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I am asked on numerous occasions to respond to questions regarding mentoring, mentoring process and how mentoring can bring value to individuals and/or organizations. Here is a question I received recently and my response.
Q: Does every successful person have a mentor in their life, or are some just self-taught?
A: Everyone can benefit from an effective mentor. Here are some excerpts from various research that you should be aware of:
An effective mentor will facilitate an environment where you will learn and grow personally and professionally. Out of that will come some elements of self-taught as you discover different approaches and philosophies to you day to day challenges. My suggestion/recommendation is to find that effective mentor that will walk beside you on your journey.
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Doug Lawrence is the founder of TalentC®.
Doug leads organizations to experience the benefits how mentoring will encourage workforce culture to flow in harmony (mentors), improve productivity from employees (mentees), reducing costly employee onboarding improving the bottom line (organizations).
Doug is an International Certified Mentor Practitioner (ICMP), an International Certified Mentor Facilitator (ICMF), and has obtained his Certificate of Achievement – Mentoring and his Certificate of Competence – Mentor from the International Mentoring Community (IMC).
Doug’s Practice of Mentoring has resulted in his accumulation of 1,950 hours of mentoring (in person and virtual), 200 hours of speaking opportunities and 672 hours teaching others how to effectively mentor.
Doug is recognized as a “Most viewed writer in the Business Mentoring and Mentors and Mentoring categories on the Quora website (www.quora.com).
Doug is a volunteer mentor with the Sir Richard Branson Entrepreneur Program in the Caribbean and with the American Corporate Partners in the United States working with military personnel in their transition from military life to civilian life.
Doug is currently working with researchers to examine the role of mentoring as a support for those struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). His experience in law enforcement coupled with working with people suffering from PTSD has afforded him a unique view of mentoring and PTSD.
Doug is an international speaker and author about all facets of Mentoring. He published “The Gift of Mentoring” in 2014 with his second book set to publish in 2020.
Doug works with organizations to establish mentoring programs, influence mentoring as a culture, and provides one-on-one direct mentoring for individuals of all backgrounds and levels globally.
Contact Doug directly to discover how mentoring can improve your organization.
>> https://calendly.com/doug-lawrence
I am asked on numerous occasions to respond to questions regarding mentoring, mentoring process and how mentoring can bring value to individuals and/or organizations. Here are some of those questions and my responses.
Q: Is it possible to fix a toxic work environment without changing the company's leadership?
A: If the toxicity is evident in the company's leadership it is difficult to completely change the culture and eradicate the toxicity. You can give the employees the tools that they need to work within that culture but at the end of the day it is still a toxic work environment.
Think of this as learned behavior - in that if the behavior is not changed then people (employees) begin to think that it is acceptable. The toxin will continue to spread and the outcome is that the good employees will leave because they can.
In the culture assessment work that I do I see this often.
Q: What is the best way to reconnect with a mentor?
A: That depends on how long it has been since you last met. If it has been a while then you would need to define the terms of the relationship again and revisit the building of trust. If it has recently happened then you may not need to re-establish the trust as it will already be there.
If your question is more on logistics - depending on the nature of your past relationship and reason for disconnect you may be able to just reach out.
I always leave a mentoring engagement with the comment that they can reach out to me at any time after we have formally ended the relationship. For me the door is never closed and we can always reconnect when the need arises.
Q: Do you feel a counselor could also be one's mentor? Are they sort of one in the same?
A: Interesting timing for this question. I am doing some research on mentoring and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and how a mentor can be a resource for support. I always come back to the definition of mentoring - a two way trusted relationship where both the mentor and mentee learn and grow personally and professionally. Where the mentor encounters situations that should be dealt with by a trained professional then they have the ethical obligation to help the person find the right resources to address their situation. The mentor still owns the relationship and is encouraged to stand beside their mentee no matter what.
There are some elements of counseling that take place in a mentoring relationship. The mentor needs to make sure that they do not mentor beyond their capability. Trained mentors are essential if we are dealing with something that may need to be referred to a professional counselor.
Be mindful of any conflicts of interest in this situation. I also encourage you to do some research on the hierarchy of mentoring - mentor, great mentor, extraordinary mentor. As you work your way up the pyramid your ability to address situations like this become more prevalent.
Q: What is business coaching and mentoring?
A: There are a number of definitions that are out there. I have found that this one works the best. If you apply all that is stated below in a business context you should have the answer to your question.
Mentoring: Ongoing relationship that can last for a long period of time
Coaching: Relationship generally has a set duration
Mentoring: Can be more informal and meetings can take place as and when the mentee needs some advice, guidance or support
Coaching: Generally more structured in nature and meetings are scheduled on a regular basis
Mentoring: More long-term and takes a broader view of the person
Coaching: Short-term (sometimes time-bounded) and focused on specific development areas/issues
Mentoring: Mentor is usually more experienced and qualified than the ‘mentee'. May be a senior person in the organization who can pass on knowledge, experience and open doors to otherwise out-of-reach opportunities using techniques such as the Socratic Method and story-telling. Industry specific knowledge is a nice to have not a need to have.
Coaching is generally not performed on the basis that the coach needs to have direct experience of their client's formal occupational role, unless the coaching is specific and skills-focused
Mentoring: Focus is on career and personal development
Coaching: Focus is generally on development/issues at work
Mentoring: Agenda is set by the mentee, with the mentor providing support and guidance to prepare them for future roles
Coaching: The agenda is focused on achieving specific, immediate goals
Mentoring revolves more around developing the mentee on a personal and professional basis. The mentor will also learn and grow in the relationship.
Coaching revolves more around specific development areas/issues
Q: What are the benefits of a mentoring program in the workplace?
