Mentoring in the South West

Back in September 2019 we set out to design the NHS South West Leadership Academy European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) Global accredited Mentoring Programme. After months of working with colleagues in the South East and the EMCC we secured the EMCC Global European Quality Award (EQA) for our Bespoke Practitioner Mentor Training Programme and celebrated the successful completion of the first cohort.

The strategic intention of this programme is to support the development of outstanding healthcare leadership by providing an opportunity for current mentors to enhance their mentoring practice and to be benchmarked against global mentoring standards.

The EQA offers a framework to enable the quality of mentoring services to meet, and be recognised for meeting, high quality standards of the profession. Alongside the EQA, participants can receive their EMCC Global European Individual Accreditation (EIA).

Since then, our programme has been offered in the South West, the South East and also London and most recently we have been working with our colleagues in Primary Care to develop Mentors to support New to Practice GP Fellows. I’m so pleased that we have been able to support and feel encouraged that many of the training hubs across the region are continuing to identify Mentors and provide them with the opportunity to professionalise their practice.

As part of this programme, we have developed a Mentoring Booklet which contains further insights into how mentoring has had a positive impact in the leadership journey of those who have taken part. We hope the booklet provides some insight for both Mentors and Mentees about the experiences they have had, and perhaps may encourage you to look at Mentoring to support some of your own development needs.

We wanted to take this opportunity to share some stories from Mentors who have completed the programme and Mentees who have benefited from Mentoring support. In addition, following the recent Primary Care cohorts we have taken the opportunity to hear a little from them about their experiences.

Eleanor Wallace (pronouns: she/her), GMTS Leadership Development Senior Manager, NHS South West Leadership Academy, NHS England.

“My journey into mentoring was not planned. It started when I was a trainee on the NHS Graduate Management Training Scheme and I discovered the joy of being able to help others through challenges, whether at work, study or in their personal life. But I never called it ‘Mentoring’. At the time, I had quite a narrow view of what a Mentor looked like – someone more experienced, senior or just wiser in some way. And I certainly didn’t feel like any of those things!

I would not have thought about doing a Mentoring course, had it not been for a colleague who suggested the EQA Mentoring Programme. I started the programme thinking I would only be able to reach the foundation level, because I hadn’t done much (any) formal Mentoring. But the programme taught me that the definition of mentoring is so much wider than I had imagined. A Mentor is someone who helps you to learn, grow and develop and how they do that can take any number of forms. It can be asking powerful, incisive questions that challenge your fundamental assumptions. Or it can be small, practical suggestions of how you can progress a piece of work.

In the end, I was able to complete the programme to Practitioner level and now have several Mentoring relationships through the South West Leadership Academy Mentoring Hub. I’ve been able to use the tools and techniques I learnt on the programme to support people to progress their career, share access to resources or just help someone make sense of what is going on for them. But it’s not selfless – I’ve learnt a huge amount about my own perceptions, attitudes and behaviours in the process that have helped me grow and develop. For me, Mentoring is about mutual growth through connection and is something everyone can benefit from!”

Robert Pais, Performance Manager, NHS England

“Though I had often heard about the benefits of Mentoring, I was fortunate to stumble into it by accident. I met my Mentor at a presentation event months before she joined the NHS Leadership Academy; at the time we were both very driven and career focussed. She kindly offered to help me with preparation for an interview I had planned, and things developed from there.

It was only sometime later when my Mentor was working on the EQA Mentoring Programme, that I became a formal Mentee. What worked really well was the clear expectations we set at the start of the process. By agreeing on short and long-term goals, Mentoring approach (i.e. coaching, reflecting, solution finding etc), and level of commitment (i.e. time, frequency, preparatory work) we ensured that out meetings were productive. A key element of this was ensuring that meetings were beneficial to both parties, flexibly adding or postponing as appropriate.

My Mentor was kind, empathetic, and a good listener and provided encouragement in a practical way. Despite being in a busy role she was “always there” and made time for me even at short notice. In this way, Mentoring provided me with a role model for the compassionate type of leader that I wanted to be. It also fostered a much clearer focus on personal development in the context of equality, diversity, and inclusion. Though my developmental journey has not always been easy, this process has helped me develop the confidence in my abilities and the determination to strive harder to achieve my goals. In the future I too hope to mentor, so that I too can help people grow and achieve their full potential.”

Dr Alison Nankervis, GP Partner and GP Mentor in Cornwall, kindly shared with us:

“Reflecting on the first 18 months since embarking on the EQA Mentor Programme, the additional skills and tools acquired have had a marked impact on my confidence as a Mentor which has also fed in and supported other roles as a partner, trainer and appraiser. The course itself was well structured and well presented with great opportunities for peer support and discussion. Although initially sceptical about the time commitment of the course and assessment paper, I feel it has been time well spent.“

Lara Barratt, Programme Manager, Cornwall Primary Care Training Hub said:

“The EQA Mentoring Programme has provided the foundations for a quality driven GP Mentoring Programme in Cornwall, with our GP Mentors utilising their skills and experience to provide valuable support to our newly qualified GP colleagues. We have really appreciated the support of the team at SWLA to be able to deliver the course and help us to continue to expand our programme.”