In this issue, we will look at how a mentoring relationship can support the development process and individual integrity though mutually agreed upon accountability.

Three main factors go into building trust-based mentoring relationships: competence, integrity, and caring.  In this newsletter series, we will explore how you and your mentoring partners can leverage these areas to create powerful and transformational experiences.  Topics include:

• Building-Trust Based Mentoring Relationships Introduction
• Assessing Competence
• Acquiring New Abilities
• Exhibiting Integrity through Values
• Using Mutual Accountability to Support Integrity

The Leadership Attributes series explores how 10 skills can be leveraged to increase your leadership abilities.  The 10 topics covered are:

• Awareness
• Building Community
• Commanding the Big Picture
• Empathy
• Foresight
• Healing
• Helping Others Grow
• Listening
• Persuasion
• Stewardship

The Mentoring Dialogues: How to Have Productive Conversations series will explore twelve distinct conversations that help create a productive and engaging mentoring relationship. This series will include seven issues:

• An Introduction to the Mentoring Conversations Model
• No Confidence Conversations
• Topical Confidence Conversations
• Relational Confidence Conversations
• Partial Confidence Conversations
• Complete Confidence Conversations
• Transforming Conversation into Action

The Perspectives: Learning through Differences series will explore seven common differences that are present in mentoring relationships. Each of these differences provides a touchstone against which to evaluate and enhance the effectiveness of your mentoring relationship. We will explore each topic in its own newsletter.

• Geography
• Function
• Experience
• Power
• Culture
• Style
• Generation

Three main factors go into building trust-based mentoring relationships: competence, integrity, and caring.  In this newsletter series, we will explore how you and your mentoring partners can leverage these areas to create powerful and transformational experiences.

Three main factors go into building trust-based mentoring relationships: competence, integrity, and caring.  In this newsletter series, we will explore how you and your mentoring partners can leverage these areas to create powerful and transformational experiences.

In this issue, we will examine how assessing your talent, skills, and knowledge can help you build competence and lead to trust-based mentoring.

In today’s turbulent world, leaders are tasked with managing increasing complexity. Through the vigilant practice of awareness, leaders can make the most of emerging possibilities. To do so, they must be open to challenges on their preconceived notions and long held understandings. Those who accomplish this and are able to master awareness will be able to make the most of rapidly changing circumstances. In this article, we present an awareness model and describe productive practices people can engage in to be aware leaders.

Creating an environment full of purpose and hope, where others are able to find meaning and a strong sense of belonging, is crucial in today’s distributed organizations. Building community is not just a nice side benefit of a good work environment; it is a critical and primary activity of leadership. In this article, we examine the leadership attribute of building community and describe a process you can practice in your mentoring relationship to help you develop this skill.

The amount of social power you possess and wield will, to a large degree, determine the amount of success you have in your career. It is an immensely important element that determines the amount of influence you can have over (and with) others. If you have a desire to be more and do more than you currently are, then understanding power and gaining more of it will play an important role in accomplishing your aspirations. In this article, we will explore the basis of social power and how to leverage mentorship to become more powerful.

Everyone enters mentoring relationships with varying degrees of trust in their partners.  Some people trust immediately and openly, some need for trust to be earned, and some fall in the middle of the spectrum.  These differences often stem from personal experiences and background.  Those who have had bad experiences with someone violating their trust may hold back from fully engaging in the relationship until their partner proves their trustworthiness.

Have you ever engaged in a conversation with someone and realized that you knew a lot about the situation and people involved? At that moment, you were in the Complete Confidence zone of the Mentoring Conversations Model. Take advantage of these circumstances to set direction, share your truth, and gain commitment to necessary actions. To accomplish this, we suggest that you have selling, confronting, or decision making conversations.

Your cultural perspective comes from the environment that you grew up in, which is formed from the languages, ethnic customs, national identity, and inherent beliefs that you are most familiar with. In a sense, these become the cultural lenses through which you view your world. Your cultural lenses create a filter through which four critical mentoring dimensions must pass. Greater understanding of these dimensions in light of cultural perspective can create a more productive and fulfilling mentoring relationship. 

Mentoring relationships offer great situations in which to work on critical issues, whether they are problems to be solved, concerns to be analyzed, or conflicts to be resolved. In this article, we discuss how to prepare to engage your mentoring partner in discussions on important or critical issues that you are facing in order to make the most of your time together.

Empathy is an important leadership attribute that directly impacts your ability to relate well to others. When it comes to leading others, empathy is a clear difference maker. Those who lead others in an empathetic way are seen as caring and in touch with their followers. In this article, we examine the leadership attribute of empathy and discuss the balance needed for empathetic effectiveness.

