Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome everybody to BSG Live in Liverpool 2026. I'm here today with Dr. Noor Jawad, a consultant gastroenterology at Barth Health Trust and the new BSG mentoring lead. And today we're going to talk about the importance of being a mentor. Welcome, Noor.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Hello. Nice to see you, Fran.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: Thank you. So we often talk about mentoring as an important part of, you know, growing in our career as healthcare providers. We always are involved in unofficial mentoring, but why is that so important?
[00:00:35] Speaker B: I think mentoring is one of the most invaluable tools we have in our careers and in our development.
You know, most of us have had a mentor along the lines, whether it's been, you know, in a defined role or not. So I think they can really steer you in the right direction and help you grow and develop in your career.
[00:00:58] Speaker A: And so who do you think should be a good mentor and who should consider being a mentor?
[00:01:05] Speaker B: So I think we all have the ability to be a good mentor.
Mentoring is about mentors pull. They don't push, so they ask questions and they steer the mentee in the direction that they wish to travel.
It's about helping the mentee solve their problems or issues, helping them, giving them constructive feedback, guiding them and really listening to what the actual issues are.
Whether it's career development, whether it's leadership skills or a new role you're facing or perhaps a challenge you wish to overcome, gender bias or work life balance.
The mentor can help, you know, give their own personal experience, perhaps successes or failures. And with that knowledge, imparting that knowledge, the mentee can really use that to steer them and to navigate where they want to be.
[00:02:12] Speaker A: So a mentor is someone with experience, someone is a good listener and someone that's carrying flexibility.
[00:02:18] Speaker B: Absolutely. It's about having emotional intelligence, the ability to actively listen, to give constructive feedback and building trust and, you know, and a relationship, you know, maintain confidentiality at all times.
[00:02:35] Speaker A: So often we have this idea that a mentor should be someone more senior than you. How do you see that? Do you value instead the rule of reverse in mentoring? When someone mentioned maybe younger could mentor someone.
[00:02:47] Speaker B: So it is really an ageless thing. It's not about that. But, you know, we all have had experiences and that is what gives us the knowledge to help people achieve the goals that they are looking for from this.
So anyone could be a mentor.
It's really an inclusive program and platform for us to, to access and benefit from.
[00:03:13] Speaker A: You mentioned the platform. Of course we know BSG has a formal mentoring program. And so how practically does it work for a mentor? Someone who wants to sign up as a mentor in the platform.
[00:03:26] Speaker B: So it is fantastically easy and accessible.
The platform allows you to register your details, to talk about your skill set. So whether you feel that you'd be a good person to guide someone, whether in research or networking across the country with researchers, whether it's career development, leadership or work life balance or, you know, problem solving, you can actually register your personal sort of interests and skill set, if you like, you know, and then you will be matched on a matching scheme with a mentee. And actually the mentees have the ability to choose from a list of mentors that they are matched with based on their preferences and the goals, what they're looking for from this mentoring relationship and journey.
[00:04:28] Speaker A: So everybody will understand how good this will be for a mentee because they get a lot of the benefit of that relationship. Is it there for the mentors?
[00:04:37] Speaker B: Yeah. So I think it's a really, really important question because I think we're all under a lot of pressure with time and work and managing our clinical.
Clinical workload, which is very high. But I think when you invest in something like mentoring, it gives you something, you know, very important back. It gives you this kind of personal fulfillment and enrichment.
And it's such a rewarding experience. It helps you really to focus on your other clinical tasks because you have other interests outside of the clinical endoscopy and so on. So it actually, I think, gives you so much back. It helps you feel fulfilled and actually complete your, you know, your work list, if you like, with efficiency and with, you know, vigour.
[00:05:31] Speaker A: So the relationship is mainly driven by the mentee's needs.
How does practically a mentor and a mentee set up a relationship in terms of how often do they need to meet or what sort of feedback that needs to be coming from a relationship.
[00:05:50] Speaker B: So it is very personalized in the sense that there is a guide of four to six meetings a year is a suggestion on the platform, but it really doesn't have to be as frequent as that. It can be really tailored to the mentee and the mentor's availability and practical needs.
So the platform itself allows you to direct message somebody. You can actually use it as a video for video calls, or you can actually communicate with your mentee via email or phone and actually meet face to face or do it via virtually.
So it is flexible.
The time commitment can be adjusted depending on your needs.
[00:06:38] Speaker A: So from a practical point of view, before and after a meeting, the majority of the work is run by the Mentee, do you know, you know, how does the platform allow this? Is there anything in the platform that makes this quite simple also for the mentor then to follow up the progress?
[00:06:55] Speaker B: Absolutely. So really, the mentee is the person that steers this, that drives this.
They have their smart goals that they want to set, they have a vision of what they want to achieve from this experience and they can use the G model in terms of setting goals, thinking about how they're going to do it and what the result they're looking for at the end.
So the platform really has lots of useful resources about how to elicit, ask questions, how to steer the mentee, if you're looking for any resources, any excellent resources on there. But actually, the reality is that the mentee is the person that perhaps you would say, preps the meeting. What they want to achieve from this, their objectives, their goals, how they think they could get there, where they want to be, how the mentor can actually, you know, influence and steer their path.
[00:08:02] Speaker A: So most of relationships, as we know, they're very successful and very rewarding, but occasionally there can be a situation when the mentor maybe put in a place where they don't feel comfortable talking about certain things. Do you have any advice on that matter?
[00:08:17] Speaker B: I think it's an important point. You know, you're a mentor, you're not a counsellor or psychologist.
You know, you have to be clear about what your role is at the beginning and set, you know, clear objectives and boundaries, if you like, about what your role is.
And if, you know, if you encounter something where you feel actually this is perhaps not in the remit of a mentorship program, then, you know, signpost people to, whether it's a professional support unit, whether it's psychological support, and you have to be very clear with your mentee to say, I'm here to mentor you and to help you with your career and overcome challenges. But actually, there are certain aspects of what you've spoken to me about which need sort of specialist input.
[00:09:13] Speaker A: So a free program from the bsg, very rewarding.
[00:09:17] Speaker B: Absolutely, yes.
[00:09:19] Speaker A: Helpful both from the mentee and the mentor.
Probably helpful in retaining workforce and expanding workforce.
So my question is, why are people not signing up for it?
[00:09:31] Speaker B: Well, I think it's about awareness. You know, you're absolutely right. This is an inclusive platform. It's free, it's a brilliant resource. You know, go and grab this opportunity.
It is, you know, we have to future proof the workforce. You know, we're all under a lot of pressure, increasing pressures, and this is something that really is a valuable resource to future proof the workforce to keep us enriched and enjoying our jobs no matter where you are in your career.
[00:10:10] Speaker A: That was wonderful, Noor. Thank you very much.
[00:10:13] Speaker B: Thank you, Fran.
[00:10:14] Speaker A: Thank you.
