FAQs

What is Reciprocal Mentoring?

Reciprocal Mentoring is a partnership between two people where both have goals they are working towards that their mentoring partner helps them with. Participants are usually from different backgrounds or stages in their career and they share their experiences through generative conversations. The NMA Reciprocal Mentoring programme will match an individual with several years of experience in their career to someone who is new in career.

What is unique about the NMA Experience mentoring programme?

This programme, a first of its kind for the NHS, is a key step in fostering a stronger community of Nursing, Midwifery, AHP and Admin staff in Kent & Medway to enhance patient care and increase retention & job satisfaction. It’s not just about the more senior professional coaching the more junior professional. It’s about learning from each other and having allies at all levels of the organisation.

This is a pilot programme that will be delivered by WERKIN, a company that specialises in mentoring and sponsorship programmes, particularly through a lens of building inclusive cultures. WERKIN are pioneers of modern leadership and inclusive organisational design and are sought out to share expertise on mentoring, leadership development, learning & organisational development initiatives, and how to best support diverse and under-represented employees to make workplace better for everyone.

How is this related to legacy mentoring?

Legacy mentoring is when experienced nurses, or colleagues in other regulated professions, usually in late career, who provide coaching, mentoring and pastoral support to colleagues who are at the start of their careers or who are newly appointed into the NHS. They provide essential professional advice, education and guidance and pass on a ‘legacy’ to the next generation. They play a crucial role in supporting staff health and wellbeing and career progression.

This is exactly what we want this programme to achieve, with the addition of those things being provided to later career mentoring partner, from colleagues who are early in career.

How long is the pilot, and what would my commitment be?

The programme will run for 7 months. Your commitment will involve a minimum of 1 session a month with your mentoring partner, for the 7 months. You will also be required to attend a virtual workshop for 1 hour a month (this will be recorded if you can’t join live), and spend 15-30 minutes reflecting on your learning each month. This is a total time commitment of 2.5 hours per month.

During the programme, training and development sessions will be available to you, such as:

• Developing confidence and key skills in how to be a mentoring partner

• Soft skills sessions such as Goal setting, Career Planning, Building Empathy

• Drop in support sessions

• Celebration event

What is in it for me?

The programme aims to help you increase your self-confidence and motivation and be supported to formulate a clear sense of personal direction. This is a great opportunity for you to think about things in a different way and develop your own skills by tapping into those of others. It will provide challenge and stimulation, provide you with new skills and give you satisfaction from seeing others develop. Being a mentor can also give you perspective in your own career.

This is not a case of wanting the newly qualified nurse to go through another training programme with a senior nurse, nor should the senior AHP feel like this is an added responsibility on top of their workload. Both partners will learn from each other in the process.

At the end of the programme, you will receive a certificate of completion and a commendation.

What are the requirements I need to meet to be considered?

Early Career Mentoring Partner: You should be working in Nursing, Midwifery, an Allied Health Profession or in Administration. You should have up to 5 years of experience in the industry / post-qualification. You must be willing to participate by discussing your challenges and experiences openly. We will match you with a senior mentoring partner outside of your Trust / organisation.

Later Career Mentoring Partner: You should be working in Nursing, Midwifery, an Allied Health Profession or in Administration. You should have 8+ years of experience in the industry / post-qualification. You will need to have a good understanding of your own strengths and development needs, be able to listen, be prepared to try to understand different perspectives. We will match you with a junior mentoring partner outside of your Trust / organisation.

What’s the deadline?

Please submit your application by Close of Business (5.30pm) on Tuesday 06 June. The launch session will be held on 15th June between 11:00 and 12:00 so please provisionally block this out in your diary once you apply. You will be notified of your acceptance onto the programme a week before launch and sent a calendar invite.