How To Become A Stronger Career Mentor

Author Paul Falcone offers the following great advice for how to become a stronger career mentor and coach by helping your subordinates grow and develop in their own careers.

Encourage others to engage in random acts of kindness.
Find creative ways of surprising your customers.
Focus on making bad relationships good and good relationships better.
Look for new ways of reinventing the workflow in light of your company's changing needs.
Think relationship first, transaction second.
Realize that people can tell more about you by the depth of your questions than by the quality of your statements.
Separate the people from the problem.
Always provide two solutions for each question you ask or suggestion you raise.
Employ right-brain imagination, artistry, and intuition plus left-brain logic and planning.

And, one of my favorite pieces of advice from Falcone:

Convert "yes...but:" to "yes...and" statements to acknowledge the speaker's point of view and to share additional insights.

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Use A Board Of Advisors

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Ask Your Customers To Help You Write Your Strategic Plan

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Resolve To Find A Mentor In 2011

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Give Positive Feedback. Don't Praise.

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5 Tips For Generating Ideas From Employees

Your employees have lots of ideas. So, be sure you provide the forums and mechanisms for your employees to share their ideas with you. Hold at least a few brainstorming sessions each year, as well. And, when you are brainstorming with your employees, try these five tips: Encourage ALL ideas. Don't evaluate or criticize ideas when they are first suggested. Ask for wild ideas. Often, the craziest ideas end up being the most useful. Shoot for quantity not quality during brainstorming. Encourage everyone to offer new combinations and improvements of old ideas.

Reach Communications & Leadership Expert David Grossman Via His New App

If you haven't engaged with David Grossman's website, Blog and incredibly useful eBooks, make a point of checking them all out at his website for The Grossman Group. David just launched his new App, called " Ask David ." Via the App, David promises to bring his communications industry expert advice and wisdom right to your fingertips. Topics covered include: Employee engagement Internal communications Change management Leadership effectiveness Crisis messaging Diversity and inclusion

What To Think About For Next Year

Hopefully, 2011 will be better for most businesses. As you start to think about what you can add into your budget and plan for 2011 (that you may have cut from your budget the past couple years), consider these "best company" practices for your workplace: •Mentoring programs, especially for new employees •Volunteer opportunities/days •Lunches with the CEO or president •On-site wellness fairs •Pep rallies •Telecommuting programs •Summer picnics for employees and their families •Retention bonuses •Lending libraries •Unlimited sick days •Employee team sports after hours, such as bowling and baseball •On-site child care services •Awarding vacation time in exchange for community volunteering time •Employee pot-luck breakfasts •Monthly birthday parties •On-site fitness equipment •Frequent town hall meetings with upper management •Subsidized gym memberships •Leadership development programs •Time given to employees to spend on work related items outside their ...

The Different Roles Of A Coach And A Mentor

Author Kristi Hedges , in her book, The Power of Presence , provides these explanations of the roles of a coach and of a mentor and how they differ from each other: The Coach shows empathy through a mixture of tough love and strong support. The coach is not afraid to push you because she sees the best in you. This leader has a good sense of what's going on in the rest of your life and isn't afraid to mention it as it relates to your performance and potential. The Mentor makes you feel that your success is always top of mind. Mentors have your back to guide you along in your career. They will act as a confidante as you hash through ideas and won't hold it against you as your iterate. Because they have done well, they operate from a point of helping others do the same.

Do You Really Need To Read Leadership Books?

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