A series celebrating nurse leaders who go above and beyond.
Earlier in his career, K. David Bailey, PhD, RN, MBA, CCRN-K, NEA-BAC, FACHE, chief nursing officer at UCLA Health-Santa Monica Medical Centers, didn't recognize the advantages and benefits a mentor could provide.
But as he's sought and received guidance, particularly in the last decade, Bailey has become a champion of mentorship. Not only does he have several mentors, but he mentors multiple nurses and healthcare employees, as well.
Bailey spoke to HealthLeaders about how mentorships can provide benefits all around.
This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
HealthLeaders: How was one of your best mentors so effective?
David Bailey: I have several mentors for different specialties that I'm involved with, but the one that stands out to me the most is the one I gained after going through to a conference that is called the CNO Academy. My relationship with that mentor started in 2015 and continues to this day. She can help me walk through situations. Especially when I was a novice chief nurse, she really helped me think differently and more broadly. And then if I hit a roadblock, she could help me think about it differently and from different people's vantage points, which was huge for me. It helped open my thinking from multiple levels—strategic planning, operational management—that helped me to be a better and broader leader.
HL: What are the benefits of mentorship, generally, both for the mentor and the mentee?
Bailey: It really is a dual benefit. For the mentee, the benefit is having that safe space for anything to be discussed. There's no sacred cows that can't be discussed there.
For the mentor, you can use the wisdom that you have earned and learned across your career, and you can provide (mentees) them insights without telling them the way they need to do it. You just provide space for them to learn so they can bounce ideas off you.
What I do is ask questions to help them to move toward the answer they need and help them think through that. On the flip side of that, it keeps me engaged and energized to make sure that I stay on top of my game to be able to support them to help them grow.
HL: What can mentorship do for underrepresented groups in healthcare, such as women or people of color?
Bailey: It's the exact same thing. We all need it regardless of the differences that we each are, and that we have. Everyone should receive mentorship.
For one of my leaders' developmental process, we sent her to a program external to the organization, and she came back to me [afterward] and said, "There were people at the conference for the first time that looked like me." And I had to take a deep breath because I would have never thought like that.
She also said, "And they added a faculty member there who looks like me." Well, I happened to see those faculty members [recently] at the American Organization of Nursing Leadership conference and I told everyone of them that story and I said, "You've made a difference for one and I'm sure you've made a difference for many because now there's a different connection there because there is someone who looks like them."
I consider myself having a diverse leadership group, but when I'm helping them be developed and sending them to things, this made me more conscious and aware to make sure I'm finding the right environment for them to learn it.
HL: What are some attributes that it takes to be a good mentor?
Bailey: You have some basics, and to me these are like Maslow's hierarchy of needs—if you don't make the foundation, it's not going to work. You have to have trust and you have to be able to have open and honest communication, whether things are going well, or especially if they're not.
You have to listen; you just can't do all the talking. You have to listen and see where the person is coming from so you can help redirect and reinforce whatever angle it's coming from.
The other thing is presence. There's some emerging literature coming out about the importance of nursing leadership presence, which is more recognized since the pandemic. But having presence demonstrates that you are walking the talk and that you really are following through—that you're just not giving advice and not following it. It really illustrates to your mentee and to others that you're authentic and that you are supporting them but you're also living by what you're talking about.
HL: How long should an effective mentorship last?
Bailey: It can last as short you need it to or as long as you want it to. Some mentors will be transient for individuals, whereas others will be very long term. As an example, I was asked to write an article for a journal and I had never done that, so I reached out internally to a school of nursing faculty member for help and a few months later it was published. That was a transient situation because I didn't know where I was going, and she helped with that situation.
Then there's the people from the CNO Academy faculty that I mentioned earlier, who continue to be in my life today. I know at any moment, I can pick a phone up, text, email, and I’m going to get a response really quickly, regardless of the subject, and to me, those are lifelong [mentors]. That has been such a professional gift. My goal is that I am that to others.
HL: What have you gained from being a mentor?
Bailey: Being comfortable knowing that an individual is going to grow may not always stay with you. I've never been of the belief that everybody that's ever worked for me has to stay with me forever. I want them to grow and to prosper and I'm willing to help them do that.
It's literally an investment of your time and your resources in that person, and you hope that will pay off for the organization, but the broader thing is that it pays off for the nursing profession. That's really the broadest gift that we can give someone by being a mentor.
See the other nurse leaders featured this week:
“[Being mentored] helped open my thinking from multiple levels—strategic planning, operational management—that helped me to be a better and broader leader.”
— K. David Bailey, PhD, RN, MBA, CCRN-K, NEA-BAC, FACHE, chief nursing officer, UCLA Health-Santa Monica Medical Centers
Carol Davis is the Nursing Editor at HealthLeaders, an HCPro brand.