Helping each other develop

A question often posed to me is ‘do I have time to mentor or be a critical friend to another professional colleague?’ My answer is always the same, ‘busy people find time’.

I’ve been passionate about the role of mentoring for 20+ years and have no doubt that my career from a young age has been significantly advanced due to the help and guidance of mentors.

I was delighted to assist the CSP as I feel every physio should want to help other physios develop to be the best person they can be and be able to seek critical advice on either clinical or interpersonal skill development.

The key role when accepting a mentee is to understand what they are looking for and if you have the right skill set to guide that decision making process. For example if a MSK specialist wants to improve their knowledge on shoulder management

I wouldn’t be the right mentor, however if they’re wanting to improve their management/leadership style and gain a greater understanding on how they see the world differently to others, I would be able to assist in this matter.

A mentor is not just a clinical guider but more importantly someone who will help develop and assist others to gain a greater understanding of the way they think.

I believe we are taught very badly to treat other people how we would like to be treated when we should actually invest time and have the curiosity and humility to realise that others think differently to us and would prefer to be treated their way not our way.

The area I help most other physiotherapists with is dealing with conflict and the leadership of others. It usually starts with them understanding that conflict can be healthy and is often an opportunity to learn another point of view and if collaborated correctly, will often lead to growth in both parties.

It’s never a case of telling them what to do or what not to do, but just going over what may happen if they do act on their thoughts and what might be the consequences. 

Grant Downie runs his own company specialising in medical and performance solutions to high performing organisations