A: The research shows that mentees receive career and psychosocial benefits from formal mentoring. Career-related benefits include an increase in job performance ratings which lead
to salary increases and promotion, and improved competence in the job. The psychosocial benefits, or mentor-mentee interpersonal support, include friendship, emotional support, satisfaction and personal development (Kram, 1985). Mentoring has been found to positively impact career success, through more promotions, more mobility, higher income and career satisfaction (Chao, Walz & Gardner, 1992).
For mentors, research has shown increases in personal satisfaction and job satisfaction. In addition, mentors receive assistance from their mentees on projects and also enhance their own skills by learning from the mentee. The relationship can help a mentor learn new perspectives about the organization (Murray, 2006). One study (Gentry, et. al., 2008) found that mentoring helps the mentor gain support through mentee networks that supply critical information that assist the mentor in some way when needed. This research implies that a reciprocal relationship can be created between mentor and mentee where both learn and educate the other.
For organizations, the benefits of mentoring include retention, promotion, productivity and personal and professional development. With these benefits, organizations with formal mentoring programs create a learning environment that fosters personal and professional growth for mentors and mentees. In turn, this accelerates the processes for identifying, developing and retaining quality talent (Kahle-Piasecki, 2011).
The benefit of mentoring extends to the company culture if it is well integrated and does not utilize it as a one-time intervention. This means that, for example, mentoring relationships can create an integrated learning and development culture with increased communication, collaboration, and support between all employees in an organization, resulting in a more informal matching system between mentors and mentees (Burr et al., 2011). In fact, research shows that matching based on mentor-mentee similarities (e.g. personality, interests) leads to more positive psychosocial outcomes, such as interpersonal satisfaction, compared to formal assignments (Kendall, 2007).
Today, organizations are combating negative trends such as disengaged employees, lack of succession planning, and talent shortages. As the research shows, organizations cannot afford not to fully develop their human resources. If they're unsure how to develop their HR then they should get hr consultancy to help guide them. The return on their investment is seen in employee productivity and optimum organizational functioning that positively affects their bottom line. Therefore, it is essential for mentoring programs--or any training and development programs--to be evaluated both in terms of successful functioning and return on investment.
Q: Can unjustifiably high expectations from a mentor block your success?
A: First off the mentor's role is to guide and encourage not to set expectations for you. This question almost sounds like your mentor is focused on career development and is not taking into account your personal growth. When we focus solely on the career development piece we are not addressing the barriers/obstacles that may arise from personal growth challenges.
I always start with some level of exploration regarding my mentee's personal growth challenges whether it be self-esteem, self-confidence, etc. Addressing those first can pave the path to a better career development journey.
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Doug Lawrence is the founder of TalentC®.
Doug leads organizations to experience the benefits how mentoring will encourage workforce culture to flow in harmony (mentors), improve productivity from employees (mentees), reducing costly employee onboarding improving the bottom line (organizations).
Doug is an International Certified Mentor Practitioner (ICMP), an International Certified Mentor Facilitator (ICMF), and has obtained his Certificate of Achievement – Mentoring and his Certificate of Competence – Mentor from the International Mentoring Community (IMC).
Doug's Practice of Mentoring has resulted in his accumulation of 1,904 hours of mentoring (in person and virtual), 197 hours of speaking opportunities and 672 hours teaching others how to effectively mentor.
Doug is recognized as a "Most viewed writer in the Business Mentoring and Mentors and Mentoring categories on the Quora website (www.quora.com).
Doug is a volunteer mentor with the Sir Richard Branson Entrepreneur Program in the Caribbean and with the American Corporate Partners in the United States working with military personnel in their transition from military life to civilian life.
Doug is currently working with researchers to examine the role of mentoring as a support for those struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). His experience in law enforcement coupled with working with people suffering from PTSD has afforded him a unique view of mentoring and PTSD.
Doug is an international speaker and author about all facets of Mentoring. He published "The Gift of Mentoring" in 2014 with his second book set to publish in 2020.
Doug works with organizations to establish mentoring programs, influence mentoring as a culture, and provides one-on-one direct mentoring for individuals of all backgrounds and levels globally.
Contact Doug directly to discover how mentoring can improve your organization.
>> https://calendly.com/doug-lawrence
Mentoring has reached a paradigm shift that comes from mentoring being recognized as a solution to business challenges. However, some confusion exists as to “what is mentoring” and “what is the best way to apply the mentoring” concepts? Countless myths exist about mentoring and the mentoring process. Mentoring is still sometimes seen from the Traditional mentoring perspective rather than Effective mentoring.
The Traditional view sees the mentor to be older than the mentee, to share their wisdom and knowledge more from “telling” rather than “asking a series of questions” to guide.
The paradigm shift taking place is premised on the following definition:
Mentoring is a two-way trusted relationship where both the mentor and mentee will learn and grow personally and professionally together.
There are two foundational pieces to consider if we want to have meaningful mentoring experiences.
First is a two way trusted relationship.
We are unable to build that two-way trust then we cannot have a successful mentoring experience. Building trust requires that we share something personal with our mentee. This trust may not happen in the first meeting, but the more comfortable you are with sharing, the easier trust is to build.
While we sometimes talk about mentoring from the “Traditional” style, we also talk about “Reverse Mentoring”, a style the younger person mentors an older person. They will typically guide them in exploring technology and how to use it. I am not a fan of this term as “reverse” means going backwards. We at the International Mentoring Community (IMC), prefer to substitute “reverse mentoring” with the term “effective mentoring.”
The second foundational piece to consider is effective communication. If we do not understand how to communicate effectively then we will struggle with building a mentoring relationship. There are 7 Effective Communication Tools:
Each Effective Communication Tool addresses the definition of effective mentoring which is always a two-way trusted relationship, where both the mentor and mentee will learn and grow personally and professionally together.
