MentorGuru – Page 40

Stay in the Question

Having all the answers isn’t a good thing, says Tim Hurson, productive thinking and creative leadership expert. “Productive thinking requires us not to rush to answers, but to hang back, to keep questioning even when the answers seem obvious.”

Being OK with ambiguity fosters creative thinking, he says, but acknowledges it’s hard to do. “We are patted on the head for coming up with that one right answer quickly—the faster you answer, the smarter you are,” says Hurson, who’s also the author of Think Better, An Innovator’s Guide to Productive Thinking. “This drive for singularity and speed continues in our adult lives. In business, the successful manager is the one who is decisive and always has the right answer.”

But being able to stay with the question is one of the most powerful thinking skills you can develop. Here’s how he says to do it:
“Question. The more we question and the more we stay in the question, asking it over and over again, the more useful our ultimate answers will be.”

“Remember, initial ideas usually aren’t ideas at all. They are little more than regurgitations of the patterns we already have. The reason they arise is simply that they lie so close to the surface of our consciousness. They have little to do with productive thought. They are merely recalled.”
“Live in your question until you can see the vast panorama of possible answers.”

“Make lists all the time. Ask why things are the way they are. Ask how things might be different. Always be making lists.”

“Your mind is a treasure box of ideas, inspirations and insights ricocheting and resounding through your hundred billion neural connections,” Hurson says. “Sometimes you just have to wait for them to come into view.”

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Building Your SUPPORT Systems

Personal development / MentorGuru

So you now have your well-designed goals—fantastic!

You also have your plan of action to achieve them—hooray!

You even have your achievement-management system set to keep you on track with that plan—bravo!

What could possibly get in your way now?

Actually, 6,692,030,277 things (the world’s current population), or at least those people whom you circulate with regularly.

This reminds me of the title for one of Connie Podesta’s books: Life Would Be Easy If It Weren’t for Other People. So true, so true.

Your associations are one of the most powerful influences (I will discuss the most powerful influence on Thursday) that determine whether you will stick to your goals or get forever derailed.

Dr. David McClelland of Harvard University concluded after 25 years of research that the choice of a negative “reference group” was in itself enough to condemn a person to failure and underachievement in life. Whoa! Scary, isn’t it?

His discovery indicates that your reference group is more important in determining your success or failure than any other single factor.

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Mentors and Mentoring: What is a mentor?

Mentor / MentorGuru

A friend of mine called the other day to tell me he had been promoted to Engineering Manager for a large, national, environmental services and consulting firm. I shared his good news and thought to myself about the years we had worked together. I remembered the day I hired him as a field engineer, his first professional job.

He has worked hard to get where he is. He is intelligent and good with people. He was a quick study and I enjoyed sharing my experience and knowledge with him. I may have been his first mentor, but I wasn’t his last. Yet it got me to thinking about the importance of mentors.

I would welcome your thoughts and stories on this topic as well. Feel free to email them to me.

History
The original Mentor is a character in Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey. When Odysseus, King of Ithaca went to fight in the Trojan War, he entrusted the care of his kingdom to Mentor. Mentor served as the teacher and overseer of Odysseuss’ son, Telemachus.

Definition

The Merriam-Webster WWWebster Dictionary defines a mentor as "a trusted counselor or guide." For their Mentor/Protégé Program, the Anesthesiology Department of Cleveland’s MetroHealth System defines mentor as "a wise, loyal advisor or coach."

Application

A mentor is an individual, usually older, always more experienced, who helps and guides another individual’s development. This guidance is not done for personal gain.

Mentoring is used in many settings. Although it is most common in business, we saw above its use in a medical setting at MetroHealth. It is commonly used in educational settings, especially with "at risk" students. It is also the basic principle behind the Big Brothers and Big Sisters programs.

One of the most valuable assets your career can have is a good mentor.

In subsequent articles we will look at ways to find a mentor, and the requirements you must meet if you want to be a mentor.

