Practical tips. Prompts to get you thinking. The odd rant.

  This is the second part of a pair of posts about mentoring: the signs that it’s not working as it should and what to do. You can find Part 1 here, where I set out the first 3 signs. 4. Little or no progress When mentoring works well, each meeting ends with the mentee… Read more

When mentoring works well, it can benefit all involved: the mentee reaches their goal, and the mentor develops their management skills whilst supporting someone’s progress. Whether it’s within a workplace or via a professional body, benefits abound. However, there are times when mentoring doesn’t work well – for the mentee, their mentor and the people… Read more

Continuous Professional Development (CPD) can take many forms, e.g. courses, coaching (group or 1:1) and mentoring – to name a few. When I’ve assessed submissions for L&D awards, the majority of entries stick to courses; yet there are many more learning opportunities. For example, reading is an often-overlooked option – well, as an author I… Read more

I’ve been on both sides of this experience. As the employee, I’ve felt the dejection when something I’ve worked hard at gets the ‘red pen treatment’, i.e. nothing but fault-finding and critical feedback, ‘must try harder’. Yet as a manager, I’ve also felt the frustration at having to explain something again – and again. And… Read more

  How are you doing at work? Do you really know? Maybe it’s been ages since your last appraisal, or maybe you’ve got a boss who tells you when you’ve screwed up but not much else, or maybe you’re not sure because you haven’t asked for feedback. What’s stopping you? Reasons I hear from people… Read more

Recently I’ve been leading Zoomly’s ‘How to develop your leadership style’ workshop quite a lot for different clients. It’s reminded me that this exercise is great for leaders – whether you’re an aspiring leader or already there. One of the first tasks participants work on in is to consider the leaders who’ve inspired them. Time… Read more

Are you being delegated to or simply dumped on? If your manager gives you work to do and you’re not sure why it’s needed, where it fits in and just how on earth you should do it, chances are that you’re being dumped on. Or, dare I suggest, not listening all that actively to said… Read more

If you speak English because you were born and raised in the UK, giving feedback can be painful. It’s a culture thing. We’re so concerned about about making everyone comfortable and not upsetting anyone, we can dress up feedback with verbiage, meaningless platitudes and tie ourselves in knots of nonsense in the process. Sometimes out… Read more

Ever been on a training course of some kind, loved it, learned lots – yet can’t remember it later? You’re not alone. If the emphasis is mostly on the event itself, along with a focus on your immediate reaction to it, identifying the impact afterwards will be a challenge. Ideally, the difference that your sponsors… Read more

At different times and in different situations I’ve been fortunate to benefit from the wisdom of mentors – and been privileged to have mentored others. I also help clients get their mentoring programmes working well. For a mentoring relationship to deliver the results required, it’s essential that conversations between mentor and mentee encourage reflection leading… Read more