The paradigm shift of effective mentoring occurs in the present and future needs of the workforce and in organizations.
With the diminishing use of Traditional style mentoring, we need to create a more modern and business focused mentoring approach.
The mentoring paradigm shift also addresses focusing on the personal growth or psychosocial needs mentees have before addressing professional growth. In future articles we will explore the aspect of personal and professional growth as part of the effective mentoring process.
Effective mentoring is the future; creating a learning and development environment benefits all.
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To discuss how the Mentoring Paradigm Shift will affect your workplace or organization, book an appointment with Doug.
>> https://calendly.com/doug-lawrence
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Doug Lawrence is the founder of TalentC®.
Doug shows organizations how mentoring will encourage workforce culture to flow in harmony (mentors), improve productivity from employees (mentees), reducing costly employee onboarding improving the bottom line (organizations).
Doug is an International Certified Mentor Practitioner (ICMP), an International Certified Mentor Facilitator (ICMF), and has obtained his Certificate of Achievement – Mentoring and his Certificate of Competence – Mentor from the International Mentoring Community (IMC).
Doug is an international speaker and author about all facets of Mentoring. He published “The Gift of Mentoring” in 2014 with his second book set to publish in 2020.
Doug works with organizations to establish mentoring programs, influence mentoring as a culture, and provides one-on-one direct mentoring for individuals of all backgrounds and levels globally.
To contact Doug: https://calendly.com/doug-lawrence
Your organization's annual employee turnover rate is bleeding your bottom line.
A company with 150 employees typically has an annual turnover rate of @11%.
If it costs $25k to hire and onboard a single employee, while losing $10k in development and a loss of $50k of interrupted existing productivity and missed opportunities, then those 16.5 turn over employees have cost this company about $1.57 million. While Hospitality has a voluntary turnover rate of 20.7% and the legal sector is able to maintain the highest earners, we are still seeing a high number of turnover rates across the world.
Reducing turnover employees by just 20% would save this company about $300k, which can now be allocated to new ventures.
This also helps support the existing employee's emotional drain, professional headaches, and says little about the emotional headache and cultural disruption felt from losing great people.
For larger companies of 1000 or more, expect the annual turnover rate to start @ 15%, bleeding the bottom line.
We take our clients, who are frustrated business owners like you, and reduce the employee turnover rate typically by 50%. We do that with THE MENTORING PROCESS, a 7- step proven system that works for any organization.
If you want to know how the Mentoring Process can reduce your employee turnover rates, let's talk: https://calendly.com/doug-lawrence
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Doug Lawrence is an extraordinary mentor and mentor certification trainer with TalentC and is the International Mentoring Community Director of Education.
Doug shows organizations how mentoring programs will influence a happy workforce culture (mentors), improve employee productivity (mentees), reducing costly employee high turnover (onboarding), improves the bottom line (organizations), which saves 150% to 200% of the annual salary of each departing employee. He provides one-on-one direct mentoring for individuals and groups, all backgrounds and industries locally and internationally.
Doug is an International Certified Mentor Practitioner (ICMP), an International Certified Mentor Facilitator (ICMF), and has obtained his Certificate of Achievement – Mentoring and his Certificate of Competence – Mentor from the International Mentoring Community (IMC).
An international speaker and author of The Gift of Mentoring (2014), Doug's second book is set to publish in late 2020.
Do you have a workplace crisis or issue to resolve? Schedule a time to meet with Doug: https://calendly.com/doug-lawrence
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) impacts about 8 people out of 100 at some time point in their life. About 8 million people will have PTSD in a given year. Many do not reach out for help or are not able to get help.
(https://www.psycom.net/post-traumatic-stress-disorder/)
The Practice of Mentoring (effective mentoring) focuses on professional development (career-related) and psychosocial outcomes. Psychosocial mentoring includes interpersonal support, friendship, emotional support, satisfaction and personal development. The Practice of Mentoring includes the referral to professionals in the area of psychology, psychiatry, counseling and various forms of coaching based on the needs of the mentee. The mentor always maintains a relationship with the mentee.
The Department of Veteran Affairs (USA) introduced mentoring (2008) as a potential solution to providing tools to PTSD Program Directors in delivering the administration and clinical practices of care to veterans with stress related mental disorders to improve the overall quality of care to veterans. The program which provides mentorship to care providers has been deemed a success and is continuing to grow as part of continuous improvement initiatives. (https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b122/ad5b52b171b36e883facb65511ef80acc9e6.pdf)
This is a great example of thinking outside the box when it comes to the business value for mentoring. It demonstrates a deeper and richer appreciation for not only the professional growth perspective of effective mentoring but the psychosocial aspect.
In a lot of corporate workplace mentoring programs the focus is purely on the professional (career) development and not on the personal development (psychosocial).
As an extraordinary mentor practicing effective mentoring I must always be listening and hearing what my mentee is saying. I need to recognize when it is time to seek professional help for my mentee and to always own the relationship that I have developed with my mentee. Listening, hearing and being supportive are keys to psychosocial support in this type of mentoring relationship or any mentoring relationship.
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Doug Lawrence is the founder of TalentC®.
Doug shows organizations how mentoring will encourage workforce culture to flow in harmony (mentors), improve productivity from employees (mentees), reducing costly employee onboarding improving the bottom line (organizations).
Doug is an International Certified Mentor Practitioner (ICMP), an International Certified Mentor Facilitator (ICMF), and has obtained his Certificate of Achievement – Mentoring and his Certificate of Competence – Mentor from the International Mentoring Community (IMC).
Doug is an international speaker and author about all facets of Mentoring. He published “The Gift of Mentoring” in 2014 with his second book set to publish in 2020.
