Managing

The three main competencies of the Mentor Role are "understanding yourself and others, interpersonal communication and developing others" (Hesketh et al pp 4). Because high school students are less experienced the author used this role continually in an effort to develop his students and guide them through their learning experiences. Per Hesketh et al the author must determine his own strengths and weaknesses so he can maximize them. "Your weaknesses can be overcome through self-development" (Hesketh et al. 1997 pp 51). By researching all he could about the Health Science Technology program, the author was able to teach with confidence because he had decreased any weaknesses he had in his knowledge.

As the author researched the Mentor Role he came across what he thought was an interesting article in the January 11, 2004 edition of Parade magazine, which is a part of the Dallas Morning News newspaper. The article had a caption of "Thank a Mentor". As the author read through the article, it stated how volunteer mentors change lives. The article stated that the Harvard Mentoring Project met with numerous celebrities and conducted interviews with them to determine whether they had been mentored or not. The article also stated that January is National Mentoring Month (Parade, 11 January 2004). Mentoring was used by the author to assist students in high school who were seeking healthcare careers. Assisting the students with determining their strengths and learning their areas of interest helped the author in developing others. As a school instructor, the author thought it was crucial that he mentor his students.

The three main competencies for the Facilitator Role are "team membership, participative decision making, and managing conflicts" (Hesketh et al 1997 pp 3). The author used this role to encourage his students to participate in clinical rotations and be team members. Allowing the students to participate in clinical rotations and recognize their roles helped them understand how to build and be a part of a team. High school students are not always willing to participate due to peer pressure; this was very challenging for the author. This is something that the author learned took a great deal of work with some students.

"We must all take responsibility for building teams and for maintaining cohesion. Your team often changes, as junior staff come and go. You may also belong to more than one team. Knowing how to work well in team is essential, but not always easy. Teams must be nurtured" (Hesketh et al. 1997 pp 42).

It is a well known fact that high school students, quite frequently, do not agree. It was essential for the author to manage conflicts appropriately between the students. The author learned that this is a very challenging aspect in being a high school instructor. According to Hesketh et al:

"Most conflicts stem from differing perspectives. Understand this and you have begun to succeed in conflict management. A problem-solving approach allowing the needs and concerns (perspectives) of all parties to be heard and addressed will usually result in progress. Provided the parties adopt this problem-solving position (a big if sometimes!), the conflict will be reduced" (Hesketh et al. 1997 pp 46).

The author imposed upon his students the need to work as a team and together decide what was best for the group. As the students explored the different clinical areas their feedback was crucial in how the author plans for the upcoming years. As their facilitator, the author had to manage any conflicts in which the students had in order to ensure they worked as a team and they all felt like a part of the team. "All teams encounter difficult patches, perhaps slipping back from the performing stage and needing support" (Hesketh et al. 1997 pp 43). It was the instructor's role to keep the students supported.

The three competencies for the Innovator Role are "living with change, creative thinking and managing change" (Hesketh et al 1997 pp3). Hesketh et al refer to this role as the "responder role" (Hesketh et al. 1997 pp 57). However, it is during this role that the author had to be aware of the constant changes that exist in the Medical profession and direct his students accordingly. "Frequent change is routine in the NHS. Changing technology, new government policies, limited resources and increased public expectation they all ensure continual change in your working life. You must anticipate change and be a competent responder to it (Hesketh et al. 1997 pp 57). The author used creative measures to make the changes needed, as high school students do not always exhibit the maturity to take responsibility. It was the author's responsibility through this role to make himself aware of the ever changing medical profession and adapt his program for the anticipated changes. As healthcare shortages were faced in healthcare, it was important for the author to bring things together to allow the students to see how exciting a career in healthcare can be.

The three main competencies of the Producer Role are "personal productivity and motivation, motivating others, and time and stress management".

"Producers are expected to be task oriented and work focused and to have high interest, motivation, energy, and personal drive. They are supposed to accept responsibility, complete assignments, and maintain high personal productivity. This usually involves motivating members to increase production and to accomplish stated goals" (Quinn et al. 2003 pp 17).

To be productive as a student instructor the author used his passion for nursing to motivate his students. As the producer the author was able to educate his students by being task oriented and focused, which happens to be a part of his natural personality. He had to monitor his students to ensure they were being productive. There were times when a student would have negative comments about their clinical rotations. The author addressed these issues immediately.

"Your first responsibility is to spot immediately any symptoms of poor motivation (e.g. low quality work, inflexible attitudes, complaints, staff absences) amongst those on whom you depend. You might feel low motivation results from factors outside your control - but you can do many small things to help. Always play your part, however small, in maximizing staff motivation" (Hesketh, et al. 1997 pp 13).

There were times when the author made clinical rotations with his students on a one on one basis to help motivate them.

The three main competencies of the Initiator Role are: