Stuckness is a word we hear frequently in coaching and mentoring, but what does it mean? Here, Professor David Clutterbuck and Melissa Richardson have identified six kinds of stuckness in mentoring, each with its own context and challenges: When the mentor suddenly doesn’t know what to do or say next When the mentor feels trapped […]
Self-Matching vs Partner Preferencing
Self-Matching, Facilitator Matching, Traditional Mentoring, too many options and types of mentoring so how do I choose…? At Art of Mentoring, we have deliberately avoided developing self-matching, fast-knowledge-transfer solutions into our platform because we firmly believe that it does not lend itself to real, developmental mentoring. This type of mentoring is a mutual exchange that […]
Is it time… for men to seek female mentorship?
In a recently released working paper, Overcoming Gender Discrimination in Business: Reconsidering Mentoring in the Post #Me-Too and Covid-19 Eras, the authors provide an excellent description of the “women are wonderful” effect; men are associated with leadership qualities that are valued in corporate circles — confidence, risk taking and negotiation skills — while women are […]
Reviewing the mentor’s motivations towards the mentee
GUEST BLOG In every mentoring or coaching relationship, patterns gradually become established in how you work with the learner. We fall into roles, which may not be obvious. Reviewing these from time to time helps keep us balanced and prevents those roles becoming “fixed”. One useful model is the triangle of Protect – Exploit – Equate. Protect […]
9 Lies About Mentoring
I’ve heard it said, a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on. What I’m talking about here today is the fake news about mentoring that’s criss-crossing the globe and the fallout we’re suffering, today, because of it. Through challenging these myths about mentoring, I’m going […]
October is Mental Health Month
It is Mental Health Month in Australia. We all experience sadness and stress sometimes – these are natural human responses to the challenges of life. It’s normal to feel stressed if your job security is threatened, or you don’t know how you can pay your bills, or to feel sad in response to loss. How can […]
Mentor Training
Great managers often don’t make great mentors automatically. Mentoring takes a certain skillset to get the most out of the conversation, in particular active listening. These skills can be an asset in the workplace to get the most out of direct reports. To help your mentors become good at what they do it is important […]
How to create a coaching and mentoring culture in your organisation
GUEST BLOG: Most organisations of more than a few hundred people have some experience of coaching. They may have employed a professional coach to support an executive, or given line managers some instruction on how to coach. But this is a long way from achieving a coaching and mentoring culture. Indeed, we can identify four […]
Are you mentorable?
In her TED Talk “No one is talking to mentees” Victoria Black describes her research study which examined mentoring program websites across 187 post-secondary institutions. She found that only 19% addressed ‘mentorability’ by defining mentee characteristics and expectations, compared to 37% which defined mentor characteristics and expectations. Her conclusion? That, on the whole, mentoring programs […]
Helping mentoring pairs stay connected
Helping mentoring pairs stay connected Across the many programs and thousands of mentors and mentees currently connecting via Art of Mentoring’s platform, we have seen two types of responses to mentoring since COVID-19 started. The first, and most productive, is when mentee and mentor acknowledge that the goal posts have shifted and agree on new […]