When it comes to getting the most out of life, there is a lot of truth in the saying “You get what you allow.” Your mindset can have a huge impact on your ability to be productive. If you want to get the most out of mentorship, you will want to ensure that you remain in a productive mindset. In this article we examine various mindsets (diehard pessimist, active experimenter, and blind optimist) and how to leverage mentorship to encourage a productive mindset.

This issue will begin our look at how integrity can be present in your relationships and how this can support building trust-based mentoring relationships.

The amount of experience that you have in relation to an area of competence changes not only the types of results that you can get, but also the language you use and the ability you have to relate to those who are at different levels of expertise. This can greatly impact mentoring relationships. This article explores how different levels of expertise show up in mentoring and how you can ensure effective communication across three distinct levels of expertise: beginner, practitioner, and expert.

Leaders with foresight are able to see positive visions of the future and can inspire others to help make it a reality. Leaders who stand above the pack are those who can motivate others to make a difference, and by doing so can move those same people onto the path that leads to the vision of the future. In this article, we examine the leadership attribute of foresight, describe a process to use to develop this skill, and discuss how to leverage your mentoring relationship to improve your effectiveness.

Mentorship is meant to be a learning relationship where both parties benefit from spirited sharing. To get the most from your mentoring experience, you must fully engage your mentoring partner. Yet, it takes time and focused effort to create a learning partnership that has the attributes necessary to be truly transformative. In this article, we discuss what a fully engaged mentoring relationship looks like and how to achieve it.

Organizational functions are typically broken down by departments, such as sales, customer service, human resources, manufacturing, and finance, and within each of these functions are various disciplines or areas of expertise. When it comes to work, these distinctions help people accomplish tasks and ensure that work is completed. But when it comes to mentoring, these distinctions in function can lead to distance between the partners because they approach the relationship in different ways. Understanding functional differences with your partner can be critical to ensuring the success of your relationship. Sometimes this means understanding how your partner’s brain works or how he/she approaches an issue. Clues can be found in how they approach their work.

In today’s organizational makeup, there are four generally recognized generations. Each is shaped and influenced by the times in which they grew up and the events that occurred during their youth. They also have different approaches and expectations regarding work and mentoring. This article examines how different generations view mentoring and offers ideas for leveraging generational differences.

Geographical differences are common in mentoring, creating unique mentoring dynamics for partners; seeing your partner face-to-face can impact you differently than only meeting with your partner virtually. Collaboration efforts can be affected by physical proximity, with what is often referred to as the 50 feet (15 meters) rule: People are less likely to collaborate if they are more than 50 feet apart. This does not mean that face-to-face relationships are better than mentoring at a distance; it just means that partners must be aware of potential issues so they can address them. Mentoring partners today must be particularly concerned with initiating conversations, establishing common ground, and maintaining awareness.

To be effective, it is critical that leaders learn to build and sustain healthy relationships as they ply their trade. One way to accomplish this is by resolving conflicts and restoring harmony, which in turn helps others feel whole, healthy or sound. Leaders who create a shared sense of the pursuit of wholeness with others are practicing healing as a leadership attribute. In this article, we examine the leadership attribute of healing, discuss how to create a healing environment, and provide an exercise to become more effective at healing that leverages your mentoring relationship.

A primary responsibility of leaders is to bring forth the very best from all who surround them. This entails seeing the individual aptitudes and abilities of those around them, and working to help individuals reach their full future potential. Leaders who are committed to the growth of others and are able to reach beyond their own needs and desires to unleash the future potential of others will command respect and loyalty from those they help. In this article, we describe characteristics of effective leaders and share best practices for being a quality leader.

Mentoring conversations work best when they go beyond simply giving answers to sharing understandings and exploring possibilities. Most experts are conditioned to tell others how to proceed or fix a problem, but in mentoring relationships the intent should be to process results and help others discover the answers rather than just to supply the solution. Mentoring is about helping the learner transition into a higher level of understanding and experience, and the dialogue that takes place in mentoring conversations is the most effective way to share tacit (implicit) understandings and experiences.

Listening is an important leadership attribute that impacts your ability to communicate effectively. Great leaders are attentive and aware of the thoughts and concerns of those around them. They allow themselves to be influenced and inspired by actively listening to their constituency. In this article, we examine the leadership attribute of listening as it correlates to attentive leadership and discuss the mindset needed for productive listening.

Based on regular conversations with champions at more than 100 of our clients, we know that a number of organizations are facing environments of downsizing, restructuring, and hiring freezes, while trying to determine the best path forward with their mentoring programs. Promoting a mentoring program in these tough times can be difficult, but that does not imply that abandoning mentoring is the right approach. In fact, an economic downturn may be one of the best times to expand mentoring and leverage its proven value in retaining and developing workforces.

