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In this masterclass with A/Prof Ong, we discuss the fundamentals of leadership and mentorship.

BIO
A/Prof Ong Biauw Chi is Senior Consultant at Singapore General Hospital Department of Anaesthesiology. She was the Head of Anaesthesiology, SGH from 2009 till 2014 and the Director of Patient Safety and Director of Clinical Governance in Singapore General Hospital for a period of 9 years. She is also appointed Chairman Medical Board, Sengkang Health.

A/Prof Ong’s work has been recognised with the Public Administration Silver Medal in the National Day Awards, 2013 and the National Medical Excellence award for National Outstanding Clinical Quality Activist in 2014.

A/Prof Ong is also a member of the Specialist Training Committee for Anaesthesia (now Residency Advisory Committee) Ministry of Health, Singapore and chairs the Examinations committee for Anaesthesia Examinations in Singapore.

3 THINGS I LEARNED

1. You need to find the correct partners. In your career, you need to get the right people who will help you get better. People who will tell as it is and help you to remain focused on your goals.
   
   
2. Planning: I learned a lot from Prof Ong’s willingness to take the time to step back and look at the bigger picture of what she wanted to achieve. This was a habit built from an early age. She uses a short-term, middle-term, and long-term list. The short-term list is cleared daily. The medium-term list focuses approximately a month out whilst the long-term list is reviewed six monthly and charts her overall life direction and goals. 
   
   
3. There’s no one right way to be a mentor. Instead it’s about spending time talking to your mentee, figuring out what makes them tick and pointing them in the right direction from there.