Blogger' s note: Thanks to Jenniffer Weigel of the Chicago Tribune, for the inspiration for this post - "Outgrowing a Mentor: Navigating the Delicate Business of Moving On"
I complete another mentoring assignment soon with a new CSD professional. I noticed at work the other day, that this mentee feels good about being more independent. How do I know this? It was her asking less questions of me, or more to the point - she has moved to ask, when needed, questions of her peers and other staff. Earlier in my career, this would have been an almost painful moment - when the mentee left this training opportunity for greener employment pastures. All the energy put into this person, learning the fundamentals of doing a clinical job; this person is gone. I had been making the experience about me, and not keeping the focus solely on what the student needed.
The nadir of this whole mentoring evolution, came for me when one young person was facing a happy event in her personal life . I had been hoping for an invitation to the event, but - it did not come. Even though I had been this person's mentor in an employment setting prior to this one, I had also misread the level of our communication. I never told her that I had been disappointed. I had realized very clearly, how a mentoring experience needs its consistent borders and its skill set.
A character in my most favorite TV (cop) show once said: You've been around this dump for seven years and you still ain't learned
the key to good murder police, which is this: Whatever you see,
whoever's around you; you keep them at a distance.
What I learned about good mentoring to close the deal; to make it easy for me to continue to take on mentees; it was- "Begin with the end in mind", popularized by the late Stephen Covey in _The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People_. How I adapt this concept to persons I mentor, is to modify a discussion with most of the persons I serve: "One day, you're going to be rid of me. That is the natural consequence of your success in what we do".
From that point on, early in the relationship, I help the mentee learn the skill set of a speech-language pathologist - beginning with the end in mind.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Monday, February 16, 2015
The People We Serve Deserve Quality Services
Speech - language pathologists have more opportunities than ever for exciting, rewarding work with persons of all ages. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has projected growth of new jobs in our field of between 10-19%; this growth would be spread ideally across all the work settings where SLP's are found. In healthcare and in the educational arenas, there is so much good work to be done; so many inroads to be made with both children and adults in all settings; - so many opportunities for persons served from all socio-economic groups to improve their quality of life. If it were the case that new graduates, or vetted professionals looking to change their work setting, moved to fill all the positions that needed filling - it would be a wonderful world for our field.
But new grads often go for their perfect job at clinical fellowship time. They're often the "sexy" speech jobs, one that have the glamour afforded them by high technology being used, or the most "romantic" diagnoses being explored, or in the work settings that are exciting places to be - often, an urban center. Some clinical positions require, or their job requirements demand, more autonomy and initiative then a clinical fellow or new professional may be equipped. Some worksites are less than desirable for persons seeking a job, due to the physical surroundings, the demographics of the patient mix, or the budget available for an SLP to do her/his clinical work. With limited space to address all the issues related to - not having enough quality SLP's in all the work settings that need high quality professionals - ; all that need be said is: everyone deserves quality SLP services, be they in the educational or the healthcare sphere; low or high socio-economic status; child or adult. But how to achieve - the parity that is needed among work settings!
There are time-tested strategies for attracting both new professionals and vetted ones, to less than the most sexy work settings. Grants augment salaries. Student loans can be reduced or forgiven. Benefit packages swell and shrink, as a function of the largesse of the institution's governing body. Travel? Free housing? Continuing education budget? These budget gems disappear from budget lines as quickly as they appear - from this blogger's experience. So if you are the successful candidate for this job - you have had some incentive waved like a carrot before your face. Beyond that, you have to love those jobs you start, so the difficulty in filling the jobs remains high.
I can only speak for myself. Being in a clinical job that I want to continue, means that I have found a sense of mission about the work. Mission often compensates for the lack of benefits, or of glamor or of sexiness in the work setting. Working with a sense of mission helps you see the operation of a clinical setting, above and beyond the day to day contact with patients/clients. You see what keeps the lights on, and you see the interplay among professional, skilled and semi-skilled labor that heightens your awareness of how cultures work - cultures like THIS work culture. How it works, when it works best, for the persons served - is that you as a professional do, what needs to be done.
But new grads often go for their perfect job at clinical fellowship time. They're often the "sexy" speech jobs, one that have the glamour afforded them by high technology being used, or the most "romantic" diagnoses being explored, or in the work settings that are exciting places to be - often, an urban center. Some clinical positions require, or their job requirements demand, more autonomy and initiative then a clinical fellow or new professional may be equipped. Some worksites are less than desirable for persons seeking a job, due to the physical surroundings, the demographics of the patient mix, or the budget available for an SLP to do her/his clinical work. With limited space to address all the issues related to - not having enough quality SLP's in all the work settings that need high quality professionals - ; all that need be said is: everyone deserves quality SLP services, be they in the educational or the healthcare sphere; low or high socio-economic status; child or adult. But how to achieve - the parity that is needed among work settings!
There are time-tested strategies for attracting both new professionals and vetted ones, to less than the most sexy work settings. Grants augment salaries. Student loans can be reduced or forgiven. Benefit packages swell and shrink, as a function of the largesse of the institution's governing body. Travel? Free housing? Continuing education budget? These budget gems disappear from budget lines as quickly as they appear - from this blogger's experience. So if you are the successful candidate for this job - you have had some incentive waved like a carrot before your face. Beyond that, you have to love those jobs you start, so the difficulty in filling the jobs remains high.
I can only speak for myself. Being in a clinical job that I want to continue, means that I have found a sense of mission about the work. Mission often compensates for the lack of benefits, or of glamor or of sexiness in the work setting. Working with a sense of mission helps you see the operation of a clinical setting, above and beyond the day to day contact with patients/clients. You see what keeps the lights on, and you see the interplay among professional, skilled and semi-skilled labor that heightens your awareness of how cultures work - cultures like THIS work culture. How it works, when it works best, for the persons served - is that you as a professional do, what needs to be done.
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