Doug works with organizations to establish mentoring programs, influence mentoring as a culture, and provides one-on-one direct mentoring for individuals of all backgrounds and levels globally.
To contact Doug: https://calendly.com/doug-lawrence
I am asked on numerous occasions to respond to questions regarding mentoring, mentoring process and how mentoring can bring value to individuals and/or organizations. Here are some of those questions and my responses.
Q: If you could be mentored by a "rich" business person who would it be and why?
A: I highly recommend that your criteria for a mentor not be based solely on someone’s financial status. They may well have some great experience to share but there is more to mentoring than your financial status. You need to look beyond that when selecting a mentor.
I can think of a number of people that I would ask to be my mentor and none of them are what I would call “rich” financially. They are rich however in other areas which are more important to me.
Q: What is the best people skill advice that you would like to offer to someone?
A: To build relationships with your team - relationships premised on trust. Learn how to communicate effectively. I see a lot of people in leadership roles that create a fire storm rather than quelling it simply because they are not great or effective communicators.
Q: As a coach / mentor, what offends you the most?
A: I think that the word offend is a bit strong. I would suggest that I may be disappointed but I am never offended. If I look at this from a mentor-mentee relationship I could be disappointed when both parties are not committed to the relationship and the mentoring process. To not be part of the “gift of mentoring” is an error in judgement to say the least.
Q: How and where can I find a free legit mentor on entrepreneurship and business?
A: I would be doing some searching via Google to see what you can find. There are lots of organization that work with entrepreneurs and provide mentoring as part of their service. Some of the organizations charge a fee for their services which may include mentoring.
I would recommend exploring a couple of options that would include paying for mentoring services and mentoring being provided for free. As a mentor I find that people are more inclined to be committed to the process when they have to pay something for the service. The ROI is greater all around.
Q: What should you never say to your mentor?
A: It would depend on the relationship that you have with your mentor. With all the people that I spend time with in a mentoring relationship we focused on building a trusted and respectful relationship. As a result there is truly nothing that we could not say or share. If you define the terms of the relationship up front this question will never come up.
Q: How can I get a business mentor and co-founder?
A: From my perspective finding a business mentor and a co-founder are two separate things. The co-founder would be too invested in the business to not bring bias to a mentoring relationship. While there may be some elements of mentoring that takes place it would not be to the full extent that a business mentor would bring.
Q: Why does a command and control leadership style still exist when business demands and research show other leadership styles are more effective and needed?
A: I would suggest that it is hopefully the tail end of the old guard who lead by command and control. Command and control is a leadership style that may have served us at one time point but it is certainly not the style that we need to move forward with. We need to be people focused, inspiring our employees to be the best that they can be. We need to communicate better as we have lost the art of effective communication. The majority of the organizations that bring me in to work with them are experiencing a lack of effective communication skills. We need to better understand what the statement “lack of” means as it is causing us to begin to spiral and that is not good from the organization’s perspective and the people that they serve. People don’t respond all that well to command and control. I know that I never did!
Q: Does leadership training work?
A: Depends on your definition of training.
Most organizations provide the academic piece of a leadership development program. Most do not provide mentoring as a support to the leadership development program. The two go hand in hand.
What needs to take place with any leadership development program is - 1) the classroom - academic piece, and 2) a mentor assigned to the perspective leadership candidate to work with them after the classroom - academic part is done. Weekly meetings initially to reflect on what has taken place over the past week will make the transition into leadership roles more successful.
I am working with an organization that provides mentorship to new managers in order to set them up for success. The transition from employee to manager has gone smoothly.
Q: How can one hire a mentor for a career in the petroleum industry?
A: Understanding what you might get from a mentoring relationship is important. Mentoring is a two way trusted relationship where the mentor and mentee will learn and grow together on a personal and professional basis.
You can acquire (paid or free) a mentor with industry experience or you can acquire (paid or free) a mentor that has some form of training and can guide you on your journey. My experience is that industry experience is a nice to have - not a need to have.
I would search using Google to answer your question. Paid mentors are usually by the hour or by the session (similar to business coaches). You need to make sure that the person is a good fit for what you wish to accomplish especially if you are pursuing a paid mentor.
Q: Why do some people flourish with mentors, others not so much?
A: There are two variables in this equation, the mentor and the mentee. If there isn’t commitment to the mentoring relationship/process on either part then the relationship will not be successful. If you have a mentor who is mentoring because they have been told that is what they must do then you lessen the chance of a successful relationship. If you have a mentee that has been told that they must participate in a workplace mentoring program then you will likely struggle for anyone to succeed.
If you have a trained mentor and they are able to build a trusted relationship with the mentee you will see success. If your mentor is open and flexible to learn as well as the mentee then you have created an environment of learning and development for both parties in the relationship. A win-win situation.
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Doug Lawrence is an extraordinary mentor and mentor certification trainer with TalentC® and is the International Mentoring Community Director of Education.
Doug shows organizations how mentoring programs will influence a happy workforce culture (mentors), improve employee productivity (mentees), reducing costly employee high turnover (onboarding), improves the bottom line (organizations), which saves 150% to 200% of the annual salary of each departing employee. He provides one-on-one direct mentoring for individuals and groups, all backgrounds and industries locally and internationally.
Doug is an International Certified Mentor Practitioner (ICMP), an International Certified Mentor Facilitator (ICMF), and has obtained his Certificate of Achievement – Mentoring and his Certificate of Competence – Mentor from the International Mentoring Community (IMC).
Doug is recognized as a “Most viewed writer in the Business Mentoring and Mentors and Mentoring categories on the Quora website (www.quora.com).
An international speaker and author of The Gift of Mentoring (2014), Doug’s second book is set to publish in 2020.
