REACHING OUT - Mentoring - London Deanery
REACHING OUT - Mentoring - London Deanery
REACHING OUT - Mentoring - London Deanery
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Transforming impact<br />
Training as a mentor was life changing.<br />
It changed the way I relate to patients,<br />
colleagues, friends, and family, and gave<br />
me a powerful set of skills, to help others<br />
reach their full potential and develop<br />
their own effective ways of managing<br />
problems. Having a skilled mentor was<br />
also transforming, enabling me to see my<br />
previously unchallenged assumptions and<br />
remove barriers, which mean I can now strive<br />
for heights I had not previously considered<br />
possible. These benefits have transferred<br />
into different areas of my life. Two years later,<br />
I cannot imagine working as a clinician, or<br />
educator without these skills, which have<br />
increasingly become embedded into my<br />
everyday work and life.<br />
Connie Smith<br />
Masterclasses in Myers Briggs personality<br />
type, coaching for health, mindfulness,<br />
transactional analysis, and neurolinguistics all<br />
in different ways emphasised the importance<br />
of asking open questions and listening to<br />
the answers.<br />
Geoff Norris<br />
CPD for <strong>London</strong> <strong>Deanery</strong> coach/<br />
mentors – Sue Morrison<br />
Commitment to quality<br />
The <strong>London</strong> <strong>Deanery</strong> has required CPD for its coach/mentors from<br />
the beginning. Regular professional development opportunities<br />
have been provided with ample opportunity for interactive learning<br />
and feedback. Coach/mentors have been encouraged to direct<br />
their own learning, starting by identifying key development needs<br />
within broad coaching and mentoring categories such as models,<br />
tools, context, aspects of process and attitudes to practice.<br />
Feedback<br />
Client feedback can be a rich source of learning and coach/<br />
mentors are encouraged to ask for this at the end of each session.<br />
The <strong>Deanery</strong> also encourages clients to submit detailed written<br />
feedback with complete confidentiality and a no-blame approach.<br />
Fortunately, most clients are only too happy to share their<br />
(invariably positive) feedback with their coach/mentor.<br />
Educational events<br />
The <strong>Deanery</strong> has held events, ranging from half-day to four-day,<br />
on topics like Emotional Intelligence, The Egan Skilled Helper, and<br />
Coaching for Health. Coach/mentors have been sponsored to<br />
work for the Institute for Leadership and Management certificate<br />
and diploma in Executive Coaching and Leadership <strong>Mentoring</strong>.<br />
Those who have been preparing for these qualifications have kept<br />
detailed portfolios of their work, comprising a log of CPD activities<br />
(conferences, workshops, reading, peer discussion for example)<br />
and of individual client sessions, reflecting on the learning and<br />
noting how this has become incorporated into their practice. This<br />
is a useful framework, even for those not involved in study for a<br />
qualification and has increasingly been promoted during CPD<br />
workshops and supervision.<br />
Supervision<br />
Supervision of practice is another requirement. <strong>Deanery</strong><br />
coach/mentors must attend a minimum of two out of four<br />
group supervision evenings a year. <strong>Deanery</strong> supervisors have<br />
incorporated coaching principles into their supervisory practice,<br />
focusing on the coach/mentor rather than the mentee. The<br />
supervisor steers the coach to reflect on patterns in their practice<br />
and different models and styles, but the coach remains in control<br />
of their own learning. The supervisor may spot vulnerable areas in<br />
the coach’s attitudes and professional behaviours and help them<br />
avoid responding to mentee’s issues out of their own needs.<br />
Quality standards<br />
Given the importance of this supervisory relationship, and in line<br />
with its aim to be a learning organisation, the <strong>London</strong> <strong>Deanery</strong> has<br />
invested in higher professional training for its supervisors. Our next<br />
task is to develop quality standards for coach/mentors, trainers<br />
and supervisors and use these as the basis for appraisal and<br />
quality assurance.<br />
A liberating philosophy<br />
I went on a <strong>London</strong> <strong>Deanery</strong> coaching and<br />
mentoring course a year ago as I thought it<br />
would enhance my skills as a GP appraiser. I<br />
did not think that attending this course would<br />
change my practice as a GP, assist me as a<br />
new trainer with a difficult trainee and help<br />
me in my personal life. I found the philosophy<br />
liberating as an appraiser, letting individuals<br />
choose their own goals without being told<br />
what to do. It has added a much more<br />
optimistic feel to my appraisals.<br />
Farzan Hussain<br />
Deliberate practice – Elisabeth Paice<br />
Most professionals reach a stable, average<br />
level of performance within a relatively short<br />
time frame and maintain this mediocre status<br />
for the rest of their careers.<br />
Ericsson, Academic Medicine, 2004<br />
We know it takes at least 10,000 hours to make an expert, but<br />
plenty of people with decades of experience never reach expert<br />
level. Ericsson’s studies on expert chess players, musicians,<br />
tennis players and doctors show that outstanding performers all<br />
adopt the same approach which he calls deliberate practice. They<br />
seek to discover their weaknesses and take steps to address<br />
them. They self-monitor and are hard on themselves. They seek<br />
out external feedback. They construct ways of working on their<br />
weaknesses through repetitive practice. They look for training<br />
opportunities that stretch them. They compare their performance<br />
with that of other experts in their field, and use that comparison to<br />
drive further efforts.<br />
As coach/mentors, how can we make sure our practice is keeping<br />
true to the principles we were taught and that we keep on growing<br />
and improving? What are our own individual weaknesses? Do we<br />
get lazy? Do we always remember the clients’ resourcefulness? Do<br />
we make sure we stick to the client’s agenda? Are we occasionally<br />
tempted into advice-in-disguise?<br />
Here are my own plans for deliberate practice as a coach/mentor<br />
in the year ahead:<br />
1. Spotting weaknesses – seek client feedback<br />
at the end of every session; record every<br />
session (if clients agree) and write reflective<br />
notes, sharing some of these with<br />
a supervisor.<br />
2. Practising skills – at the start of each session,<br />
plan what skills I will work on, and afterwards<br />
reflect on how it went, for me and for the<br />
client.<br />
3. Going on courses – plan regular CPD<br />
activities and make a note of what I am going<br />
to do differently after each one.<br />
4. Reading – engage in action-oriented reading<br />
– how will what I read influence how I coach?<br />
5. Motivation – benchmark my performance<br />
with peers; work with an inspiring and<br />
rigorous supervisor.<br />
30 <strong>London</strong> <strong>Deanery</strong> Coaching and <strong>Mentoring</strong> Service<br />
<strong>London</strong> <strong>Deanery</strong> Coaching and <strong>Mentoring</strong> Service 31