Mentoring in the workplace is a relationship in which a more experienced colleague (mentor) uses their knowledge and understanding of the work environment to support the development of a less experienced colleague (mentee).  It is a learning relationship between two people which requires trust, commitment and emotional engagement.  It involves listening, questioning, challenging and support.

The BSSH mentoring programme was successfully launched in 2021 and to date has trained 39 mentors and supported 34 mentees. The programme aims to support early years consultants or future hand surgeons as they transition from training into consultant practice. The BSSH mentorship programme is run by the Education and Training committee. Working with the secretariat to oversee recruitment of mentors and mentees, match mentor/mentee pairs, liase with our excellent mentoring tutors Louise Wembridge and Julie Hickton (Lousie Wembridge Consulting) to arrange mentor training and refresher workshops and acts on feedback from previous mentees and mentors to develop and improve the programme.

The programme is administrated by Sabrina Nabi, BSSH secretariat, they are the liason between mentors and mentees and point of contact. Once an application form is recieved, they will send this to the mentorship lead and committee lead. 

If you are a consultant hand surgeon in the first 5 years of practice, a specialty trainee in orthopaedic or plastic surgery coming to the end of specialty training planning a fellowship in hand surgery or a SAS doctor hoping to sub-specialise in hand surgery we would encourage you to apply to  join the mentorship programme. Please follow the link to apply.

Link to mentee application

If you have any queries please email the BSSH secretariat secretariat@bssh.ac.uk

If you have been a consultant hand surgeon for more than 10 years you may be interested in becoming a BSSH mentor and supporting the next generation of hand surgeons. Bespoke mentor training and refresher skills workshops have been created by Louise Wembridge of Louise Wembridge Consulting Ltd. The mentorship training is a provided as a full-day virtual course by Louise and her colleague Julie Hicks.  Pre-course materials are provided prior to an interactive day in which mentors are given an overview of mentoring in addition to the opportunity to develop their mentoring skills. Half day virtual refresher courses are provided for trained mentors on a bi-annual basis as an opportunity to feedback and further develop mentoring skills.. As detailed below the feedback from the mentor training is excellent. Feedback has also highlighted the benefits seen by consultants who have been involved in the mentoring programme.

Email secretariat@bssh.ac.uk to find out more about becoming a mentor.

As a mentee, the partnership with your mentor is driven by you. We will provide you with the support and tools you need to help manage this mentor partnership. Below we have a few topics that could be helpful as a starter for discussion with your mentor. 

Types of things you may want to discuss:

• The mentoring process is driven by the mentee, it is your opportunity to discuss any topics which may be relevant to your individual role, career pathway or needs. To get the most from the experience it is worthwhile considering your goals prior to starting along the mentoring pathway.
• Previous topics which have been discussed include:
• Applying for fellowships, consultants posts
• The hand diploma
• Starting as a consultant in the NHS
• Managing complex clinical problems
• Developing a new service
• Non-technical skills, avoiding burnout, managing professional relationships
• Work life balance, career trajectory, personal milestones, imposter syndrome, dealing with colleagues
• Establishing private practice
• Specialising in hand surgery, the CESR route
   

The initial training was to support early career Consultants and Senior Trainees transitioning to consultancy, for whom there is little provision of support. In subsequent years, Workshops have been run for additional Consultants wanting to develop their mentoring skills, along with half day follow up Workshops

Louise Wembridge Consulting Ltd has worked with the mentoring prgramme by creating bespoke mentor training and skills workshops that are run annually, these have been both in person and virtual. Our external mentoring adviser Louise Wembridge has kindly offered to write a mentee handbook to be distributed to the mentees in advance of the pairing to give those involved an idea of what to expect. 

Feedback from previous mentors following training:

• An inspiring day
• It’s taught me a lot of valuable skills I wish I’d know sooner.
• Excellent training given which made me feel prepared to assist as a Mentor and a good matching scheme which allowed for people to select without pressure
• Engaging, clear, supportive and encouraging Tutors.
• Very good training package
   

Feedback from mentors, what did you like most about the programme:

• Give back to the hand surgery community and share the experiences I had, both good and bad.
• The opportunity to support a young hand surgeon
• Being able to give back to the profession. Seeing my mentee gain in confidence over the year.
• Very positive and rewarding
• Meeting inspiring surgeons at the beginning of their consultant career
   

Feedback from mentees, what did you like about the programme:

• A very useful programme which centred on my specific needs without becoming a tick box exercise.
• Having access to someone who understands the challenges as a new consultant
• Second opinion, reassurance from another more senior colleague in different setup but experiencing similar issues/learning