Do you have a workplace crisis or issue to resolve? Schedule a time to meet with Doug: https://calendly.com/doug-lawrence
I am asked on numerous occasions to respond to questions regarding mentoring, mentoring process and how mentoring can bring value to individuals and/or organizations. Here are some of those questions and my responses.
Q: Have you ever mentored students on research projects remotely?
A: The short answer is yes.
The mentoring process that I use is premised on the definition of mentoring - a two way trusted relationship where both the mentor and mentee learn and grow on a personal and professional level.
Virtually mentoring does require a different skill set when it comes to mentoring but it can be just as effective if done correctly.
Q: What is an example of executive mentoring?
A: Executive mentoring typically can take place at senior levels within the organization. I work with Presidents, Vice Presidents, Directors, etc and the process that I use is much the same. The mentoring experience however is customized/tailored to the specific needs of the person requesting the mentoring.
There is a focus on their personal growth as well as professional growth. I spend a fair amount of time discussing the topic of communication and the importance of effectively communicating.
If you would like to learn more please reach out to me and we can explore this further.
Q: How important is reverse mentor ship in corporate life?
A: I prefer to not use the term reverse mentoring. The definition of reverse is to go backwards. I prefer to call it effective mentoring as it is a two way trusted relationship where the mentor and mentee are going to learn and grow on a personal and professional basis. Nothing reverse about that.
Effective mentoring is a strategic objective that all organizations need to embrace as part of their short and long term strategic plan. I have worked with organizations that have done just that and it has helped shape the culture in a positive way. It has assisted in the retaining of quality employees and reduced employee turnover. It has created an organization where people want to work because of the culture powered by effective mentoring.
Q: Is it possible to find an architect (mentor) online who will provide guidance?
A: If you do a search via Google you will generate 20M plus hits on the phrase “architect mentoring program”. Check out a few of these as some on the first page are architect associations that have a mentoring program. Some of those programs may have a virtual component to them. I am involved with an IT Association that does virtual mentoring and it works well.
Q: Architects told me to find a mentor to learn from him/her, so should I pay to a mentor or is it free?
A: If it is done via a mentor program through an association chances are that it would be free.
Some mentors will offer to mentor as their way of giving back to the profession.
Some mentors will charge for their services similar to what business coaches do.
Make sure you check out your proposed mentor as far as mentoring experience and training is concerned. They should be good at building trusted relationships, communicating effectively which would also include the ability to use storytelling to share lived experiences.
Ultimately the decision to pay for mentoring services vs getting it for free is your decision and will be guided by my comments above.
Q: How does leadership and management overlap?
A: Management: “the process of dealing with or controlling things or people.”
Leadership: “the action of leading a group of people or an organization.”
The overlap exists that both are dealing with people. How they actually deal with people is another thing. Organizations that are struggling are more than likely managing their people. Organizations that are flourishing are more than likely leading - guiding, motivating, etc.
Q: Why is it frowned upon (or is it?) to question the leader of an organization’s decisions?
A: It is all about communication and how you ask the questions regarding the leader’s decisions. If you can frame what you have to say in the form of a question and use the words “we and us” more often the results will be much better and different.
Pick and choose the place that you ask the questions as outright challenging someone and/or their decision in the presence of a number of people is not always the best path to take. Frame this in the context of a learning opportunity and ask questions accordingly.
Q: What does it mean if a smart, hardworking new hire is struggling?
A: There may be some external influences that are impacting the new hire from performing at the level that you expect.
This is a great place to have them work with a trained mentor. Having them work with an external mentor is recommended in order to maintain a level of confidentiality that is required. The trained mentor will explore the personal and professional challenges with the new hire.
The experiences that I have had with similar situations have turned out positive for the betterment of the new hire and the organization.
Q: What are the 5 best tips to reduce employee stress as a leader?
A: I would make sure that employees had the tools to manage stress and not allow it to manage them. Stress is manageable if you have the tools.
I would create a positive work environment with a culture of happiness and learning.
I would ensure that employees are engaged and empowered in the work place.
I would develop relationships with each employee to let them know that they are important and the organization will succeed if they succeed.
I would communicate regularly and would make sure that they understood how their role played a part in the organization achieving its goals and objectives.
Q: How can I grow as the leader of our group?
A: I would look for a mentor that can work with you on your journey as a leader.
A trained mentor will guide and support you and challenge you to think. Mentoring is a two way trusted relationship where the mentor and mentee learn and grow together on a personal and professional basis.
Choose your mentor wisely and embrace the power of effective mentoring.
Q: As a manager, how did you break up a verbal argument between coworkers?
A: This is a great place to use group mentoring techniques. I have done this with work groups that did not get along and with employees within the same work group and on an individual basis. One of the most important things is that you need to facilitate the dialogue and guide them where they need to go. I like to use effective communication techniques to get the conversation going and to provide them with those tools. You need to figure out the root cause for the behavior and then address that.
Q: What are some game-changing leadership capabilities?
A:
Q: Why do you need a mentor in business?
A: A mentor is someone that can walk beside you on your business journey. I have a number of mentors - each bringing something special to the mentoring relationship. My mentor(s) are there when I need to talk my way through challenges or perhaps a change in direction. My mentor(s) are there to guide me not tell me what to do.
I think of all the people that I am working with today that are either entrepreneurs or working in the corporate space and I would like to think that the question they would ask you is, “can you afford not to have a mentor”.
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Doug Lawrence is an extraordinary mentor and mentor certification trainer with TalentC® and is the International Mentoring Community Director of Education.
Doug shows organizations how mentoring programs will influence a happy workforce culture (mentors), improve employee productivity (mentees), reducing costly employee high turnover (onboarding), improves the bottom line (organizations), which saves 150% to 200% of the annual salary of each departing employee. He provides one-on-one direct mentoring for individuals and groups, all backgrounds and industries locally and internationally.