Have you ever engaged someone in a conversation when you knew very little about them—and even less about how you could help them achieve their goals? At that moment, you were in the No Confidence zone of the Mentoring Conversations Model, which is where most developmental dialogues start. When in this zone, it is critical that you engage your collaborators (mentoring partners) in conversations that will build mutual awareness and familiarity with the collective needs, history, and aspirations of all involved. To accomplish this we suggest orienting and exploring conversations.

Have you ever engaged in a conversation with someone and realized that even though you had some knowledge of the situation under consideration and of the people involved, you could not fully participate because you needed to understand more of both? At that moment, you were in the Partial Confidence zone of the Mentoring Conversations Model. When in this zone, it is best to focus your time and attention on building relationships and gaining commitment and clarity on the developmental direction of the dialogue. To accomplish this, we suggest that you have negotiating, storytelling, and visioning conversations.

Effective leaders don’t just make critical decisions and establish strategic plans; they also communicate in ways that inspire and convince others to act on their behalf. Servant leaders rely on persuasion and cooperation to get the job done, rather than coercion or manipulation. Persuasion benefits all parties involved and is a powerful leadership attribute to hone and employ. In this article, we examine how persuasion may appear to others and describe best practices for using this skill effectively.

Power is typically thought of as a precious commodity. This is often because the more power and authority one wields, the higher in the organizational hierarchy they likely stand and the more self-directed decision making ability they command. However, differences in organizational authority affect the way people relate to others: bosses, peers, direct reports. It can even impact your mentoring relationship. There are different relational dynamics that need to be managed depending on the amount of social power you have in relation to your mentoring partner.

Productive conversations can make or break a mentoring relationship. What you do, think, and expect before you engage your mentoring partner in dialogue will have a large impact on what happens during your conversations. In this article, we explore the attitudes and actions that will help you prepare for productive mentoring conversations so that you can make the most of your time together.

In a mentoring relationship, there are many forms of communication that people employ in order to transfer knowledge. Routine conversations are the most ideal for creating interpersonal understanding. If you really want to get to know your mentoring partner and increase the likelihood that you will generate new awareness and learning, then you will want to conduct productive conversations. In this newsletter, we explore the characteristics of productive conversations.

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone and realized that even though you knew a lot about the people involved, you were very unfamiliar with the situation being discussed? At that moment, you were in the Relational Confidence zone of the Mentoring Conversations Model. When in this zone, it is best to focus your time and attention on understanding the situation, assessing the concerns and opportunities present, and considering the desired outcomes of those involved. To accomplish this we suggest that you have problem solving and inquiring conversations.

In today’s global business ecology, effective leadership is increasingly more dependent on stewardship—that is, putting aside your self-interests for the betterment of others and the whole—as a primary approach, rather than controlling or coercive behavior. Leaders who exhibit stewardship demonstrate high levels of trust, openness, and service. In this article, we examine the leadership attribute of stewardship and discuss how to leverage your mentoring relationship to improve your effectiveness.

Each of us has a dominant style that influences the way we act, interact, and react to others. These styles are personal habits or ingrained patterns of behavior, commonly expressed as behavioral styles or preferences. In mentoring, four typical styles exist: Initiator, Connector, Encourager, and Processor.  Triple Creek created the Mentoring Styles Model to help individuals understand and manage their behavioral differences; by knowing your preferences you can be more aware of your tendencies and more open to accommodating the preferences of your mentoring partner. This is particularly important since mentoring relies on good communication and a high degree of mutual trust. 

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone and realized that even though you knew very little about the people involved, you were very familiar with the situation being discussed? (OMG! The same thing happened to me.) At that moment, you were in the Topical Confidence zone of the Mentoring Conversations Model. When in this zone during a mentoring relationship, it is best to focus your time and attention on sharing your experience, explaining possibilities, describing known limitations, and conveying your wisdom and understanding of the situation. To accomplish this we suggest planning and teaching conversations.

The measure of a productive mentoring dialogue is the resulting action that it produces. Effective mentoring increases ability or skill, with the ultimate goal of mentoring being personal or professional transformation. We should become more effective, skilled, and confident in our abilities as a result of our mentoring engagements. Discussing concepts, ideas, and possibilities is an important and valuable aspect of dialogue, but for mentoring conversations there is a need to move beyond this to include intended and anticipated actions. Simply put, mentoring conversations need to conclude in planned action. 

In this issue, we will look at how a mentoring relationship can support the development process and individual integrity though mutually agreed upon accountability.