The NHS constantly needs to attract people with the right skills and values to fill the many vacancies and roles it supports. In order to do this we need to help people making career choices and job decisions to understand what working in healthcare is really like and the opportunities available in the NHS.

Talking honestly and enthusiastically about your job role can make a real difference for those thinking about working for the NHS. This guide will give you a brief outline of the role of an NHS Careers Ambassador and hopefully help you to decide whether it’s a role you would like to take on.​
NHS Careers Ambassadors act as a role model to young people, offering them the chance to find out as much as possible about jobs and professions in the NHS and particularly the role that they play in providing excellent patient care. If you're interested contact Nathalie Usher ​

Whether you’re a mentor or a mentee, this piece from Management Today reflects on the value of mentorship and the secrets behind a great mentoring relationship. 

Read more here

This opinion piece from CIPD identifies seven traits that mark out high-potential employees. Read on for what to look for in your future team members here

* Credits - NHS Employers / CIPD

Mentoring is the support and guidance of one individual to another to help with professional development and career goals with the opportunity to develop leadership capacity at all levels.

Developing these staff leadership abilities will lead to enhanced innovation and integration of services within organisations; this will benefit patients, service users and the local population.

Want to become a mentor? Want to become a mentee?

Read more here

Coaching and Mentoring Champions Training
Tuesday 6th December 2016
Barton Grange Hotel, Preston 
 
We are delighted to confirm the details for our upcoming Coaching and Mentoring Champions Training day. As a coaching and mentoring champion you will become part of a network who are involved in influencing the North West’s future approach to coaching and mentoring, whilst supporting this agenda in your locality. You can access our role descriptor here, which outlines the role of a coaching and mentoring champion.
               
This session will be taking place on Tuesday 6th December at the Barton Grange Hotel in Preston between 9:30am and 4:30pm.
 
       Click Here to Apply TODAY

We are looking for coaching and mentoring champions who will be our strategic link to developing a coaching and mentoring culture within their organisation and also support cross-organisational coaching and mentoring. This person will have lead responsibility for setting the coaching and mentoring strategy within their organisation and utilising support from the NHS North West Leadership Academy (NHS NWLA) where appropriate, promoting coaching and mentoring and for supporting coaches, coachees, mentors and mentees across their organisation.
 
Our champions model has been in effect for a number of years and we are excited to announce that we have reviewed how we support our champions to build and develop a coaching and mentoring culture within their organisations. This includes developing a network of champions for peer support, shadowing opportunities, joint partnership working and sharing practice and learning. We also have commissioned specific CPD opportunities for our champions to access following feedback from the network on learning needs and areas of developments for the champions role. We have aligned our coaching and mentoring support so that champions have access to information on both areas and identified how we can support champions progressing internal models and what support they can access through the NHS NWLA systems and processes.
          
Once we receive your application form, we will arrange a telephone call with Rehana Begum, our Coaching and Mentoring Leadership Development Manager, to discuss your application and the role further.
          
We would love to see you on the day and if you have any queries in the meantime, please don't hesitate to get in touch at NWLA.coachingandmentoring@nhs.net or give us a call on 0161 625 7809.
               
Kind regards,      
NHS North West Leadership Academy - Coaching and Mentoring 

If you have any comments or require further information please contact us on 0161 625 7348 or email us at NWLA.info@nhs.net
                
Best wishes
NHS North West Leadership Academy   

1. Think about what you want to advertise/share? Is it a training event, information you want prospective new employees to read about, daily/weekly bulletins, are you holding an event?
   
2. Think about how you would like to share the information i.e. a one off news flash via What's New?, set up a page with some sub-headings, share your update via the Education & Training weekly bulletin?
3. Answer the above questions and then be in touch, we're waiting to hear from you.

Contact us: Tracy Gunn or Margaret Mary O'Mahony 

‘The workplace is a great place to provide opportunities for staff to be more active and evidence tells us the benefits for the employer are many fold – improved morale, team working and performance as well as a more committed and engaged workforce. In this context being active doesn’t just mean engaging in team sports, putting on those running shoes and trips to the gym. It includes a range of activity like workplace singing , dancing , gardening, organized thematic walks and cycling too. For example singing has many physical and psychological benefits because it is an aerobic activity that increases oxygenation in the blood stream and exercises major muscle groups in the upper body, even when sitting. So we would love to hear about your more creative responses to getting people more active too’
 
Applications for the award will help NHS organisations to meet section 9 of the new CQUIN guidance https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/HWB-CQUIN-Guidance.pdf
 
To find out more click here

#mymentor is a new social media campaign which aims to raise awareness of the value of mentoring to men and women across the NHS.
Either male or female, and at a variety of levels, the relationship between a mentor and a mentee can be pivotal in inspiring an individual to recognise their strengths and work on their weaknesses, without giving up along the way – and making a real difference to the NHS.

Helen Birtwhistle, NHS Confederation director of external affairs said: “My mentor allowed me to focus on what was important to me, build confidence, adopt strategies for development and challenge my own preconceptions. I have never looked back. Crucially, none of it involved having to change who I am and what I believed in.”

This is your chance to either say thank you or simply help raise awareness of how mentoring can transform people’s lives.
How you can get involved?

• Simply compose and send a tweet thanking your mentor, or in support of mentoring, using the hashtag #mymentor. You can also use one of our sample tweets below.

Sample tweets

• Thank you @mentorname from @organisation for helping me to.… #mymentor 
• The best thing #mymentor @mentorname ever told me was….
• Mentoring is crucial for women in the NHS because.... #mymentor 

For a further insight into mentoring, read Dr Helen Woolnough's blog.