Doug is an International Certified Mentor Practitioner (ICMP), an International Certified Mentor Facilitator (ICMF), and has obtained his Certificate of Achievement – Mentoring and his Certificate of Competence – Mentor from the International Mentoring Community (IMC).
Doug is recognized as a “Most viewed writer in the Business Mentoring and Mentors and Mentoring categories on the Quora website (www.quora.com).
An international speaker and author of The Gift of Mentoring (2014), Doug’s second book is set to publish in late 2019.
Do you have a workplace crisis or issue to resolve? Schedule a time to meet with Doug: https://calendly.com/doug-lawrence
I am asked on numerous occasions to respond to questions regarding mentoring, mentoring process and how mentoring can bring value to individuals and/or organizations. Here are some of those questions and my responses.
Q: How does one find a farming mentor?
A: I just did a search via Google and used the words “farming mentor”. There over 9M hits and some that are really good points of reference.
Take a look at some of the organizations that offer farming mentors and see if any of them meet your needs.
Industry experience is a nice to have - not a need to have. An extraordinary mentor would prepare themselves to work with you by researching the industry and to be familiar with some of the trends. Lack of industry knowledge just means that they will be asking lots of questions which stimulates your critical thinking, demonstrates their interest in you, your industry and helps to build a trusting relationship.
Q: If you were given an opportunity to help someone with communication skills, what would be the greatest words that you’d speak?
A:
Q: How would a 17 year old find a mentor in real-estate investing? How can I go find people to get help from in LA?
A: I would suggest finding someone in the industry and asking them for their advice and guidance. You could say, “I am interested in working in your industry once I have completed my education. What would you recommend that I do?”
As with anything in life there are no quick wins financially so be prepared to work hard for what you will achieve. It is refreshing to see that you have a vision and are seeking guidance early.
Q: As a team leader, how do you deal with individuals who struggle with cooperation and interaction with other group members?
A: I will respond to this from the role of a mentor and a team leader could take a similar approach.
Remember that relationships are two way so the other group members may be part of the challenge.
Using mentoring techniques and concepts I would engage with each of the team members to build a trusting relationship. I would focus on their individual challenges on a personal and then a professional level. By approaching it that way we will identify any barriers or obstacles that are impeding their ability to cooperate and interact with fellow team members.
From there it is a matter of providing them with communication tools as well as relationship building skills.
One thing that works well for me when it comes to group challenges such as this is to facilitate group mentoring to get them working together to critically think their way through a problem that they have been trying to solve.
A team leader that has been provided with proper leadership training supplemented by working with a mentor will be able to work through this challenge with a high degree of success.
Q: What advice do you have for people who interview badly?
A: I work with a number of people as their mentor while they are job hunting. Preparing for the interview is one of those steps. Your resume and cover letter can be rock solid but if you are not good at the interview process then you won’t be successful.
Dee has referenced using the technique of mental imagery/visualization which I fully support. I worked with a person who hadn’t been interviewed in over 19 years and we prepared for two interviews using this technique. She crushed both interviews and was successful in being hired by one of the employers.
Wayne’s recommendation to get a mentor is another great recommendation. Mentor’s will guide you and support you but they will not do the heavy lifting - that is your responsibility. I don’t write your resume - you do that but I will make suggestions. At the end of the day you own the resume and have to defend it so having me write it isn’t the path we want to take.
Q: Is leadership quality in every employee of an organization important?
A: I think it is a most definite nice to have - but I don’t think realistically that it would be a need to have. The leadership talent shortage that we are experiencing globally tells us that it is important but we are still trying to figure out how to address it.
I am a firm believe that we can prepare future leaders for tomorrow through the mentoring process. I have worked with potential leaders and current leaders to gain/enhance leadership skills using the mentoring process. There has been behavioral changes that has resulted in their leadership skills rising to the top. It becomes infectious in that other employees want to emulate the same behavior.
We have work to do but without strong leadership there is untapped potential that alludes us and lost productivity resulting in a huge impact on organization’s bottom line.
Q: How do you demonstrate the pros to someone focused on the cons?
A: I have worked with someone that was just like that.
What we did was to focus on the positive and we used reflection as a means to see both the pro and the con of something. We were able to look at what we might do differently the next time to make it a more positive outcome.
What I have also done is to use the Socratic Method to ask questions that helped us focus on the positive. Example, “What could we have said differently that would change the outcome”. Another approach is to provide two or three alternatives and have them think which would be the better approach.
If they are focused on the cons - they likely have low self-esteem so you may want to start there.
Q: Why would a mentor teach someone specifically how to succeed?
A: We need to look at the definition of mentoring in order to answer your question. Mentoring is a two way trusted relationship where the mentor and mentee learn and grow together - personally and professionally.
As the mentor shares their lived experiences with the mentee they are also learning something along the journey. It may be about the mentee, their organization, the challenges they have or had but just as importantly about themselves as a person and mentor.
It is about giving back but there is also the element that I as a mentor am going to learn and grow as well.
Q: How does a mentor choose his mentees?
A: Sometimes it is the mentee that selects the mentor as a result of a referral. The mentor needs to make sure that they have the capacity to take on the mentee.
When I am deciding whether or not I am going to work with a certain mentee it is usually due to the chemistry and whether or not the person appears committed to the journey. I need to be able to build a trusted relationship and that requires two people to make it happen.
The mentee would need to understand the difference between coaching and mentoring and what the outcomes of a mentoring relationship could be. I always recommend that the mentee take a day or two to reflect on our first meeting and if they feel there is chemistry and want to proceed then we can set up another time to meet. This ensures that we are starting the relationship/arrangement with both eyes open.
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Doug Lawrence is an extraordinary mentor and mentor certification trainer with TalentC and is the International Mentoring Community Director of Education.
