In general, teams tend to assume a much greater level of goal alignment than is actually the case. High goal alignment happens when everyone is fully agreed about the priorities of what they are trying to achieve and why; and at the same time, fully agreed about how they will go about making the goals (more…)
It’s not uncommon for a mentor to become frustrated, when they have deep conversations with a mentee, then nothing happens as a result. Rather than see this as a failure on their own part, or a lack of commitment on the part of the mentee, the mentor should seek to understand the dynamics that underpin...
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When someone appears not to want to learn, it may be for one of several reasons: Lack of confidence People can lack confidence for a whole variety of reasons. They may have had a long break due to illness, taking a period of maternity leave, experienced redundancy, had a sabbatical, career break or had a...
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Burnout – when people can no longer cope with the stress of their job role – is an increasingly common occurrence amongst ambitious people. Contrary to popular belief, however, it is not most common in executives in their 40s – it is more prevalent in people in their mid-twenties. Research into how and why people...
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If either mentor or mentee leaves the organization, it is not a calamity – in fact, it can be an opportunity. People seek new opportunities all the time and it’s not always possible to find the right opportunity within an organization. If the mentor leaves, it’s common to continue the relationship, even at a distance (more…)
Effective mentoring requires intimate sharing of hopes, fears and inner feelings that doesn’t happen in normal conversations. So it’s not surprising that people become drawn to each other. Most of the time, this simply results in creating a strong and often long-lasting friendship. Occasionally, however, the friendship risks developing into something unintended. Sponsorship mentoring, with...
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One of the mistakes many coaches and mentors make is to assume that every formal conversation should result in a clearly defined plan of action. Indeed, “solutions focus” is a whole school of coaching. In practice, very often all the mentee wants is to advance their thinking around an issue, with a view to finding...
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The mentoring conversation provides a safe space to experiment with learning behaviours. As such, it’s to be expected that occasionally, within the context of a challenging learning conversation, either mentor or mentee says something, which causes a negative reaction in the other person. Part of the contracting process at the beginning of the relationship should...
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If we really attend to what someone else is saying, it’s not that difficult to pick up significant words or phrases. There are four main clues here: If it’s significant, it carries a particular, often emotion-laden meaning for them. Make a mental note (or jot down the word or phrase) and wait for a pause...
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Being noticed in a positive way is a vital part of career progress. There are five main ways in which mentors can help mentees do this: Track record comes only partly from doing your primary job well. Being noticed is much more closely related to the activities you undertake over and above this. Mentors can...
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