Challenge & Selection   I work in a hospital and one of my focus area of work revolves around  developing a culture of mentoring. The outcome is simple - Foster a culture  that encourages sharing of organisational and technical information as well  as emotional support through mutually beneficial relationships. It sounds  great but in reality, hospital staff often do not have the time and a strong  enough understanding to go beyond the politics to invest in such  relationships. I chose storytelling and mind mapping as tools to overcome this  challenge.     Application and insight  Storytelling is a great tool to both understand the perspectives of others as  well as to create buy-in for a desired outcome. We began by doing  interviews to understand our staff's perception of mentoring. Upon hearing  the many stories, we began the ethnographic process using mind mapping  to discover patterns in why mentoring was not well accepted. We found that  previously, there were many mentoring programmes conducted in various  departments and teams. We found that often these mentoring initiatives  were top down with very little understanding of the needs of the mentees.  Mentees felt like they had little control in regards to choosing an area of  growth and who to learn from. We learnt that in many situations, mentees  and mentors were ill-equipped and often lost in the mentoring process  resulting in miscommunication, mismatched expectations and little to no  development. Finally we found that there was a perception that mentoring  takes too much time away from the actual work. As such both staff and  supervisors are unwilling to support these initiatives.     Ideation and learnings   From the insights learnt, we drafted a programme that included short  trainings for both mentees and mentors, a matching process that prioritised  the mentees area of growth and choice of mentor and finally a data  collecting approach to learn of how the mentoring experience with a  learning launch. With the data collected about the amount of time  mentoring is required together with how much growth is experienced, we  made the data known to prospective mentees and mentors. Subsequently  we decided to use the storytelling approach through recorded interviews. In  our #mentoringworks campaign, we shared the learnings from mentees and  mentors to all staff. In a span of 3 years, almost 70% of staff are now on board  this mentoring programme.     I have learnt that when we take a learning approach to tackle issues - from  being person-centric to holding learning launches, we discover what truly is  needed rather than what is thought to be wanted.


Challenge & Selection I work in a hospital and one of my focus area of work revolves around developing a culture of mentoring . The outcome is simple - Foster a culture that encourages sharing of organisational and technical information as well as emotional support through mutually beneficial relationships . It sounds great but in reality , hospital staff often do not have the time and a strong enough understanding to go beyond the politics to invest in such relationships . I chose storytelling and mind mapping as tools to overcome this challenge . Application and insight Storytelling is a great tool to both understand the perspectives of others as well as to create buy - in for a desired outcome . We began by doing interviews to understand our staff 's perception of mentoring . Upon hearing the many stories , we began the ethnographic process using mind mapping to discover patterns in why mentoring was not well accepted . We found that previously , there were many mentoring programmes conducted in various departments and teams . We found that often these mentoring initiatives were top down with very little understanding of the needs of the mentees . Mentees felt like they had little control in regards to choosing an area of growth and who to learn from . We learnt that in many situations , mentees and mentors were ill - equipped and often lost in the mentoring process resulting in miscommunication , mismatched expectations and little to no development . Finally we found that there was a perception that mentoring takes too much time away from the actual work . As such both staff and supervisors are unwilling to support these initiatives . Ideation and learnings From the insights learnt , we drafted a programme that included short trainings for both mentees and mentors , a matching process that prioritised the mentees area of growth and choice of mentor and finally a data collecting approach to learn of how the mentoring experience with a learning launch . With the data collected about the amount of time mentoring is required together with how much growth is experienced , we made the data known to prospective mentees and mentors . Subsequently we decided to use the storytelling approach through recorded interviews . In our # mentoringworks campaign , we shared the learnings from mentees and mentors to all staff . In a span of 3 years , almost 70 % of staff are now on board this mentoring programme . I have learnt that when we take a learning approach to tackle issues - from being person - centric to holding learning launches , we discover what truly is needed rather than what is thought to be wanted .