MEDEV

School of Medical Sciences Education Development

Introduction

Mentoring is a process to help people achieve what they need to achieve in their lives by use of a mentor and structured mentoring programme. Aims need to be established and the role of the mentor is to guide the mentee through the reflective process until they can develop solutions themselves.This article gives an example of a structured mentoring programme which describes the various stages that may be utilised in the mentee/mentor interaction and relationship.

The length and content of any coachmentoring relationship can vary considerably. It is defined by an agreement between the person being mentored and the coach-mentor, and will be influenced by the needs of the mentee, the time and resources of both parties, its aims and the content in which it takes place.

Within dentistry, the opportunities to develop a good and productive mentoring relationship may occur in a number of situations. For example; The new graduate in the first two years of their career may need help in deciding a career pathway and a mentor may be the ideal helper.

Also, the newly appointed consultant who faced with different working patterns and new levels of bureaucracy and internal politics may benefit for the support and help of a mentor to allow them to share their concerns and develop confidence in a confidential manner.

Dentists facing threat of action from PCTs, the GDC or their own PASS Committee may want to discuss their problems with a mentor and though the mechanism of mentoring and the opportunity to reflect, colleagues may be able to work their future action plan.

Although every relationship will be different and tailored to individual needs, this is a new development process that usually incorporates stages as detailed below:

• Initial meeting to clarify purpose and process.
• Preparing for the end at the beginning.
• Starting to build the relationship.
• Following through the Coach- Mentor Relationship.
• Identifying where the mentee is now and where he/she would like to be.
• Clarifying the possibilities and options for progress, deciding and planning a course of action.
• Following through that plan.
• Reviewing Progress.
• At the end of each session.
• At designated points within the period of the relationship.
• At the end of each relationship.

Initiating the relationship

The main aim of the initial meeting is to clarify what the mentee is hoping to achieve and to assess whether coach-mentoring is the best way to address this. Recognition of a problem may be difficult to identify, as the underlying real issues may need discussion and thought to identify them.

However, not all situations are suitable for mentoring and there may be the situation where referral to a trained colleague for counselling or even psychiatric help may be the most appropriate course of action.

However long the programme, it is important to have an end in sight right from the start of the relationship. This is a way of creating greater focus and encouragement for the mentee to achieve the goals or objectives he/she needs to within a particular time frame. It is also a way of reducing the risk of a dependency mind set, as the relationship is created in the knowledge that it is of a temporary nature.

Each session must also be time limited and started as such so as to maximise use of time and focus thinking.

Staring to build the relationship

It is important to remember that any coach-mentoring relationship will stand or fall on the quality of the relationship between the individuals involved. Mutual respect and acceptance, honesty, reliability, openness and trust are essential.

A mentoring relationship can not be developed if the mentor is in anyway involved with the mentees’ professional assessment, line management or day to day supervision.

The mentee will need absolute trust in the mentor for the successful outcome to become achievable.

As a mentee, although we maintain responsibility for ourselves and our decisions, we come to the coachmentoring environment expecting a safe place in which to;

• Self assess ( i.e. examine our mistakes as well as our successes)
• Take risks by saying what we really think and feel
• Experiment with ideas about what we could do

That places the coach-mentor in a position of power. The implication of this is a requirement for the coachmentor to act in a professional manner, not abuse his/her power and to act within the area of competence.

Following through the relationship

If the coach-mentoring sessions are being used to support the development of an individual, then we need detailed information about what the mentee has done so far as a baseline for future developments.

The contact and depth of what should be explored will depend on the focus of the coach-mentoring relationship, the degree of comfort of the mentee and coach-mentor, and their available time.

In sample form the model may be in terms of organisational change:

• Where am I now?
• Where do I want to be?
• How can I achieve that?
• What has to change to make that happen?

In a Dentist in Difficulty scenario, a similar model may be:

• What is/was the problem?
• How did it originate?
• Looking back, what could I have done differently?
• How could I deal with this now and in the future?

As a general rule, a broader understanding of the interface of different experiences and an exploration of the characteristics, impact and significance placed on these by the mentee are valuable for a number of reasons:

• People often have insufficient time to reflect on the range and depth of their achievements and they often forget the personal qualities they have drawn on and the skills they have applied.
• Rediscovering these helps the mentee realise the resources they have to draw on, as well as improving their self-esteem and efficacy, which in turn can enhance performance.
• The mentee may also get in touch with things he/she has really enjoyed or gained satisfaction from doing.
• By considering actions over a period of time, patterns may emerge, both positive and negative, identifying consequences to built on and directions to avoid.

If the coach-mentoring programme is specifically related to helping the mentee respond to organisational change or to learn or develop a specific skill, the gathering of information on past and current experiences and skills will be less general and instead will be orientated towards the target change or skill.

Clarifying the options for progress, planning - a course of action

At this stage the mentee gets support to consider options and to work out a plan of action. Within this process, they will draw on options that have been generated through the previous stages and consider how others can be developed.

For specific skills training, these options may be clearly defined. Where the mentee has broad developmental needs or complex issues, options may not be immediately obvious and further approaches may be needed to generate them, for example, through meeting, shadowing and talking to other people, or by using more creative techniques.

Where the coach-mentoring programme relates to a particular organisational issue or to a specific skill development there may be externally required targets that will influence which options are selected and prioritised.

Once options have been selected, they need to be drawn together in the form of a development plan, this should have a section for each goal, which described the target goal in simple but SMART terms (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time based), and the steps in terms of action and activities needed to achieve it.

Following through the plan

The title of this part of the process sounds simple, but it is here where the mainstay of the coach-mentoring process occurs, that is to say the coach-mentor supports the mentee to work on and achieve his/her goals over a number of sessions.

The personal development plan (PDP) is the important summary of the mentoring process in terms of outcomes.

If possible specific targets with specific dates for completion should be observed and also an agreed time to review the PDP.

In many cases the mentor can help guide mentees into being reflective and analyse themselves and their actions. This helps mentees clarify their thoughts and become clearer on achieving their goals.

However, each stage of the process will need to be completed before moving on and some mentees may require more sessions that others.

Overall, mentoring has proved successful in personal and professional development of dentists of all ages and experience.

For further details on coachmentoring you may wish to read Coaching and Mentoring in Health and Social Care published by Radcliffe. 

Also recommended;

The Skills Helper seventh edition by Gerard Egan published by Thomson Learning, Brooks/Cole