Mentorship: Sharing the Knowledge, Supporting Each Other

Almost every case manager I talk with can point to at least one person who helped them along their professional development journey, and many have, in turn, developed others through mentorship.

Successful mentoring relationships are marked by mutual respect, clear expectations, personal connection, and shared values. In most cases, both mentor and mentee gain from the relationship, and many mentorships translate into lifelong friendships.

Our mentors support us and motivate us, even and especially when the going gets tough. But what if we could find a way to bottle up some of that important advice and those encouraging words and share it to help others? We can!

We recently sponsored a contest on allnurses.com to see what words matter most. What do we say to help build each other up? To keep each other going? To develop each other? The response was incredible – we received more than 150 submissions within a little over a week! And, as expected, the entries were both insightful and heartfelt.

Vivian Campagna, MSN, RN-BC, CCM, our chief industry relations officer, recently published a blog with a selection of quotes that represented the most prevalent sentiments expressed by case managers: overcoming adversity, making a difference, reaching for your goals, being kind to yourself and remembering your “why.” If you are looking for a dose of inspiration, you’ll find it here. As you’ll see, the members of the contest judging committee had their work cut out for them in selecting just one winner for each of the questions we asked!

I’m delighted to announce the contest winners and share the inspiring words they shared with us.

Question 1: What quotes do you use to motivate colleagues?

Our winner was Agnes Antony from Omaha, Nebraska who said,” If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, become more and do more – you are a leader.”

Question 2: What were some words of wisdom or advice you’ve received from a mentor that most influenced you?

Our winner was Heidi Hamm from Ellenton, Florida who said, “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.”

On behalf of the Commission, I’d like to thank all who participated in the contest. We’ll be sure to share as many of them as possible on our social media platforms and across our educational programs. You might also see some of them make an appearance at our upcoming New World Symposium, March 12-14 in Aurora, Colorado!

Also, please remember that the Commission has a host of resources to develop the next generation of qualified, knowledgeable case managers through mentoring. Materials like this CCMC issue brief are available for both mentors and mentees on our website and through the CMLearning Network.  Enjoy and happy mentoring!