245through a group approach to adopting a coach or mentor. Let’s say a surgical team
faces a problem within the clinical setting (teamwork, workflow, communication,
and performance). The attending decides to use an inquiry mindset to explore the
problem and seeks out the help of a coach/mentor at the group level. The team could
collectively work with the coach/mentor to demonstrate how coaching and mentor-
ing can help impact performance. Incorporating the process of coaching and men-
toring within the workplace learning environment helps to solidify a coaching and
mentoring culture.
Assess Mentoring and Coaching and Modify as Needed As with any aspect of sur-
gical education, it is important to assess and measure the impact coaching and men-
toring is having within the learning environment. This may not mean creating a
completely separate assessment. If an organization does yearly evaluations (student/
resident evaluations, employee satisfaction surveys), then adding additional ques-
tions around coaching and mentoring is a simple step. In addition to asking survey
questions about coaching and mentoring, continuing to have conversations about
coaching and mentoring at the individual, departmental, and organizational level
can provide insight and ideas on how to continue to improve coaching and
mentoring.
Summary
In a property insurance workplace learning environment, a much different setting
than surgical education, the education department had a motto to encourage educa-
tional innovation, “Go ahead and give it a try, we aren’t flying planes around here.”
This statement reflects the learners were in a workplace environment where they
could try a number of different educational strategies and no one would be hurt. This
is not the case in surgical education. Surgeons, surgical residents, and surgical stu-
dents have patient lives in their hands. To correct this saying for surgical education,
“We are flying planes around here.” With such important stakes in the workplace
learning environment, the educational strategies and innovations need to be closely
connected to the workplace environment, based on evidence of positive impact on
performance, and situated in a supportive culture of learning. Mentoring and coach-
ing can provide authentic relationships that are closely aligned with the performance
needs and goals of our learners. Creating a robust coaching and mentoring program
means learners have access to a wide range of coaches and mentors that can connect
with the competencies and milestones of becoming a high performing surgeon:
patient care, medical knowledge, professionalism, interpersonal and communica-
tion skills, practice- based learning and improvement, and systems-based practice.
The surgical workplace learning environment is rigorous, demanding, and stressful.
A culture of mentoring and coaching provides a social support system for those
experiencing one of the most challenging learning environments. In addition, men-
toring and coaching models learning as a lifelong endeavor in which social, work-
place relationships help us not only learn but also develop.
14 The Surgical Workplace Learning Environment