Doug shows organizations how mentoring programs will influence a happy workforce culture (mentors), improve employee productivity (mentees), reducing costly employee high turnover (onboarding), improves the bottom line (organizations), which saves 150% to 200% of the annual salary of each departing employee. He provides one-on-one direct mentoring for individuals and groups, all backgrounds and industries locally and internationally.
Doug is an International Certified Mentor Practitioner (ICMP), an International Certified Mentor Facilitator (ICMF), and has obtained his Certificate of Achievement – Mentoring and his Certificate of Competence – Mentor from the International Mentoring Community (IMC).
Doug is recognized as a “Most viewed writer in the Business Mentoring and Mentors and Mentoring categories on the Quora website (www.quora.com).
An international speaker and author of The Gift of Mentoring (2014), Doug’s second book is set to publish in late 2019.
Do you have a workplace crisis or issue to resolve? Schedule a time to meet with Doug: https://calendly.com/doug-lawrence
I am asked on numerous occasions to respond to questions regarding mentoring, mentoring process and how mentoring can bring value to individuals and/or organizations. Here are some of those questions and my responses.
Q: What are some good ways for a small business entrepreneur to find a mentor? I am currently in the process of expanding my handmade business into wholesale.
A: Check to see if there are any incubators that work with small business entrepreneurs and if they provide mentoring as part of their service. Some include mentoring in their fee structure and some have it as an add on. I have also seen some cases where it is mandatory that mentoring be used.
You can also do some searches via Google to see if there are any associations that provide mentoring. I have seen some of the mentor software programs that have created a mentoring community and a data base of people wanting to mentor.
Make sure that you choose wisely when selecting a mentor. Ideally your mentor should have some form of training in order for you to get the biggest ROI for mentoring.
They don’t have to be from your industry - it is a nice to have but not a need to have. I am mentoring a number of different people and they are from industries that I do not have any experience in.
Q: If one of the top career mistakes is staying in a job too long, how do you know when it's best to find a new job?
A: One tell-tale sign is that it becomes a chore to get out of bed in the morning and go to work. You have become very negative about all thins - including your personal life. You bring home the negativity to an environment that is typically very positive. I have also seen where your productivity and quality of your work begins to decline to the point of you becoming toxic. When I am working with people in a mentoring relationship we touch on these elements and more especially when I sense that we have reached that crossroads. If the culture of the organization is not in alignment with your values it may well be time to move on.
Q: What can women do to have better representation within management and board level positions?
A: An interesting question and timely as I am doing research on this very topic and also exploring male vs female mentors - is there a difference, etc?
What I have seen is that mentoring can assist in providing tools that women need to move forward and assume roles in management or at the board table. Typically a women that is in that position has a male mentor or attempts to acquire a male mentor. There are some male mentors that are reluctant to mentor a women. Research is using the #metoo movement as a reason.
What I have done with one of my female mentees is to recommend having a male mentor and a female mentor - especially someone that has been on the journey to advance in leadership roles and acquire a board table seat.
Bottom line is that mentoring does help - you can leverage the full power of mentoring with a male and female mentoring team.
Q: Who is more effective, a Positive Leader or a Negative Leader?
A: A positive leader would be more effective. Ask yourself who you would rather work with - someone that is positive or someone that is negative. Think of the impact that a leader has on the culture of the organization. Would you want that to be positive or would you want that to be negative.
One thing to remember is that if you are working with a negative leader you need to observe the characteristics that you do not want. It was suggested to me a long time ago that, “you will work with many bosses over the course of your career. Learn to pick the good characteristics - characteristics that you want to emulate and keep those. Learn to recognize the characteristics that you do not want and cast them aside.”
Whether the situation is driven by positivity or negativity there is always something to learn.
Q: Are all 'soft skills' just interpersonal skills? If so, why don't people just call them that?
A: I think the term “soft skills” is one that is over used and with us not fully understanding what it means.
I am more inclined to use the term “essential skills”. I work with leaders and managers at all levels of organizations and what typically needs addressing are their essential skills. Technically they may be very strong but when it comes to working with others, communicating effectively, motivating and inspiring there is always room for improvement.
One thing I have noticed is that we have lost the art of communicating effectively. As a result there is more organizational turmoil and it is typically attributed to the lack of communicating effectively.
Q: If so much material is written about leadership, why are there so few real leaders in companies?
A: There is a global leadership talent shortage today. Check out the article on this site for more information: Are You Ready for the Leadership Shortage?
61% of the companies surveyed do not offer any leadership training - so we are setting people up to fail. What is also critical is to provide mentoring as part of the leadership development program. Sadly this is a process that can and will make a difference but it has to be implemented. Mentors need to be training. The organization from the top down has to recognize that leadership development is a priority.
Provide people with the tools to be successful - don’t set them up for failure. Don’t miss out on opportunities because you have not provided the training and mentoring for your leaders.
Q: Is it normal to only want mentors as my only circle of friends?
A: What this signals to me is that you have challenges with trust. A great mentor focuses on building a trusted relationship which explains you only wanting mentors in your inner circle/circle of friends. Your mentor(s) are filling a void.
Talk with your current mentor(s) to have them work with you to step outside that comfort zone and to build more relationships outside of your mentor(s). Focus on how to build trust and how to receive it from someone else.
The lack of trust will also have an impact on your professional life if it has not already done so. We need to address these personal growth challenges so that they do not become an obstacle to moving forward professionally.
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Doug Lawrence is an extraordinary mentor and mentor certification trainer with TalentC and is the International Mentoring Community Director of Education.
Doug shows organizations how mentoring programs will influence a happy workforce culture (mentors), improve employee productivity (mentees), reducing costly employee high turnover (on-boarding), improves the bottom line (organizations), which saves 150% to 200% of the annual salary of each departing employee. He provides one-on-one direct mentoring for individuals and groups, all backgrounds and industries locally and internationally.
