Virtually every week, I respond to a question submitted by a reader. I call the series Today’s Challenge. If you’re interested in past questions, and my responses, I’ve created a category on the sidebar to help you find these posts. Today’s question is: How do you make mentoring work?
Category: Development
Engaging and developing others is one of our primary roles as a leader. For some of us this comes very naturally and for others it is a discipline that must be cultivated. Regardless of the ease or rigor required, the leaders we admire the most figure this out.
Leaders are resourceful – this should not be confused with full of resources. Often it is our ingenuity, creativity, tenacity or even our stubbornness that enables us to accomplish what other might perceive to be impossible. Today’s Challenge question is from a leader who is not “full of resources.” Her budget for developing people is extremely low – what should she do?
Leaders generally know where they are trying to go – it’s called vision. The best leaders also have a good sense of where they are today – it’s called being grounded in reality. However, the challenge is often the how. How will you move from here to there? Today’s Challenge is a question about that journey: I know where I want to go as a leader, how do I get there?
This week I am attending the i4cp (Institute for Corporate Productivity) conference in Phoenix, Arizona. Thus far, we’ve heard from practitioners, academics and authors. My notes are full of ideas and questions to consider in the weeks and months to come. Today, I’ll share an assignment given to us by Kevin Wilde, Chief Learning Officer for General Mills.
This post was originally published on December 16, 2011.
Can you remember going by car to some exciting destination when you were a child? Okay, maybe it wasn’t exciting, but you were in the car and you asked the question that kids have been asking since Henry Ford produced the Model T – “Are we there yet?”
Growing organizations have many things in common. One of them – they are always in need of more leaders. If not to meet the demands of today, their quest is to ensure they’ll have adequate leadership for their expanding future. Today’s Challenge: How do you spot emerging leaders?
In challenging economic times, one of the easiest items to cut from the budget is training and development. The rationale is understandable. Rarely will any organization see immediate negative consequences when training is discontinued. It looks like found money in the budgeting process.
The career ladder our parents knew has been replaced with a climbing wall. That’s the conclusion my friend Bev Kaye has reached. What a powerful metaphor! With this picture in mind, let’s think about this week’s question: I’ve been demoted, what do I do now?
Virtually every week, I respond to a question submitted by a reader. I call the series, Today’s Challenge. If you’re interested in past questions, and my responses, I’ve created a category on the sidebar to help you. Today’s question is: How do you make mentoring work?