reach out to other medical laboratory educators like me to offer assistance, we could help one another! Another ASCP mentor offered tips to help me learn how to get to the heart of identifying a mentee’s need, while also setting expectations and boundaries. Open communication is the most important quality to a successful mentoring relationship.
Tywauna Wilson, MBA, MLS(ASCP)CM
System Technical Director for Chemistry
CompuNet Clinical Laboratories, Dayton, Ohio
Trendy Elite Coaching and Consulting Founder/eLABorate Topics Podcast Co-host
ASCP Workforce Steering Committee Member
I enjoy being able to impact the next generation of laboratory leaders. When I work with young laboratory leaders and see them grow and have “Ah-ha!” moments, I get fulfillment from that. Mentoring helps shorten some of the learning curve, especially getting into leadership and management. I have experienced the power of mentorship, and I want others to have the same benefit.
When I think about what makes a great mentor, I am reminded of people who are inspiring to me. There is something about them—the work they did, their impact in the lab, their skills—that I looked up to.
An unexpected perk for the mentor: Working with mentees increases my professional network; the mentee may know laboratory professionals I don’t know. And when I’m thinking of different things that work for my lab, the mentee may have a different perspective that can be very helpful. Learning goes both ways. Mentorship also brings exposure to the mentor’s organization. It can also give a recruiting edge; when it comes time to recruit in the future, you have expanded your pool of potential candidates.
Babatunde Oloyede, PhD, MLS(ASCP)CM
Lead Medical Laboratory Specialist
U.S. Public Health Services/Federal Medical Center, Durham, NC
Past Chair, ASCP Council of Laboratory Professionals
I wanted to give back to the profession I love so much, since I benefited from a mentoring program. It is refreshing to help others with what you already know. Also, mentoring will help our profession to increase in number and it increases the interest of young professionals in the field.
Qualities of a great mentor include: 1) the ability to recognize what is needed to encourage a mentee; 2) being visionary; 3) having patience and the ability to be accommodating; 4) having a well-rounded knowledge of the field; and 6) being able to share stories of both success and failure.
A successful mentorship relationship needs to be defined and understood at the onset by both parties. There needs to be honesty, integrity, passion, and faithfulness to make this relationship work.
Stephanie Whitehead, MBA, MPH, MLS(ASCP)
Executive Director of Pathology & Laboratory Services
University Health in San Antonio, Texas
Chair-Elect, ASCP Council of Laboratory Professionals
The ASCP Mentorship Program is an amazing way to get laboratory professionals who are seeking guidance in their professional lives with colleagues in field that have insights to offer them. For a mentor, it’s an opportunity to share your thoughts about your career journey and assist others with their journey. For the mentee, the program offers an opportunity to work with a neutral person on establishing career goals, explore the reality of being in the laboratory medicine field, and assist with generating options for progression in your career.
I once mentored a college student who had no idea what they wanted to do with their career. I educated this mentee on the wide career options in the laboratory medicine field, and they opted to go to cytology school. In that instance, I felt accomplished in giving visibility to the profession and helping the mentee realize career options they were not aware of. It has also helped me further develop my own skills such as communication, active listening, empathy, networking and relationship building.
The process of mentoring others has forced me to reflect more deeply on my own goals and practices, attributes and strengths. It also helps you be a better leader.
Learn more about the ASCP Mentorship Program
here.
