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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

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