Unhappy at work? Everyone has times, when their job just doesn’t seem to give them the same satisfaction. These feelings of being unhappy at work don’t always last – simple shifts in role or responsibility can make a radical difference, for example – but when ennui sets in, the potential for disengagement and quitting rise. […]
Negotiating the Balance of Power Between the Team Leader and the Team
Power struggles in team performance One of the biggest impediments to team performance occurs when there is a mismatch between the leadership style and behaviours the team needs and those that the leader and the team default to. The word “default” is appropriate because there is usually an unconscious process of adaptation, which may be […]
Does the Advance of Technology Mean we are Forgetting how to be Human at Work?
How to be human at work… what the? A recent trip afforded me the rare luxury of time to read and catch up on recent TED Talks. It struck me that there was a consistent message underlying many of these – that as technology gradually infiltrates more and more of what we do, we are […]
Career Advice: What to do when the Mentee has No Clear Career Goals?
The “sweet spot” on career advice When it comes to career advice, it makes mentoring a lot easier, when the mentee knows exactly where they want to go in their career. The trouble is, many mentees – particularly those in the early stages of their careers – have only a general sense of direction (if […]
Coaching: How Much Should Line Managers Give Direct Reports?
Coaching: it’s a natural assumption that the more coaching and mentoring a line manager gives his or her direct reports, the greater the positive impact on performance and engagement. In reality, however, according to a study by Gartner[1], there is very little correlation. The study suggests instead that quantity of coaching is much less important than […]
What Do Mentees Fear Most?
What do mentees fear most? A mentor enters a mentoring relationship knowing she has skills and knowledge to share with her mentee. Naturally this makes the mentor feel pretty good. Not only is she a decent and generous person, willing to share her expertise; she is also a person of value, having expertise worth sharing. […]
Mentoring Software: Program Coordinators
Mentoring Software that Program Coordinators Love On Building Experience into Technology It’s a little more than 20 years ago that I first organised a formal mentoring program. I had already enjoyed a successful marketing career, and hoped to establish a mentoring program for women starting out in marketing as a way of giving back to […]
Fast Knowledge Transfer – FKT – is not Mentoring
Fast Knowledge Transfer – FKT – is not Mentoring In recent months, there has been a spate of articles and webinars extolling the virtues of “speed mentoring”, “flash mentoring” or similar means of fast knowledge transfer (FKT). We have also seen the rise of “Mentoring Lite” from major dot-com providers, providing rapid matching between people […]
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 […]