I am sitting in my hotel room and reflecting on all that has taken place over the last week. Some common themes seem to be evident in a lot of the conversations that I have been having. Leadership and culture challenges seem to be what we have been talking about. Let me see if I can put this all in perspective for you!

What I am seeing is that there is definitely a lack of quality leadership in a large majority of organizations. We have those that see themselves as leaders but then when you look at the culture and what they have helped it become or not become you question the validity of their leadership. What I am seeing is that our current leadership style is creating work forces where there are lots of followers – they are waiting to be told what to do. They are waiting so long to be told that they actually become disengaged in the work place. That has a huge impact on your organization’s productivity. What we need to get them to is a place where they are engaged, empowered and accountable. That changes the culture immensely in an organization. People become more engaged in the organization. What better feeling is there than to know what the organization’s strategic plan is and how your role plays an impact on meeting the objectives of that strategic plan? Add to that equation that you are actually held accountable for those successes.

So here are some common challenges; 1) lack of communication - not sharing isn’t a sign of power, it actually is a sign of weakness or in most cases a lack of self-esteem, 2) lack of accountability – in a lot of organizations we hold no one accountable for anything that they do – consequently we create environments where people will not take work on as they will wait for that one person that does everything to step to the plate. As the owner of a company that may well be you, 3) lack of development of leaders or successors – the majority seem to be willing to wait till the eleventh hour and then look for a successor and more than likely it will be someone that does not have the level of leadership skills that we want. That is sad as that means we are likely setting someone up for failure. A little forward planning and a solid leadership development program and your organization could be sitting in a really good position for the future.

There are a lot more challenges that I could add to this list, but I think you likely get the picture! When I take a look at all of this I see a solution that can address all of this. We can implement a mentoring culture in an organization and do some one-on-one mentoring using an accredited mentor to deal with individual challenges. We can enhance your leadership development program using mentoring as a vehicle to provide people with the proper tools to be successful in the role of a leader in your organization. The challenge that I cannot help you with though, is the timing of your decision. My only advice is not to wait until it is the eleventh hour – that won’t do you any favours and can make it even more challenging for us to provide the value that you are looking for.

Don’t wait any longer, meet these challenges head on and embrace the “power of mentoring”.