Doug is an International Certified Mentor Practitioner (ICMP), an International Certified Mentor Facilitator (ICMF), and has obtained his Certificate of Achievement – Mentoring and his Certificate of Competence – Mentor from the International Mentoring Community (IMC).
Doug is recognized as a “Most viewed writer in the Business Mentoring and Mentors and Mentoring categories on the Quora website (www.quora.com).
An international speaker and author of The Gift of Mentoring (2014), Doug’s second book is set to publish in late 2019.
Do you have a workplace crisis or issue to resolve? Schedule a time to meet with Doug: https://calendly.com/doug-lawrence
I am asked on numerous occasions to respond to questions regarding mentoring, mentoring process and how mentoring can bring value to individuals and/or organizations. Here are some of those questions and my responses.
Q: What kind of strategy should I look for in a mentor?
A: While each mentor is different they should all approach the mentoring arrangement/relationship using strong mentoring concepts and techniques.
Remember that mentoring is a two way trusted relationship where both the mentor and mentee learn and grow together. A good mentor will, 1) build a trusted relationship with you, 2) be willing to share something personal about themselves in order to build trust, 3) create a safe environment for your conversation, 4) communicate effectively with you and share that technique to help you grow, 5) ask for your feedback - “what value did you get from our time together today?”, 6) Ask a series of questions to guide you to the answers - DO NOT TELL you what to do, 7) help facilitate the growth of your critical thinking skills and ideally have a calming presence.
Q: How is 'effective management' possible through the delegation of authority?
A: Delegation of authority is part of “effective management”. You should be striving for a work force that is engaged, empowered and accountable and a step towards that direction is delegation of authority.
There will be an element of trust that comes into place with delegation of authority. It will also create an environment of learning opportunities.
There are not many organizations that can demonstrate today that they are practicing “effective management”. Effective communication is always what holds them back.
Q: How do you manage a team of employees if you are not as smart as they are?
A: I would look at this from a different perspective. I would suggest that your team of employees possess certain skill sets that you may not have and you in turn possess skill sets that they don’t have. You have created the beginning of your learning and development environment.
As a leader or manager it should never come down to who is smarter than the other. What matters is that you complement each other based on the skills that you bring to the table.
As the manager or leader you need to engage and empower your team and lead them to success. If they are successful then so will you be.
As a trained mentor when I hear a statement like this I immediately begin to think of self-esteem challenges and I know that is not the case here.
Value your employees for what each brings to the table. Provide them with your guidance and show them the path that lies ahead to success for all.
Q: How can you tell if a business coach/mentor is good? Are there red flags to look out for?
A: Define your expectations up front. What do you hope to get from the relationship? One of the things that I always do with people that I am working with is to ask the question, “what was the value that we got from the time we spent together today?” A mentoring relationship is all about value. What value can the participants bring to the relationship?
Some things to consider:
Q: What are the most important leadership skills for the future?
A: Effective communication is at the top of my list for leadership skills for the future. I work inside organizations from a mentoring capacity and I see the lack of being able to communicate effectively as the root cause for a lot of the challenges that they have. When we have provided employees with the tools they need to communicate effectively the difference is like night and day. Better communicators become better problem solvers. There are a lot of segments to consider when we talk about communicating effectively. Each is key to becoming that effective communicator.
Another skill set that is definitely needed for the future is the ability to build trusted relationships. Most managers, supervisors and leaders do not take the time to build those relationships. This can and will create a culture of disengagement.
It is okay to make a mistake. If we “FAIL” at something that is alright. FAIL is short for “first attempt in learning.” As supervisors, managers and leaders we need to encourage our employees to go beyond and that it is okay to make a mistake. Let’s determine the cause of the mistake, address it and move on.
Q: What are some tips to establish a solid foundation for good corporate culture in a young company?
A: There have been some very good responses to this question already.
I would offer some points from my lived experiences working as an external mentor in some organizations.
These are just a few things that I have observed that would assist in building a good work place culture. It can be a daunting task but the rewards are well worth the journey.
Q: How important is it to have a mentor for starting a start-up for the first time?
A: It is very important. A must have. There are number of incubators that have built in mentoring as a service that start-ups can obtain. Some offer it as part of their fee structure while others charge extra for that service and may make it mandatory.
I had an advisory board of mentors when I first started my company and it was something I could not imagine being without. Each of my mentors brought something different from their forte and lived experiences.
Q: How do I go about finding a mentor and how do you approach someone for mentorship (especially in places like NYC)?
A: I would ideally like a little more information in order to properly answer your question.
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Doug Lawrence is an extraordinary mentor and mentor certification trainer with TalentC and is the International Mentoring Community Director of Education.
Doug shows organizations how mentoring programs will influence a happy workforce culture (mentors), improve employee productivity (mentees), reducing costly employee high turnover (onboarding), improves the bottom line (organizations), which saves 150% to 200% of the annual salary of each departing employee. He provides one-on-one direct mentoring for individuals and groups, all backgrounds and industries locally and internationally.
Doug is an International Certified Mentor Practitioner (ICMP), an International Certified Mentor Facilitator (ICMF), and has obtained his Certificate of Achievement – Mentoring and his Certificate of Competence – Mentor from the International Mentoring Community (IMC).
Doug is recognized as a “Most viewed writer in the Business Mentoring and Mentors and Mentoring categories on the Quora website (www.quora.com).
An international speaker and author of The Gift of Mentoring (2014), Doug’s second book is set to publish in late 2019.
Do you have a workplace crisis or issue to resolve? Schedule a time to meet with Doug: https://calendly.com/doug-lawrence