Selecting and using an executive coach Executive coaches are used mainly by senior managers or professionals, to help them work on specific aspects of their performance. As a relatively expensive resource, it’s important to understand why you will benefit from having an executive coach, what the outcomes of the relationship will be and what kind […]
Tips for Successfully Marketing a Mentoring Program
Top Tips for Successfully Marketing Your Association’s Mentoring Program Few years ago, Associations Now wrote about the importance of mentoring for membership retention, but what makes the program successful? No matter how well-conceived and run your association mentoring program is, its success will ultimately be determined by your ability to engage and excite your membership. The […]
Men Mentoring Women: Can It Change the System?
Men Mentoring Women: Can It Change the System? Like many women (and men), I believe that ‘the system’ itself needs to change before the female half of our population will be appropriately represented in the echelons of power. (By the system, I mean the ingrained habits, behaviours and rewards in place in most work environments […]
Lapsed members: making the call
Lapsed members: making the call! Guest blog from Optimum Contact Retaining a membership base is a real challenge for associations, and it’s a problem that is not going away. Conservative sources estimate that it costs up to ten times more to acquire a new member than it does to keep an existing one. According to association […]
Working with SUIs – Significant Unresolved Issues
Working with SUIs – Significant Unresolved Issues The concept of SUIs – Significant Unresolved Issues arose from David Clutterbuck’s unpublished research in the 1990s on what issues mentees brought to their mentors for discussion. Participants in workshops were asked to write down and reflect upon all the issues, about which they felt a level of anxiety […]
When Mentoring Gets Emotional
When Mentoring Gets Emotional It can feel pretty uncomfortable when a mentee bursts into tears or blows their top. This wasn’t what you thought you signed up for, as a mentor! However, a mentoring relationship is a human relationship and emotions will play a part whether that relationship is formal or casual, personal or career-focused. […]
Helping Your Coachee or Mentee Develop Resilience
Helping your coachee or mentee develop resilience In challenging working environments, resilience is increasingly an essential competence. People, who are resilient, are better able to cope with unexpected change, with setbacks and disappointments, with high stress environments and with periods of excessive workload. The signs of low resilience are generally easy to spot. They include […]
Are we failing our executives?
Are our executives failing us…or are we failing our executives? In this era of rapid change, organisations are reliant on their executives to make wise decisions and lead their teams judiciously through challenges. Yet, at precisely the time when wisdom is most needed, we are increasingly placing our trust in young, inexperienced leaders, hoping that […]
Questioning your competence as a mentor
Why coaches and mentors shouldn’t beat themselves up when client change doesn’t happen Every beginner coach or mentor goes through a phase of questioning their own competence, based upon a sense that they could (or should) have had so much more impact. Even very experienced coaches and mentors sometimes feel that they have “failed” their […]
Is “Speed Mentoring” Really Mentoring?
Is “Speed Mentoring” Really Mentoring? “Speed mentoring”, also referred to as “flash mentoring”, has been in vogue for a couple of years. Its roots in speed dating have made me uncomfortable from the moment it came on the scene, but now that the phenomenon seems to be enduring, I feel it’s time to seriously consider […]