Qualities of An Effective Mentor

What a privilege it is to be a mentor, having gained enough knowledge and experience that the new generations of your profession look up to you for advice. This role inevitably comes with a large responsibility. You are in a position not only to guide someone to a life of success but also to benefit your industry with your lessons after you’ve left. So what qualities does one look for in a mentor? We want someone knowledgeable, a clear communicator, someone we can trust, right?

The fundamental qualities of a mentor rely on their ability to deliver information effectively to the mentee. The first potential barrier we have to recognize here is the age gap, someone older mentoring a young prospect may find it difficult to communicate. For this reason, the mentor's approach needs to be much more personalized. To adjust your approach, here’s what you need to keep in mind:

Ask Questions

As a mentor, you’ll want to understand the goals your mentee is aiming for. By asking them questions you are conducting a series of helpful lessons. It starts by making them think, they’ll concentrate on their intentions for working in this given field. From that, they’ll come up with goals for which you can develop objectives. After that, you can begin to find actionable methods for your mentee to take.

It is easy to talk people’s ears off about something you’ve done for years but it can be overwhelming for a newcomer. Instead, define clear objectives that you and your mentee will be able to do to create progress. 

Voice Your Opinion

When a mentee is faced with something (issue or opportunity), always make sure to share your thoughts on the situation. It is important not to make the conversation all about you, simply share your thoughts when appropriate. This tool is beneficial to demonstrate your understanding that your mentee is still learning. Also, your opinion is valued by the ones you mentor, so don’t keep it to yourself, teach them to think like an experienced professional.

Challenge Your Mentee

Mentors are not therapists, you’re not there to hold your mentee's hand through the process. Of course, you want to encourage and be a safe space for them to go but don’t allow them to become dependent. Instead, find ways to dig deeper into their assumptions of the industry by asking them hardball questions. Challenge their comfort zone by being direct and honest even in times they may not want to hear the truth. The mentor must grow the mentee into a competent person capable of handling their career alone. 

Open Them To Your Network

This option is not required but if you are comfortable with introducing your mentee to people in your network it can be very helpful. This may be a big draw for some people coming to you for help as a mentor. If you decide to go this route, be strategic with who you choose, having a clear idea of the value they can provide to each other. Introducing your mentees to people in your network can expose them to the types of people to look for in theirs. Also, it could lead to opportunities for your mentee down the line.

Conclusion

The role of a mentor can be extremely rewarding but it can also be challenging in terms of patience or where to start. Put yourself in the position of the mentee, what would you want to be taught? How would you want to be treated to ensure you’re effectively learning? Whatever approach you decide on, be sure to do it with the same passion and professionalism that established you in your career.

We work with successful companies to increase their net profits using exceptional custom software solutions, contact us here to see how we can help your business grow!

Finding Inspiration: Secrets of the Successful

Everyone interested in creating eventually runs into the trap of telling themselves “I just have to find inspiration” or “yeah but that already exists”. The problem with this is that it is a very closed-minded outlook to have. Oftentimes people find one idea and fixate on it, they spend so long trying to make it work in a certain way that they close off other opportunities. The thing about inspiration is that you can’t force it. You can’t go out looking for it or complaining that you haven’t found it. Instead, you have to try things, leave your comfort zone and let the inspiration find you. 

Let's say you are an aspiring writer, you’re giving yourself 6 months to write a book that will inspire someone to change bad habits. You realize you’ll want to have about 20,000 words across 100 pages. The issue now is how do you start? You’ll start brainstorming some ideas here and there but nothing’s sticking. The issue is that you won’t find your answer by kicking ideas around in one place. Inspiration is born out of the real-world experience, realizations, and characteristics you notice in the world. You’ll need to get out of your comfort zone, observe, learn, adapt to new environments.

So now the question is where to start with this, let’s look at some places inspiration likes to hide:

Travel

Exploring places of the world you’ve never been to can open your mind to so many new things. Observing other cultures and analyzing their behaviors is important to developing an understanding of the world beyond what you know it as. People often take months, sometimes years to travel. During their time, they build knowledge of who they are and challenge their comfort zone. Leaving your comfort zone is a crucial aspect of becoming inspired. If you spend your whole life in a room with no windows, you wouldn’t know there’s a world out there.

Work On Yourself

So often we change things about ourselves, our clothes, our hair, our friends, but rarely do we ever change the way we think. Now changing how we think is one of the most challenging tasks we can go through as human beings. However, it can be the most rewarding and allow you to transform your whole life. To get started, you’ll want to develop a routine, and the morning is the most crucial time to have a routine in place. Researchers found that 92% of people who have morning routines are highly productive.

