There was a tree in Cambridge Mass, where George Washington first took command of his troops in 1775.  A scion of that tree (a part of the tree that you use to start another tree growing) traveled to the Washington University campus and was planted there around the turn of the century.

The original tree in Cambridge died from disease and the favor of a scion from the Washington University Elm traveled back across the country and was planted in the original spot in Cambridge.  Then there is another turn in this reciprocal gift of life.  The Washington University tree was struck by lightning and once again a scion from Cambridge came back to Washington State to plant this beautiful joy of a tree.

There are so many lessons of graciously giving and graciously receiving in this story.  There is a message of respecting your roots (no pun intended).  Knowing where you came from and giving back to what helped make your success happen.  We need to make sure we hang on to our history and we share it with others.  Without the recording of the history of these trees, their caregivers wouldn’t have known or thought of continuing the gift.

Do you recognize your mentors or the people that helped you get where you are?  Do you give back to them or pay it forward to others to continue to make the world a better place?  I am considering one last question now, for the lesson of the legend of the Cambridge and Washington Elms, What have you given to others today that can grow and keep on giving?  If we act upon the goodwill of this story, we would each develop a strong legacy.

While 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.

Good decision making requires that you recognize your strengths and weaknesses in this area. I know that I make hundreds of decisions every day, most of us do. Many of those decisions are BIG decisions. I know that I must trust employees and managers to bring me facts along with their instincts when presenting an issue with choices. Fact-based decision making is important. If I use my Kolbe rating, I know that the 2nd strongest element of my behavior is fact related. I need facts or need to know that my workforce has the facts to support any decisions made. I need to know my workforce did their homework and analyzed all possibilities.

My first, instinctual behavior, according to Kolbe, is that I am a “Quick Start” or “intuitive.” I am an idea-a-minute person. I explained to my mentee that it’s important to balance your team with people who think differently than you do. We can all have the same objectives, but our team is largely built of strong fact finders and “executors,” people who focus on the application of the ideas. This almost always leads to great results. A mixture of employee capabilities and competencies yields a well rounded, successful team. My team mates can create and illustrate vision. They can also execute towards that vision.

During the next few weeks I more closely scrutinized new decisions that I might otherwise have made quickly and intuitively. The result was that I made decisions with more purpose. By going through the mentoring discussion, it focused my thinking on even more purposeful decision making as well as decision making discussions. It reminded me that my intuition is great and that the facts that back up the knowledge are powerful.

I’m using a lot of me and we in today’s post. So, it may appear overly introspective. My intent is to encourage you, as I did my mentee. Look at your team. Figure out how each of you makes decisions, and balance the various methods for the best decision making outcomes. If you don’t all understand how you make decisions, I encourage you to invest in analysis tools like Kolbe, Myers-Briggs, or Assess Systems. They are great launching points for discussion in figuring out the psyche of your team.

Cheers,
Lois

While 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.

Aquire’s growth, new hires, new technologies, and new initiatives have introduced many more matrixed communications into the organization. We need to revisit the best ways to communicate and influence each other. I’ll use myself and how I utilize communication as an example.

People need to know that I want the “top of the pyramid” information when they present an idea to me. Give me the detail if I ask for it, and be prepared for me to ask, but don’t dump the detail on me first. I may likely trust your knowledge of the detail and your findings with no need for me to know the details myself. This is important for my team to know if they want to hold my attention and get a decision from me. I know others on the team who want the detail up front to formulate their own opinions or to feel comfortable with the data. They want their information delivered in writing so they can analyze it on their own time.

If I’ll likely need the information again in the future – then it’s a good idea to give it to me via e-mail. Then I can search for and find the data when I need it. And, I want my information before I actually need it. I like to be prepared. I also like to know the source of the information, so that I can learn more later, if needed. By opening up the discussion with my team about how I like information delivered, it makes us more effective communicators.

I also have to be reminded about all the people who hate my style of “drive-by” communication. (You know my type – we pop in your office with a great idea we really want to discuss now, or with a question that is better suited for e-mail). I become more conscious of this when I know who it bugs. I’m in “drive-by rehab” all the time. Some people like e-mail, some people like in-person, some people like voicemail. Do you know what method your co-workers like best? Don’t count on it being the same way they send information. Ask them.

My mentoring discussion refreshed the results of this great tool, and I brought that reminder back to this week’s management discussion at Aquire. It illustrated to my mentee that communication styles are not just generational, they are personality based. By sharing a best practice with someone else I sharpened a skill and tool in my every day use. This time it made me a better communicator. Thanks, Julia.

Cheers,
Lois

Rich taught me how to be a mentor, although I don’t think he knows it. Rich has asked me deep questions that make me really think. He leads me to make my own decisions, because only I know the answers to those big questions for myself. He never tells me what to do, but I walk away from our conversations wiser and ready to make my decisions. The leadership and mentoring skills he has shown me, have shaped my life as I have progressed from the bottom of the organizational chart to the top of my own organigram.

I now try to use his techniques of questioning, guiding, and leading in my parenting, mentoring, and corporate leadership. Finding the needs and concerns of my colleagues through questions that don’t put them on the spot, reading between the lines but not making assumptions, and truly caring about the outcome of each conversation because every interaction matters, are the traits Rich has taught me. I am still being mentored by Rich in life lessons as we occasionally meet over Indian food and great laughs. He likely doesn’t realize it, but I leave each of those lunches recharged and feeling like a million bucks. I have not refined my mentoring skills to his level, yet. But I’m working on it.

I have been on the receiving side of many mentoring relationships and am doing my best to ‘pay-it-forward’ as I mentor others. The more I think about it, the more I realize that the best leadership I provide is when I go into the mode of mentoring others through achieving their objectives.

Thank you, Rich!

Cheers,
Lois

As a mentor in both formal and informal formats, I find brilliant and ambitious people who are fully intimidated and uninformed about the career hunt they have ahead of them. So I would like to give you some ideas on where and what you can do to help prepare these future leaders.

First, there are many formats for mentoring out there, so take your choice based on what works best with your schedule and knowledge base. Just a few options include:

• Mentor a college student.
• Host an event at your office (be sure to provide food!).
• Offer to speak at your local college or university.
• Offer to help the career center at the local university to make sure they are up-to-date on coaching students about finding a job in the current environment.
• If the local university does have a good career advisement department, help them figure out if they are marketing to and actually reaching students.

Second, address the issues most pertinent to students preparing for the job market. The following list includes the type of information students I have worked with needed (in many cases, in their own words).

• How do I know a corporation is looking for employees?
• How is the application process different for corporate jobs than when applying for a retail or grocery store position?
• What key words are critical in a resume and why?
• What is the role of a recruiting firm vs. a recruiting department in a company?

Third, recognize and reinforce the critical topics that may seem obvious to you, but are still new or unknown to students, such as:

• Knowing and nurturing good interview skills.
• What NOT to do, such as over inflating a resume.
• Knowing that recruiter firms should never charge an applicant.
• Finally, sharing information near and dear to your heart. For me, that would be how to choose an industry/career that you can enjoy.

Bringing it all together, Aquire sponsors a pizza dinner for students to run through these topics and answer questions (it’s a great way to kickstart a new program, too.) We don’t do it to find applicants, but it can obviously be a reward for giving back to the community.

My mentoring allows me to do these things regularly, but I realize not everyone can do them all. The important thing is to do what you can knowing that you are contributing to the workforce of tomorrow – paying it forward, if you will.

Please share ideas you have for helping our future workers or let me know if I can help answer your questions.

Cheers,
Lois