MENTOR RELATIONSHIPS
WHAT IS A MENTOR RELATIONSHIP?
A practical guide to the mentoring relationship.
By Bree Montana, DVM, VIN Foundation Vets4Vets® Program Leader
As you embark on this exciting new chapter in your life, we want to emphasize the crucial role that mentorship can play in your professional development. Mentorship should not just be a buzzword that everyone puts in their wish list or in a job listing as an employer. It is a powerful tool that can accelerate your growth, expand your horizons, and provide invaluable guidance and support. Throughout your career from a new DVM to an acclimated professional, having a mentor by your side can make a world of difference by offering insights, advice, and wisdom. Mentors can provide individualized training, motivation, direction, and coaching support to help you reach your goals. They can help pave the way for your successful and fulfilling career.
Mentorship is a mutually beneficial professional friendship. Mentors derive satisfaction by watching their mentees gain skills and confidence, in sharing cases, enjoying mentee enthusiasm, learning from a new generation, and in keeping in touch with and giving back to the profession.
A single mentor does not have to play every role, and your needs may be filled by different people or in different formats (formal, informal, face-to-face, remote, or virtual). You can form one-on-one relationships with your boss, supervisor, or another individual—even a practice manager or a technician can share expertise! Sometimes mentorship is provided in groups, such as an entire class. Peer-based mentorship exchanged between colleagues can also be valuable and sometimes less intimidating. The process of discussing and learning from cases as they arrive is called experiential or situational mentorship. It is limited by chance and may not provide everything the mentee needs. Though not as enticing as hands-on learning, didactic mentorship can fill in those gaps to complement experiential learning.
Since the relationship works best when driven by the mentee, you should not just say, “I am looking for a job with mentorship.” You should be able to describe the ways and types that work best for you. You must be able to convey your needs and fears, to help your mentor help you. Your time on clinical rotations can be a great way to start deciding what mentorship means to you. Are there clinicians or residents you enjoy working with? Why? What about those you don’t feel you learned as much? Why not?
What are specific skills you want to get out of your mentor relationship? Maybe you are looking for help with:
- Surgery
- Client communications
- Managing workplace dynamics
- Being new in a leadership role
- Certain types of cases
- Future practice management or ownership
- So much more!
With mutual respect, you and your mentor can collaborate to define the roles and responsibilities each person will bring to the relationship. Ultimately, you can expect to enhance your courage and confidence in veterinary medicine and reinforce your communication skills, resulting in improved patient and client care.
MENTORING BILL OF RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Mentees:
- You have the right to actively and openly engage and interact with your mentor on a regular basis.
- You have the responsibility to do so at an agreed upon time interval. These meetings may be in person, via telephone, or by internet.
- You are responsible for developing your medical and surgical skills as well as caseload.
- You have the right to ask for help while building autonomy.
- You are responsible for maintaining a professional and supportive relationship within the practice – both with your support team as well as your hospital’s ownership team.
- You are responsible for approaching your mentoring experience as an educational opportunity which will aid in your learning and developing as a veterinary practitioner.
- You have the right to pursue continual education with the goal of enhancing your medical and surgical skills as well as building your hospital’s client base.
- You are responsible for advising and guiding your new associate. This will include teaching, coaching, and simply listening.
- You have the responsibility to meet with your associate at an agreed upon time interval. These meetings may be in person, via telephone, or by internet.
- You have the right to set protocols which allow you to provide mentorship in a way that is safe, appropriate, and cost-effective in regards to the client and their patient.
- You have the right and responsibility to provide candid, honest and supportive appraisal of medical and surgical diagnostic and treatment plans, while supporting your associate’s developing skill sets.
- You have the right to learn as well as develop new techniques and treatment protocols with your associate. You and your associate are encouraged to grow and learn together, creating a partnership that is stronger than either of you were individually.
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