If you have any questions or comments about this article, or if there is an issue you would like us to address, please post them on this blog as a comment.

Mentors and Mentoring: What is a mentor? Read More »

Remain F-L-E-X-I-B-L-E

Personal development / MentorGuru

Have you ever heard the adage, “I will accomplish this even if it kills me”? Well, in my early years of goal setting and achieving… I almost died! I also missed a lot of other opportunities along the way.

I became so focused, so dogmatic about the goals I had set and my specific plans to achieve them that my blinders kept me from 1) seeing easier and faster routes to my destination, and 2) that some of the goals that were important earlier in the year or at the beginning of the decade were less important than I originally believed.

One of the greatest challenges to success is learning how to stay focused on your goals while remaining flexible enough to adapt to needed change.

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Want to become a leader?

Leadership development, Personal development / MentorGuru

This weekend I am in Gothenburg doing a leadership workout for JCI Gothenburg together with my partner Kai Roer (www.bebetter.no and www.kairoer.com) and Karolina Luna.

This is the main goal for the training is:

The exercise of leadership is characterized by who you are as a person, the experience and the self-perception one has, one’s desires and ambitions – and how one will emerge as a leader. Developing a self-understanding and regulate itself is therefore a key learning area for managers.

You will get help finding out what is the basis for your personal leadership, for it is through the work of your own leader-platform that you are your own leader developer.

Being a leader is about influencing other people, which requires that you understand how you influence on other people – what effect your behavior has. By understanding how others react to you and what you do, you can adjust your behavior so that you are more able to achieve what you want. Through workshops, courses and lectures, you will end up with a clear perception of you as a leader.

"Even a born leader, must go through a birth" Frode Dale

For Kai Roer and my self writing a leadership book this is very good. 23 young leaders in Gothenburg is attending and I expect to learn a lot from them too.

Our book is not a theoretical book, but more as a workbook. We have pointed out some theme which is important for a leader, and put up some empty pages for your own reflection, good tip and to be creative.

This is our themes for the weekend:

Juhari window

Different leaders from Gothenburg comes and speak

A lot of workshops and group tasks

Personality and DISC analyses within a team and how to deal with the difference

Want to join us? If you are in Gothenburg come in to us.

Want to become a leader? Read More »

The Value Of Mentoring

Leadership development, Mentoring / MentorGuru

Helping business start-ups is a rewarding activity for many retired entrepreneurs and (since selling his own company) it has even become the principal activity for Derek Barr, a business angel with a keen interest in early-stage ventures. Having grown his own specialist engineering concern into an international business, with turnover of £25 million, he sold out to international engineering group GEA in 1996.

Barr has vast experience in training and developing successful executives and his involvement with the London Business School Entrepreneurship Summer School goes right back to the beginning. He has seen the Summer School change in form and scope to what it is today. For him, however, one key part of the programme has not changed – namely the role of mentors.

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Your Achievement Management System

Personal development / MentorGuru

Wow! We have covered some incredible ground thus far! You have your ambitious and appropriate goals that are based on your strengths and opportunities and have been whole-life balanced. You know who you want to become, who you want to serve and you have the strategic plan of action to achieve all your worthy goals.

Now it is time to create an execution system to implement your plan in the real world—your world.

Some of the best of intentions and greatest plans have failed because there wasn’t a system of execution to see them through. When it comes down to it, your new plans, your new actions, your new behavior, have to be implemented into your monthly, weekly and ultimately daily routine. A routine is something you do every day without fail… and eventually without thinking about it.

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Why You Need To Train People For Mentoring

Mentoring, Mentoring tools / MentorGuru

The purpose of training is to enable mentors and mentorees to establish effective relationships. Some programs simply introduce people and leave them to "get on with it". Occasionally, this works. But people need to know what is expected of them, how to go about it and why it is important and you need to be confident they have the skills for mentoring.

Why Train?

