Mentoring session topics:

1. Exploring your WHY - is a portfolio career appropriate for you?

  • Not everyone may be aware of the choices that are available to them, nor what can be achieved alongside a role within the NHS or private sector.

  • A portfolio career allows you to align your passions and strengths across multiple roles, rather than fitting into a single job description.

  • It offers flexibility, variety, and a sense of autonomy, which can boost long-term satisfaction and resilience in your healthcare career.

  • Before embarking on radical changes it is important to review what path is the correct one for you

2. Identifying and managing conflicts of interest

  • Discussions around real life experiences of conflict and the strategies that were discussed to mitigate them, this leads into coping mechanisms and real time outcomes.

  • Learn how to recognise when personal, professional, or financial interests might unintentionally influence your decisions.

  • Explore real-world scenarios and develop practical strategies to remain transparent, ethical, and aligned with your values and organisational responsibilities.

3. Different lenses to approach a problem

  • Discover how clinical, operational, educational, and leadership perspectives can all offer valuable insight into a single challenge.

  • Use reflective techniques to explore how others might view the same problem differently; improving collaboration and decision-making.

4. Marketing yourself & self promotion

  • Many people are reluctant to market themselves and are wary of self-promotion. SMR can teach techniques to help overcome the natural reticence that this sometimes creates

  • Gain tools to communicate your strengths and achievements without feeling like you're "bragging", authenticity is key.

  • Understand the platforms and formats (CVs, LinkedIn, interviews) that allow you to share your story confidently and professionally.

5. How to define and quantify your value

  • Encouragement to really think about contribution to your role within the workplace that defines how much you contribute without realising

  • Create a personal ‘impact inventory’ to track the ways you contribute, whether through patient care, teaching, system improvement, or innovation.

  • Learn to link everyday actions to strategic goals or outcomes (KPIs, patient experience, team performance), so your value becomes both visible and measurable.

6. Open Q&A

  • Open frank dialogue to explore the unasked questions - dependent on attendees and subjects discussed.