Posts Tagged ‘mentoring’

How Mentoring Focused Me on Fact-Based Decision Making

Posted in mentoring on November 19th, 2009 by Lois Melbourne – 3 Comments

Second in a series

decision making picapp2While mentoring another entrepreneur a while back, he asked questions that really  made me focus on why things had worked for Aquire as we grew the business, and what the big challenges had been in decision making. Forced to concentrate on the why and how of big, tough, and pivotal decisions, I analyzed some of  the best and worst stuff I/we have ever done. read more »

How Mentoring Makes Me a Better Communicator

Posted in mentoring on November 4th, 2009 by Lois Melbourne – Be the first to comment

First in a series

Two_businessmen_shoutingWhile mentoring a college student (I have several outlets for my mentoring passion), we discussed people’s different communication styles. Some people like to get text messages and others might be confused or offended by the straight forward “throwing” of information the way an Instant Message delivers it. I pulled out a tool, Communication Builder by Strategic Coach, that our company uses to help people understand how their team members like to give and get varying types of information. It dawned on me that we hadn’t discussed the results of this tool for quite awhile, and we all needed to bring out our communication worksheets to share departmentally again. read more »

The Quiet Leadership in Mentoring

Posted in Leadership on November 12th, 2008 by Lois Melbourne – 2 Comments

When I was 18, I volunteered to help with a local judging competition of ad agency work. I wasn’t qualified to be a judge. I was qualified to be the hostess for our out-of-town judges. I made a connection with one of the judges, Rich Flora, with whom I have since enjoyed a relationship which has evolved from career mentor, to vendor, to informal life coach, to dearest of friends for the last 24 years. What I learned from him about Dallas even had an influence over my decision to move here. Rich is a writing genius, yet I believe his leadership skills are his truest calling. read more »

Paying Your Workforce Forward

Posted in Leadership on September 23rd, 2008 by Lois Melbourne – Be the first to comment

Have you ever interviewed a new grad or spoken to a college-age family member about business or job hunting and been surprised they were unaware of what seemed like basic information to you? The problem isn’t that these young adults are lazy or foolish. Rather, what I’ve found is there are some really large education hurdles blocking our kids’ race toward careers. Each and every one of us in business – and especially in HR – needs to help change this. In short, we need these kids in our future org charts. read more »