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July 31, 2010, 4:31 pm
Success is simply a matter of luck. Ask any failure. Earl Wilson
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Mentoring at Work
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Mentoring is different from coaching, though coaching skills continue to be very useful.
In coaching, the coach's role does not allow him to deliver "answers" to the client. The emphasis is on helping the client to find their own answers, and the coach is not necessarily even knowledgeable in the subject area being coached.
But as a business mentor, I am an expert in the area I work in. You are paying me to share my expertise - to teach you how to apply what I know in your environment.
My many years of training and experience as a successful manager of people and projects in blue-chip multi-nationals make me a valuable resource which you can tap, in the following areas:
- Supervising Staff
I learned two powerful lessons early on in my career as a manager:
Lesson 1
Finding the right technical approach is 10% of the solution. The other 90% is making it work in the real world - and that's down to people.
Lesson 2
People are a manager's only real asset, yet often they seem to be the biggest problem too!
If you're struggling to set up a happy and effective work team, then I can certainly help you. Here are some pointers:
- The most important decision any manager can make is hiring the
right people. I can give you a strategy to get it right. I can
set you up for a successful recruiting campaign and guide you
through its implementation.
- Defining job specifications is an essential ingredient to any
efficient supervision plan. I have lived through and learned from
all the major pitfalls.
- Daily supervision is a powerful and essential activity. Staff
effectiveness doesn't just happen. I can give you techniques to
make a world of difference.
- Problem staff can do far worse than simply not contribute their
share. They can wear you out, poison the working environment,
and undermine your best efforts. I can show you how to address
this difficult area.
- Here are some tasters on other key areas I can help you with:
- The most important decision any manager can make is hiring the
right people. I can give you a strategy to get it right. I can
set you up for a successful recruiting campaign and guide you
through its implementation.
Horses for courses - make sure you have the right people in the right positions
Freeing up Futures - why "letting someone go" can be an all-round good thing
Real-world job specifications - job specs to live by - not dust off and smirk at once a year
Performance Reviewing - Fact-based, fair and honest is the only honourable way to go, and it needn't be expensive on your time
Sensible staff reporting strategies - where micro-management meets empowerment
Cultivating personal accountability in your staff - ever heard of the "management monkey"?
Personal Integrity - do it right, or do something else
Discipline - balancing a friendly and professional working environment
Delegation - it might seem easier to do it yourself, but DON'T!
Careers Management - where personal and organisational goals dovetail
Fun! - Making the work place a great place to be
- Customer Service Management
Setting up and running a customer support function is far from easy. Too often, these groups are given low status and poor resourcing. I did this so successfully in the UK that my company asked me to duplicate those results in the USA, Europe and India. Amazingly, across all these continents the problems are exactly the same, and so are the solutions. - I can give you techniques to help you win the support and the resources you need from your management.
- I can give you clear guidance on how to grow a healthy customer-focused culture within your team.
- I can show you how to win recognition, gratitude and admiration for your team from your customers and your managers.
- I can show you how to recognise where your efforts are going, and how to ratchet the efficiency and quality of the work your team does.
- Here are some more key areas I can help you with:
Dare to examine fundamentals - Be prepared to walk away
What are you for? - Write down a cast iron, agreed charter
Cogs - How does your group fit within the broader company context?
Resourcing - How can you force management to see reason?
Metrics - How to measure support performance
Scoping - Setting limits on your loading
AWOOGAH! - What to do when you simply can't cope. Again.
Alligators - How to re-build the fence whilst not getting eaten alive
Weeding - Understanding root causes of support calls & removing them
Morale - Sad people don't do a good job
Trumpets - Buy one and blow it often
We're OK - You're OK - Removing the Villain mentality
Status Building - Putting your team where it deserves to be - Process Engineering
Looking explicitly at how we do what we do is the beginning or how organisations grow into efficiency and maturity. It allows us to find opportunities to improve things permanently. Yet process engineering is often seen as being a luxury that can't be afforded, or a tedious exercise in futility. It's neither! Organisations can become more stable, more professional, more relaxed and friendly as they walk the process engineering road - moving from process observation to process documentation, refinement and automation. Here are some areas I can help you with:Costs & benefits - how to decide when to proceed
Opening minds - more people factors! Overcoming resistance
The Drudge factor - how to motivate and reward process documentation
Staying Flexible - in the face of a changing world
Group documentation - managing joint ownership & responsibilities
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Strategic/Change Management
Managing a static organisation is a challenge, but building a new one is more difficult - and guiding an existing one through major change - is much harder still. People naturally fear change and they resist it. Planned change is often a response to a critical situation, yet it is also an opportunity for expensive mistakes to happen at the worst possible time. Things to think about include:
Where now? - How do you move from a problem statement to a plan of action?
Hymn Books - Building a popular plan
Eek! - Assessing and minimizing risk
Compass - Keeping the goal in mind
How Much? - Estimating costs accurately and management drift
Divide and conquer - Spread out the eggs
And - as they say - much much more!
So if you could use a boost up the career ladder, contact me for an informal (and free) initial discussion.
You may also be interested in my page on executive coaching.
Click image to See More or Buy
The Time of Your Life £7.50 This little Book of Secrets is a compilation of great techniques and insights from my coaching practice. Available in paper or electronic formats. Click image to see more or buy |