Setting the pace for the day and completing tasks will develop self-fulfilling habits within you. Working on yourself whether it’s reading, writing, or exercising, will all make you stronger mentally. This will lead to inspiration as you are keeping promises to yourself which also develops the highest level of confidence.

Listen To Mindset Mentors

As cliche as it may be, motivational speakers are great for gaining perspective. The advice given by these individuals is typically derived from a great struggle they’ve had in their life. Listening to how they overcome their obstacles can allow you to find yourself in terms of similar emotions, then you can take advice from the lessons they’ve learned. Speakers such as Jordan Peterson or Jocko Willink are some good options to understand different perspectives.

Not only this, speakers with high levels of knowledge in self-development can teach you how to take action and make changes to better your future.

Explore New Opportunities

There is no limit to great ideas, it just takes the right mindset to bring new ones to life. Someone may have done something but that doesn’t mean you can’t do it better. There are always new areas to explore with any given topic. Innovation to make products or services more easily accessible is extremely useful in 2022. Think about it this way, in America 60% of consumers order delivery or take out at least once per week, nearly 70% of millennials prefer to shop online, and 65% use online banking.

This goes to show that original ideas can be innovated to best serve the needs of today's market. 

Conclusion

Inspiration takes time, numerous test runs, opportunities, failures, and revisions are all things an entrepreneur will go through. The concepts that succeed are ones built on knowledge, research, and passion. Inspiration will allow you to put these efforts into your plan, and if you build it with this level of attention and care, you will achieve anything.

We work with successful companies to increase their net profits using exceptional custom software solutions, contact us here to see how we can help your business grow!

Tips for Crafting Well Equipped Employees

As employee satisfaction is at the forefront for recruiters, companies are scrambling to keep employees engaged at work. It was found that 85% of employees are disengaged from their workplace. There is no desire for them to give any effort and instead resort to doing just enough to get by. Employee turnover rates are largely due to factors as simple as not wanting to go into the office anymore. This is a shocking reality that many companies are struggling with throughout the past couple of years but why is that?

The talent shortage facing industries is adding to the problem as well, making the operation of companies inefficient and expensive. This situation certainly doesn’t seem ideal to say the least, but it is not unsolvable. The root of the problem is that there is no drive for employees to want to produce their best work. If a company cannot motivate its employees, how will they attract top talent?

Researchers found that employee retention improves by 82% and productivity by 70% when onboarding practices are positive. This is a significant factor to consider, the welcoming process and training for employees set the pace for morale. This should be a strong incentive for companies to implement the best possible onboarding practices. However, it can be confusing where to start, so let's look at what where to begin:

Get To Know Employees

Most companies have a standard training process that each new hire is put through (varying from departments) until they are steady enough. The issue here is that you cannot expect everyone to respond effectively to the same method. Having discussions with employees and getting to know their interests, goals, and skills is a good way to see how you can teach them. This will also be a good indicator to see what opportunities you can provide them. But how should you approach this?

It is best to meet informally, it can be one on one or in a group. The goal is to allow members to open up freely, dropping the employer to employee discomfort. In short, align training with the needs of each employee. 

Incorporate On The Job Learning

You’ve heard the common phrase “the best teacher is experience” and this is completely relevant in the workplace. Explanations can only get you so far, they are best for delivering basic amounts of information. However, you’ll want to expose new hires to the reality of your workplace as soon as possible. In addition, this style of training is much more time and cost-effective. 

Apply Feedback 

Always be open with employees about their performance in a constructive way. Bear in mind that they’re still new and adapting to this new work environment. Companies can do this in many different ways whether it be weekly reviews or assigning a task and giving feedback. As well, ask employees how they feel about the training they’re doing. Find out directly from them what you can incorporate to assist their learning. This type of communication is essential to employee development. In addition, it will demonstrate that a company values its employees. 

Use Gradual Implementation

You don’t want to overwhelm your employees with all this information, questions, and training procedures. This is where it’s important to pay attention to yourself as a leader and recognize areas that need more attention and where you should ease up. This is the first step to creating an environment where employees will feel comfortable being around for the long haul.

Conclusion

To build an organization of talented individuals in 2022, companies must create an environment that is supportive of their employees' needs. Keeping these tips in mind can lead to the construction of empowering company culture. Now to do this effectively will take leaving the comfort zone that employers are used to. Give it a proper chance and see what it can do for your team.

We work with successful companies to increase their net profits using exceptional custom software solutions, contact us here to see how we can help your business grow!