Category Archives: Blog

What is the conversation you need to have

What’s the conversation you need to have We all have conversations we avoid. We can wall these conversations off to the extent that we are not even aware we are avoiding them. In helping someone get to know themselves, a coach or mentor can encourage them to acknowledge and explore these conversations. Some of the […]

Mentoring is Not Just for “Top Talent”

Mentoring is Not Just for “Top Talent” Mentoring is increasingly recognised as a powerful tool for developing and retaining the leaders of tomorrow.  Very true and I applaud organisations for embracing mentoring and embedding it in their human resource management processes. I am less enthusiastic, however, when I see large organisations focus their mentoring programs […]

David Clutterbuck Interview: Best Practice

David Clutterbuck Interview for Radio National show Best Practice. During his last visit in Sydney, the world expert in mentoring Prof. David Clutterbuck lead a Mentoring Masterclass hosted by Art of Mentoring, attended many events industry related. He was also interviewed by Richard Aedy on his show Best Practice (Radio National – ABC Australia). In […]

The Benefits of Talking to Yourself

Having a good talk with myself Walking down the street 25 years ago, the sight of someone talking to themselves would probably make you want to cross the road to avoid them. Nowadays, it is nothing strange – we assume that they are on their mobile phone. But the idea that inner conversations should not […]

5 Tips on How to Coach and Mentor Perfectionists

5 Tips on How to Coach and Mentor Perfectionists Perfectionists are driven to succeed, strive to continually improve and work hard to avoid mistakes. Particularly when you have your own perfectionist tendencies (like me) it is easy to align perfectionism with diligence, excellence and well…perfection.  In fact, habitual perfectionism is in itself an imperfection. The […]

In Celebration of National Mentoring Day

National Mentoring Day Mentors are truly magnificent people who share their time, energy and experience with someone else. They guide and encourage, they challenge and confront, but most of all they support and listen. My first real mentor was an ex-boss. He gave me my first job as a graduate and watched out for me […]

How to Help a Coachee or Mentee Develop Presence

How to help a coachee or mentee develop presence “Presence” is one of those easily recognisable but hard to define qualities. It plays a significant role in how we assess competence, promotability and other factors that make or break reputation and careers. So what exactly is presence? A pragmatic definition is: “Influencing others simply by […]

How Mentoring Can Help Introverts Become Great Leaders

The Importance of Formal Mentoring for High Potential Introverts Research has shown (and intuitively we all know) that extroverts tend to be more successful in the corporate world.  The Truity Psychometrics study, for example, showed that extroverts earn substantially more than introverts and are more likely to reach senior managerial roles.  Extroverts just seem naturally […]

Business case for mentoring programs in organisations

Is there a proven business case for mentoring programs in organisations? My esteemed colleague Professor David Clutterbuck, a leading researcher and writer on coaching and mentoring, recently told a group of our clients that “highly effective mentoring programs deliver substantial learning for over 95% of mentees and 80% of mentors”. But is there real evidence […]

How to help your mentee manage loneliness

How to recognise and help your coachee or mentee manage loneliness It’s a common misconception that loneliness is about isolation from or lack of contact with other people. In reality, people differ greatly in how they respond to being on their own. So, what is loneliness? Loneliness is a feeling of being socially isolated that […]