3. Combine forces

Shadowing opportunities, reverse mentoring

A community doesn’t always have to be at group level; a potent approach to building allyship across teams can be through deep one-to-one connections. Use personal development milestones such as appraisals or inductions to recommend that team members spend time in another part of the organisation. 

Shadowers can provide feedback to the operating environment they are observing, or gain a more nuanced understanding of how activity in one area can positively or negatively impact another. These interactions can happen accidentally through interaction or sharing the same space, but are more beneficial when time is set aside specifically for this purpose. 

Reverse mentoring – where an employee mentors someone more senior – is included as a suggestion here to deepen relationships and provide learning opportunities for both mentor and mentee. Mentorship tends to be seen as a dynamic, whereby a more senior individual supports their junior, typically with a view to enabling career progression – but it can offer so much more. 

Providing an objective, non-judgemental space for someone to explore options doesn’t have to be linear. Open up protected time for two colleagues to link together –between three and six sessions can create novel solutions and deep interpersonal bonds. Mentoring can happen at a clinical or personal level, offering value to both people.

Watch out! Ensure you set parameters for joint working so that all parties benefit from the time they invest. Set the tone that the connections are not hierarchical (this can be automatic if not unchecked in a healthcare environment). Learning grows on both sides. You should also be sure to encourage these connections with students and trainees on placements, as there is real value for emerging professionals in understanding how they fit within a value chain that jointly supports patients and carers.