Leading Edge – Volume 31 – Mentoring: Skills to Mentor

Focus on Mentoring-Skills for Mentoring Success

  • Aegis Learning facilitator Matt Zobrist continues his series on mentoring.
  • Successful mentoring requires a unique combination of skills and the situational awareness of when to use particular skills with a mentee.
  • Effective communication, including hefty doses of listening are paramount to becoming a great mentor. Being clear in communication is also a must.
  • Encouragement type coaching is important to celebrate the successes and incremental improvement of mentees.
  • The emotional intelligence skill of empathy plays a significant role in mentor success.
  • Being or becoming a good storyteller will also serve the mentoring process well.
 

Leading Edge – Volume 30 – Mentoring: Becoming a Great Mentor

Focus on Mentoring-Becoming a Great Mentor

 
  • Aegis Learning facilitator Matt Zobrist continues his series on mentoring.
  • The mentoring relationship should be solid, deep and built on vulnerable trust.
  • Sharing challenges is an important part of the mentoring relationship.
  • The mentor should always examine motivations to ensure the best interests of the mentee are being served.

Leading Edge – Volume 30 – Mentoring: Framework for Growth

Focus on Mentoring-Framework and Choosing Candidates

 
  • Aegis Learning facilitator Matt Zobrist continues his series on mentoring.
  • Successful mentoring clearly documents the objectives and desired outcomes of the relationship.
  • A formalized approach to scheduling is needed for long-term success.
  • Journaling meetings and interactions aids in the learning and growth process.
  • Mentoring relationships should be chosen carefully for mutual benefit, fit and the ability to communicate effectively.

Leading Edge – Volume 29 – Mentoring: Introduction

Focus on Mentoring-Introduction

 
  • We welcome Aegis Learning facilitator Matt Zobrist to begin a multi-part series on the powerful organizational and personal tool of mentoring.
  • Mentoring is a relationship of mutual benefit that grows talent and provides succession planning opportunities for people.
  • The primary focus of mentoring is to grow leadership skills, organizational savvy and the relationships needed for success.
  • Mentoring is a long-term relationship and differs from standard coaching models because of depth and scope of the interactions.

Leading Edge – Volume 28 – Healthy Workplace Conclusion

Focus on Healthy Workplaces-Conclusion

 
  • Healthy workplaces are high performing workplaces that generate better results and have significantly higher levels of team member engagement and customer service.
  • Creating a healthy workplace requires a strategic and long-term approach. It is not a hodgepodge of skills or one-time seminars.
  • The commitment to create a healthy workplace must be shared by all leaders and consistent across all leadership levels.

Leading Edge – Volume 27 – Transparency

Focus on Healthy Workplaces-Transparency

 
  • Transparency has the ability to transform employees into operating partners for an organization with much higher levels of ownership and vesting.
  • Trust and transparency are closely related. Transparent organizations and leaders are more trusted by team members.
  • Trust your team members with the truth and as much as you can tell them about financial results, customers, meetings and other team members. The more you trust them, the more they will trust you.
  • Leadership transparency must be balanced with the need to be upbeat and optimistic. Transparency does not grant license to be a fear-based leader or to be an ass.

Leading Edge – Volume 26 – Service Culture

Focus on Healthy Workplaces-Service Culture

 
  • The same skills that go into people-centered leadership (listening, empathy, respect) also are applied when building a service culture.
  • Service culture has very little to do with how an external customer is treated but rather in how internal (team member) customers are treated.
  • Team member requests should have the same urgency, respect and courtesy as those coming from an external customer.
  • Maintaining a service culture requires leaders that value people and team members.

Leading Edge – Volume 24 – People Centered Leadership

Focus on Healthy Workplaces-People Centered Leadership

 
  • One of the most common predicting elements of a healthy (and successful) workplace is the presence of people centered leaders at all organizational levels. From the C-suited to the first line of supervision.
  • People are never be viewed or treated as a commodity at healthy workplaces.
  • People centered leaders are great listeners and prioritize listening to their team members.
  • People centered leaders provide genuine empathy to team members.
  • People centered leaders build solid and lasting relationships with team members.

Leading Edge – Volume 25 – Input and Voice

Focus on Healthy Workplaces-Input and Voice

 
  • The input and voice from team members have great impact in engagement, problem solving and innovation.
  • Effective leaders in healthy workplaces seek input prior to important decisions and when challenges present themselves.
  • Natural spots for input include strategic planning, budgeting and the identification of process improvement opportunities.
  • Soliciting voice includes looking for feedback and creating an environment where disagreement is encouraged.

Leading Edge – Volume 23 – Ethical Congruence

Focus on Healthy Workplaces-Ethical Congruence

 
  • Ethical consistency or ethical congruence is not about ethics and certainly not about morality. It is about the consistent and fair application of policies to all team members.
  • When team members believe their are dual standards, unfairness, lack of consistent enforcement or favoritism, morale will be substantially harmed.
  • Avoid making policy exceptions because of who someone is or because they happen to be a favored team member.
  • Senior leaders especially must be consistent and great role models for this behavior.
  • Take special care to ensure you are not creating any appearance of impropriety or favoritism.