What I need is someone who will make me do what I can. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
Neurosurgery is replete with stories about heroes — details of herculean tasks performed to push our specialty forward, save lives, blah, blah, blah. Listening to this as an emerging neurosurgeon was frustrating — instead of being inspiring, it felt divisive and filled with hyperbole. Neurosurgeons often extol the virtues of amazing role models — the men (for many years it was always men) who were perfect surgeons, teachers, researchers, fathers, sons and husbands. Rarely did these tall tales ring much truer that those about the heroes. Then I encountered two mentors — well I didn’t realize it at the time — who knew how to bring out the best in me. With 20/20 hindsight, I can really admire the incredible strategies they deployed:
- Allowing just enough time for me to struggle and find my own answers but always feeling supported in that struggle
- Always making me acknowledge what I had done well or badly rather than just saying it themselves
- Smoothing the way for me to create my own path forward — not one someone else defined as “correct.”
Through their calm and consistent efforts, I slowly grew into my skills (knowledge-based and technical, but also professionalism and personal) and embarked on my independent career in neurosurgery. Now as I near the final stages of my career, I can honestly say MENTORING MATTERS — in a huge way.
“Leadership (mentorship) is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.” (Sheryl Sandberg)
Not to boast, but I have been told I am a pretty good mentor. Given the relative paucity of mentoring I had early in my career and the lack of appreciation of the need for mentoring (and enhancing mentoring skills), I am not sure how this evolved but what matters when it comes to being a good mentor is:
- Listening more than talking
- Approach each mentee on their own terms, with their own strengths, needs, goals
- Keep the mentee responsible for their own development
- Learn Radical Candor — being honest is important to progress
- Flexibility and adaptability
Too often overlooked is what mentors gain from their mentees. For me this has been enormous. There are monumental things that MATTER:
- Lifelong friendships
- Expansion of my professional and personal network
- Exposure to new ideas and concepts
- Learning better ways to approach a wide spectrum of mentees with diverse backgrounds and aspirations
- Better communication skills that I deploy in many settings beyond the world of mentoring.
Today, the value of mentoring is recognized and often discussed while many departments, organizations and health care systems have established mentoring programs. However, these programs are often ineffective for a variety of reasons. Things that matter for effective and successful mentoring programs include:
- Well-conceived with clear definitions of the program parameters and expectations
- Training and education of both mentors and mentees
- Deployment of effective mentors
- Routine evaluation of the program overall — the personnel, the structure and its effectiveness
- Inclusiveness
- Flexibility
- Leadership
One more important concept is that most individuals may need or benefit from more than one mentor — either simultaneously or over the course of a career. For example, a neurosurgical resident may benefit from both a clinical and a research mentor. A neurosurgeon transitioning to practice probably needs mentoring related to practice issues but may also need additional mentoring in skills such as time management, work-life negotiation or communication. Rising leaders have a different set of mentoring needs again. And finally, when we are fortunate to reach the stage where we are considering leaving our careers as neurosurgeons, we can benefit from mentoring in that critical transition.
Mentoring Matters — done effectively it helps the mentee become the best they can on their chosen path, it enhances much for the mentor and likely also helps neurosurgeons to deliver the best care to our patients.
Dr. Benzil is vice chair of neurosurgery at the Cleveland Clinic and former editor of AANS Neurosurgeon. Also served as the first president of WINS, chair of the Washington Committee and AANS vice president.
