Diane Stephenson

British Association of Medical Managers (BAMM) News Article, ‘Fit to Lead’ from the Tutor’s Perspective...

As more and more clinicians receive their awards after completing the Fit to Lead program, more and more clinicians are becoming interested and wanting to embark on this very unique self development journey. This is great news and a clear sign that BAMM is getting it right - published in the Clinical Leader magazine -

The Fit to Lead program lasts for 12 months and starts with a carefully planned program designed around you, which will meet your individual goals. However your journey is likely to start with your attendance at a 3 days Skills Factory. This is then followed by 3-4 tutor sessions each lasting about I hour, which are spread though out the year. In order to receive an award, the final output is a portfolio of evidence which you will produce to demonstrate your effectiveness as a medical manager. Your tutor is on hand to guide you through this process.

The tutoring relationship is unique; imagine a relationship where the total focus is on you, on what you want you want to achieve and on what will help you to achieve it. Throughout the process you can expect to be challenged and encouraged to think beyond the normal boundaries of your routine work. As we all know though this can be a bit of a challenge when you are busy!

Your tutor will help you to explore what is really important to you, where you feel you are now and where you want to be in the future. You will be challenged on your beliefs about yourself and supported while you make any adjustments that are required to become a more effective medical manager.

The tutors all work on a basis of honesty, openness and commitment to your personal development. We are not being paid to be nice to you; we are being paid to help you develop. No kid gloves in sight!

As BAMM tutors we all bring a wealth of managerial experience to our tutoring relationships. In addition, many of us are experienced medical managers and have worked within the NHS so we understand the pressures faced by clinicians all too well.

BAMM is committed to the quality if it’s programs and the quality of the Tutoring team. Therefore as a BAMM tutor, I was delighted to get the opportunity to experience a 3 day Skills Factory for myself, but it came as a bit of a shock to be put through my paces as a participant! During the 3 days absolutely everyone is taken outside of their comfort zone and challenged to think in a different way to what we are all used to. Mmmmm……I wasn’t sure about that bit and to be honest was hoping to get immunity from some of the activities but .....”No! You want to be a tutor then you’ve got to walk the talk came the reply”.  So I threw myself into it with a group of clinicians who also thought that they deserved immunity and hey presto when we all stopped whingeing we ended up as a competitive force trying to whoop the butts of all of the other teams!

I think what we all took from it was that the power of a team working together and, drawing on individual strengths to achieve a team goal with imagination and creativity is just about as good as it gets. It doesn’t really matter in the end what the activity is. I have to say that I was amazed at how much our 9 reluctant souls achieved as part of a team which was made up of very different personalities and disparate skills. I think we all learned as much about ourselves as we did about each other.

“Logic will take you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere”    
Albert Einstein 1879-1955                         

I believe that BAMM’s success with their Fit to Lead program is in their attention to detail and in an endless commitment to quality and improving the standard of medical management throughout the NHS.
I would recommend this unique personal development program to anyone looking to develop their managerial capabilities irrespective of their seniority and current extent of their managerial involvement.

“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavour”
Vince Lombardi

Hope to meet you on the program soon.

Warm regards,
Diane Stephenson
BAMM Tutor & Management Coach