Make the Most of Your Mentoring Relationships

Written by Judith Lindenberger


Makerepparttar Most of Your Mentoring Relationships By Judith Lindenberger

Mentoring is one ofrepparttar 104959 best ways to learn, to get feedback, and to take your career torepparttar 104960 next level. Here are ten tips for makingrepparttar 104961 most of your mentoring relationships.

Tip #1 Self-assess. Ask yourself, "What skills do I need to get where I want to go?"

Tip #2 Identify your learning goals. Put them in writing.

Tip #3 Decide together howrepparttar 104962 mentoring relationship will work - frequency and type of contact.

Tip #4 Commitrepparttar 104963 time. Don’t give up ifrepparttar 104964 chemistry doesn’t feel right atrepparttar 104965 first meeting. Meet a minimum of once per month. Touch base regularly - by e-mail, phone, in person.

Tip #5 Take time to build trust and communication. Get to know each other on a personal level. Discuss your backgrounds, interests, career histories, and perspectives of your organizations.

Tip #6 Keep confidences. Nothing kills trust in a mentoring relationship faster than a breach of confidence.

Tip #7 Be sensitive to cultural and gender differences. Do a little homework. And listen.

Truth or Consequences: How to Give Employee Feedback

Written by Judith Lindenberger


Truth or Consequences: How to Give Performance Feedback By Judith Lindenberger

Inrepparttar bestseller, Good to Great, Jim Collins discovered that, "the good-to-great companies continually refinedrepparttar 104958 path to greatness withrepparttar 104959 brutal facts of reality."

And, in his recent autobiography, Jack Welch reports that he spent about half of his time on people: recruiting new talent, pickingrepparttar 104960 right people for particular positions, grooming young stars, developing managers, dealing with under performers, and reviewingrepparttar 104961 entire talent pool.

Says Welch, "Havingrepparttar 104962 most talented people in each of our businesses isrepparttar 104963 most important thing. If we don’t, we lose."

Why is it that many of us put off giving feedback to our employees even though we intuitively know that giving and getting honest feedback is essential to grow and develop and to build successful organizations? Maybe it is because there are so many ways to screw it up.

Here are ten common feedback mistakes:

1.Speaking out only when things are wrong. "Praise to a human being represents what sunlight, water and soil are to a plant -repparttar 104964 climate in which one grows best." - Earl Nightingale

2."Drive-by" praise without specifics or an honest underpinning. - "Great job!"

3.Waiting until performance or behavior is substantially below expectations before acting on it.

4.Giving positive or negative feedback long afterrepparttar 104965 event has occurred.

5.Not taking responsibility for your thoughts, feelings and reactions. "This comes straight fromrepparttar 104966 boss."

6.Giving feedback through e-mail messages, notes, or overrepparttar 104967 telephone.

7.Giving negative feedback in public.

8.Criticizing performance without giving suggestions for improvement.

9.No follow up afterwards.

10.Not having regularly scheduled performance review meetings.

Giving and receiving clear and constructive feedback requires courage and skill, and is essential to building good relationships with and motivating peak performance from your team.

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