REACHING OUT - Mentoring - London Deanery

Coaching at King’s – Tj Lasoye
The way it was
King’s used to have a list of older consultants who felt they
could offer support and advice to those in the early years of their
consultant career. This arrangement was advertised to newly
appointed consultants but no more than half a dozen took up the
offer at any one time. I remember hearing about it during my own
induction and immediately dismissing it as ‘not for me’. I thought it
would be a sign of weakness to take up such an offer!
Discovering coaching and mentoring
It was not until I attended a leadership development programme
that I became aware of what coaching and mentoring was really
about. My interest in the subject drove me to undertake a Trustbased
coaching development programme and the Deanery training
which led to my enrolment as a Deanery coach/mentor. I quickly
realised how useful coaching and mentoring could be in helping
people improve their performance and enhance their self-belief. I
became convinced that everyone could benefit from it. The case
for developing a local scheme to which all our colleagues would
have access wasn’t difficult to make. The Trust Executive did not
need any persuasion to give their approval and support for the
proposed scheme.
What we did
In the spring of 2010, we announced our intention to develop a
quality assured mentoring scheme for the Trust. We modelled
our programme on the well-established London Deanery service.
Everyone who expressed interest in becoming a mentor undertook
a three-day training programme delivered by a professional
firm. Once we received confirmation of successful completion,
individuals were added to our database of trained mentors. We
set up a matching process, each mentor being asked to produce
a brief resume to aid mentees in their choice of mentors. Our
postgraduate education centre staff manage that process.
Where we are now
Feedback from mentees has been extremely positive. They say
they find coaching and mentoring most useful in helping them
develop their leadership and management skills. Mentors report
that these skills have helped them to be more effective in their
educational supervision roles. Both mentors and mentees are
reporting enhanced morale and performance in general. The
potential benefit to the Trust with regards to improved productivity
of a highly motivated workforce in the current financial climate is
clear.
Sustainability
Our initial investment of less than £10,000 to cover training fees
and other start-off costs has already started yielding dividends
as described above. This investment also covers quarterly halfday
workshops for mentors and advanced training for our ‘super
mentors’ who will be training their colleagues in the future. We
are encouraging trainees to become mentors; we believe this will
further embed coaching and mentoring, and its potential benefits
within the culture of the organisation.
Coaching for new consultants –
Quen Mok
Stressful start
I found starting as a new consultant in a new hospital very
challenging. Having to find my way around the maze of corridors,
and trying to get to know the key people was a stressful and
daunting prospect. Hence after a few years of being a consultant,
I was keen to join the Trust mentoring scheme for new consultants
which was being started up and supported by the Medical
Director. This seemed a superb idea. Senior staff from the different
health professions and senior managers were encouraged to
attend the one-day training programme. We were then paired
with new consultants joining the Trust. However there were no
guidelines for the mentors, and there was no assessment, ongoing
supervision or training updates for the mentors. We were mainly
acting as “buddies” to help someone find their feet and settle in
more quickly.
A different approach
I attended the London Deanery three day basic coaching skills
course soon after it was launched. I soon realised that the ethos
being taught here was entirely different. It was much more about
aiding personal development by supporting and challenging,
focusing on change and action, and using reflective questioning
and problem-solving techniques to help mentees find their
own solutions and to realise their potential. The training was
structured and intensive. We were assessed and accredited before
being entrusted with mentees. We were required to develop
by attending regular update courses and supervision sessions
where difficult issues could be shared. This provided support
and encouragement, refreshment and reassurance, as well as
networking among colleagues. I encouraged our Trust mentor
lead to attend the Deanery training. Subsequently the London
Deanery was asked to provide a taster day for the mentors in the
Trust. I hope this will lead to better coaching and mentoring being
embedded in our Trust, and to new consultants being given the
support they need to meet those initial challenges.
Coaching and team dynamics – Elisa
Bertoja
I joined the London Deanery mentoring training a few years ago
because I wanted to support my trainees in making the best
decisions for their careers. While I was training to become a
mentor, I also became a mentee in order to fully appreciate what
I was getting myself into. It was a ground breaking experience! I
felt I was given the opportunity to learn how to help people to help
themselves. After I finished my first two Deanery courses everything
started to happen as a gentle but neat cascade: first few mentees,
immediate satisfaction after the sessions, followed by positive
feedback and new challenges. It was a quite natural step to try to
apply the mentoring skills outside the mentoring sessions.
As an anaesthetist I work in acute settings and the environment
can be extraordinarily stressful. In these situations communication
between team members is paramount to maintain safety and
efficacy. In studies on untoward incidents it is frequently mentioned
how junior or less educated members of teams do not feel
empowered to speak their opinion and yet are often aware of the
mistake that is about to happen. I realised there was room to use
mentoring skills in order to improve the team dynamics. It is still
early days, but I have already detected an improvement in the
morale of the team members and communication is more fluid.
I am receiving positive feedback from medical colleagues and
ancillary staff. Training and working as a mentor has changed my
approach to peoples’ achievement and failure.
Developing a local coaching faculty
– Jane Hawdon
Having identified at my Trust that there were six trained and active
Deanery coach/mentors and a number of other staff trained in
coaching, I convened an internal coaching faculty. The principles
and process for applications and matching follow the Deanery
model. The Trust is sufficiently large for coach/mentors and
mentees to be from different specialty areas and different staff
groups. This maintains objectivity and a degree of confidentiality.
The faculty meet regularly for CPD sessions and supervision.
The scheme has been popular and has received good feedback.
Next steps are to encourage more staff members to train and
join the faculty and by “osmosis” engender a coaching culture
in the organisation. This is entirely consistent with other Trust
programmes such as After Action review, a form of debrief
whereby questions are asked to elicit learning and change rather
than apportion blame.
18 London Deanery Coaching and Mentoring Service
London Deanery Coaching and Mentoring Service 19