Mentoring provides opportunities for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to obtain support for their development at any time in their career. Should you consider getting involved?

A lot of people think that you have to be very experienced or a specialist to be a mentor and that mentoring involves a lot of advice, guidance and solving all the mentee’s problems for them. The thought of this sounds a bit daunting, and many pharmacists are put off mentoring.

While being an experienced and trusted advisor is the traditional description of a mentor, other definitions describe the mentor’s role to facilitate reflection and learning in relation to the outcomes identified by the mentee and support self-directed learning rather than act as an expert or teacher.

The following definition by Eric Parsloe from The Oxford School of Coaching and Mentoring focuses on the mentee and their development and is not prescriptive about the approach taken by the mentor. ‘A mentor supports and encourages another to manage their own development in order that they may maximise their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and become the professional they want to be.’

So, the good news is that anyone can be a mentor provided they are willing to listen, have good communication skills, put the mentee’s needs first and view the time spent with their mentee as a valued investment. It can be really empowering to know that being a mentor requires the right skills and attitudes rather than having to have specialist knowledge. It may also be a relief that the mentor isn’t responsible for solving the mentee’s problems for them.

Different strokes

There are many different types of mentoring, a few of which are described below.

A newly qualified pharmacist mentoring a pre-registration trainee is an example of a ‘step-ahead’ mentor. They can easily put themselves in the trainee’s shoes, having recently completed their own training. The trainee can also discuss things with their mentor that they feel uncomfortable discussing with their tutor, such as challenges in making the transition from student to professional or their weaknesses in relation to performance standards.

‘Reverse mentoring’ has a very specific purpose related to the use of technology. Younger people have grown up with technology and are often better equipped to use IT, social media, etc, than older people. A reverse mentor’s role could be to support an older person to embrace technology and learn how to use it. This is likely to involve teaching, advice, guidance, support and passing on of knowledge and skills.

‘Qualification mentors’ guide a learner through their programme of study, leading to a professional qualification. The qualification mentor is always more experienced and qualified than the learner. An example would be a mentor for a trainee pharmacy technician undertaking a vocational qualification.

‘Peer mentors’ have similar roles and levels of experience and often enter into reciprocal mentoring relationships where each person acts as the mentor and mentee. Peer mentoring can also occur in groups where each person takes turns to bring a problem for discussion and receives support and challenge from multiple peer mentors.

‘Flash mentoring’ is defined as a one-time meeting that enables an individual to learn and seek guidance from a more experienced person. This provides a valuable learning opportunity for less experienced individuals, while requiring a limited commitment of time and resources for more experienced individuals providing mentorship.