Building a relationship of rapport and trust can be tricky when there are many individual differences;
Managing people is different from mentoring people; and
Motivation will be critical to success.

Mentoring is different from other workplace relationships. It is professional and personal, it deals with rational and emotional motivation and it non-directive but offers guidance and advice! The paradoxical nature of mentoring needs to be understood and the key skills developed.
In addition, participants usually need ongoing personal support and reassurance. Establishing an interactive network of participants will add value. This is most likely to happen when participants meet and work together in training sessions.

Training Mentors and Mentorees

The role of the mentor, communication styles, strategies and practical techniques for applying the mentoring process can be explored in workshops. It is usually beneficial to provide mentors with an initial session separately from the mentorees so that they are able to discuss any issues candidly.

Mentorees need to be primed to make the most of the mentoring experience. Their responsibilities, communication and goal setting are topics you want to cover in their training.

Bringing mentors and mentorees together for a workshop is highly desirable. This way you can enable them to identify expectations of each other in a non-threatening group process. You can also ensure that they have a common understanding of mentoring etiquette, procedures and reporting. Being part of a group reduces the feeling of isolation and you can set up a mechanism for ongoing group contact. Within this workshop mentoring pairs can have a structured first meeting to break the ice. Debriefing the meeting as a group, you can draw out do’s and don’ts for effective future meetings.

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Getting Lucky

Personal development / MentorGuru

Do you think you are lucky—or unlucky? Your luck lies in whether you believe you are or not. You have to believe in luck to see it, and to realize it.

Richard Branson says: “Yes, of course, we are all lucky. If you live in a free society, you are lucky. Luck surrounds us every day; we are constantly having lucky things happen to us, whether you recognize it or not. I have not been any more lucky or unlucky than anyone else. The difference is when luck came my way, I took advantage of it.”

“I have not been any more lucky or unlucky than anyone else. The difference is when luck came my way, I took advantage of it.” —Richard Branson

Wow, this is straight from Sir Richard Branson.

The old adage we hear too often, “Luck is when opportunity meets preparation,” isn’t enough. I think there are two other critical components to “getting lucky.”

The (Complete) Formula for Getting Lucky: Preparation (personal growth) + Attitude(belief/mindset) + Opportunity (luck) + Action (doing something about it) = Getting Lucky

Preparation: You must constantly improve and prepare yourself—improve your skills, knowledge, expertise, relationships and resources—so that when luck strikes, you have the wherewithal to take advantage of it.

Attitude: This is where luck evades most people. As Sir Richard says, lucky things happen to all of us all the time, but that isn’t true unless you orient yourself to see situations, conversations and circumstances as fortuitous. As with most things in life, it begins with a mindset or an attitude. You cannot see what you don’t look for, and you cannot look for what you don’t believe in.

Opportunity: You can make your own luck, but the luck we are discussing here is those things you don’t plan for, or happened even better, faster or differently than expected. In this stage of the formula, it’s best not to force luck. Just let what happens happen, what shows up show up… let luck come to you. And it will—it does every day.

Action: This is your part of the deal. With the universe, God, the Lucky Charms leprechaun, whomever or whatever you associate delivering the luck just presented to you, it is now your job to act on it. This is what will separate the Richard Bransons from the Joseph Wallingtons. Who is Joseph Wallington? Exactly, you’ve never heard of him. That’s because he didn’t do anything about all the equally lucky things that happened to him.

What is the luckiest thing that has ever happened to you? What part of the formula will you focus on so you can get luckier?

Getting Lucky Read More »

Reverse Mentoring

Mentoring / MentorGuru

Based on old paradigm mentoring where a more senior person (in terms of age, position or experience) mentors a junior, reverse mentoring places the more junior person as the mentor.

Usually used when executives need to understand operations or technology that can be shared by shop floor, front-line or tech-savvy employees.

The key to success in reverse mentoring is the ability to create and maintain an attitude of openness to the experience and dissolve the barriers of status, power and position.

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