Hi
I work in a large (2400 employee) Health provider. Many of our health profesionals (nurses, psychologists, social workers, OTs etc) have requirements for "supervision" which is really a combination of mentoring and coaching, delivered by senior profesionals. This works very well, largely for a couple of reasons -
1- the majority of those providing the mentoring have had some training or formal introduction to their role so have base skills and awareness of the process. (many have been providing supervision for years and are very good at it). Being able to, and actually providing, supervision to colleagues, is seen as part of good practice for professionals and recognition of their own ability.
2- the majority of those being supervised had, as part of their core professional training, some sort of brief introduction to the supervision process, so they are clear about their role and responsibilities. This helps with a common language between the two participants in the session.
3- a contract is signed up between supervisor/supervisee (or mentor and mentee) so there is clear agrement on the roles, boundaries, language and expectations prior to supervision commencing.
4- supervision it self is seen as a core component of "reflective practice" and supported by employees as critical to their ongoing professional and personal development. It is not seen as a sign of weakness that they are being mentored, rather a positive sign that they are continually seeking to develop themselves.
We have recently introduced a mentoring structure for participants of our corporate leadership development programme (8 structured training sessions on leadership/management subject over a year). Participants (identified leaders in need of development and also selected High Potentials) are also assigned an executive level mentor. Mentors are taken through the Corporate Coach U "Coaching Conversation" training to develop skills and process to have structured coaching sessions. This sees each participant developing solutions rather than being given answers. This (ideally) ensures the mentoring sessions are productive with durable outcomes.
Core to success of mentoring is having structure for the session and skills of the mentor contributing to positive outcomes. Otherwise you may be relying on luck in being assigned a mentor who instinctively knows what they are doing.
Cheers
Pete
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