1 Outstanding App For Team-Building Activities

In the workplace, every single person, from the leaders to the team members, is different…

Each person comes with a different personality, different values and different levels of soft skills.

Companies and leaders often seek solutions like team-building to remove tension between people, to take the edge off, to smoothen processes and to increase productivity.

1 Outstanding App For Team-Building Activities #teambuilding #team #professional #effectiveness #coworkers #leadership #leadershipdevelopment #journeytoleadership journeytoleadershipblog.com

Because team-building activities can be expensive, demanding, time-consuming and feel like a chore to most, The Go Game App provides new ways and customizable solutions to build up your team.

The Go Game is an application that promotes professional effectiveness, connects your team and somehow entertains your team using real world surroundings.

Even if you and your team don’t see yourself hanging with your each other and other coworkers after hours, The Go Game leverages their virtual event platform to provide:

  • Virtual events.
  • In person events.
  • Hybrid events, bringing together in person teams and remote teams.

Events can be as short as 1 hour for virtual events and 3 hours for in person events.

BOOK A TEAM-BUILDING EVENT!

Journey To Leadership curates the best apps available on the market to satisfy the needs of our readers and leaders.

You’ve got a great app and want to promote it on our website, make sure to check out our prices and to contact us.

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5 Essential Skills For Effective Teamwork

For the past few years, we’ve been told that Teamwork is the most effective way to achieve success…

Teamwork requires many essential skills.

Teamwork is more than just contributing or getting along with other people.

It consists in a group collaborating in an effort to achieve a common goal such as company growth and success.

5 Essential Skills For Effective Teamwork #teamwork #skills #leadershipskills #leadershipdevelopment #leadership #journeytoleadership journeytoleadershipblog.com

Need support or want to land a leadership position? Check out our website or join our weekly training program!

We host training programs all year round in Paris, France.

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3 Easy Ways Leaders Regain Power Over Destructive Habits

To understand your own habits and to gain power over them, leaders need to identify these triggers, routine and rewards… 

Once these habits have been understood, leaders will be able to take a destructive habit and embed a good one.

Wondering how to give up destructive habits? 

3 Easy Ways Leaders Regain Power Over Destructive Habits #habits #powerofhabits #poweroverhabits https://journeytoleadershipblog.com

1. Identify the What?

At the core of every habit, there are a triggers, a routine and a reward.

The What consists in the routine, in the behavior you would like to change.

2. Identify the Why?

The next step is answering Why? It includes figuring out what gets you to behave the way you do, why it drives the havit, why it procures satisfaction and which benefits you reap from it.

Often times, we develop patterns of habits without even noticing it.

We are not conscious of our own behavioral triggers or even of the rewards we are seeking.

3. Identify the How?

Identifying the How involves identifying your triggers.

Triggers can be a particular location, time, person, an emotion or another habit.

Whenever you feel the urge to indulge in a bad habit, take a moment to breathe and to write down your triggers.

Last words of advice!

Changing habits can be difficult and take longer than expected.

 

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11 Signs Of An Ego-Tripping & Power Hungry Leader

Leadership is all about character, integrity and guiding your team in the right direction.

Even if this job requires a sense of humility, some leaders can get ahead of themselves, let their ego run their world, crave and abuse their power.

Unfortunately, without even knowing it, the best leaders can also get consumed by ego and power.

Wondering if you are ego-tripping or if you are a power-hungry leader?

We have all worked in environments where leaders have completely lost their minds, letting their ego drive their decisions, searching for power or being completely drunk on power.

These leaders are said to be ego-tripping, power-tripping or power-hungry.

Below are the 11 signs revealing whether or not you are power-hungry or ego-tripping.

11 Signs Of An Ego-Tripping & Power Hungry Leader #ego #power #success #leadership #leadershipdevelopment #characterdevelopment journeytoleadershipblog.com

1. Power-hungry leaders are bullies

They bully their team members to ensure dominance and to kill any potential that would threaten their sense of power.

They overtly criticize others, take cheap shots and undermine the success of the entire team by creating chaos.

They are known to sabotage their team members because they think that they will move forward without them.

2. Power-hungry leaders are empty individuals

They are not whole individuals.

Truth is, they have a heightened sense of self, very low self-esteem and need to constantly feed their ego.

Furthermore, they are not self-aware, mindful of their actions, have low self-esteem and an unhealthy work-life balance.

3. Power-hungry leaders hide deep insecurities

Ego tripping and power-hungry individuals are weak-minded and will give anything to fill that inner void. For most, ego-tripping and power-hungry people are people who have felt powerless while growing up.

Deep inside, they are weak, are cowards, fear their own shadow, don’t have real power and they know it. They are unstable and easy to break.

To the world, they act tough and search for the weaknesses of everyone.

4. Power-hungry leaders jealousy has no bound

They get jealous when other people do better than they do or hold the position they want. They want to be the only one to shine and won’t hesitate to dim the light of others.

5. Power-hungry leaders think rank is enough

They think that their rank and role in the organization is enough to command respect.

Indeed, they pull rank whenever they feel threatened. Unfortunately, they tend to lose all the respect that they so crave.

6. Power-hungry leaders shut down dissenting voices

They remove dissenting voices or anyone who would oppose them.

Instead, they favor yes men, force people to bow down, to submit to their will, to agree with them, to follow them even if they are wrong.

Basically, it’s their way or the high way.

7. Power-hungry leaders believe status is everything

They often remind everyone around them of their titles and past accomplishments. They overshare and over-exaggerate their achievements.

They demonstrate a sense of superiority and use their status to build up their sense of self-worth.

8. Power-hungry leaders always compete with others

To feed their ego, they compete with people or powerful leaders who may not know that they are competing.

They think life is a competition. Even worse, some believe that life is a game and people are pieces on their chessboard.

9. Power-hungry leaders only social climb

They only network with powerful people and use them to social climb.

They look to climb the social ladder, thirsty for notoriety and take part in the most influential situations. They name drop powerful leaders they know in order to get respect and to feel superior.

10. Power-hungry leaders want to control everything and everyone

They tend to micromanage and don’t trust the people around them.

For this reason, they constantly seek control and leverage over others.

11. Power-hungry leaders encourage toxicity

They thrive in chaos, encourage toxic behavior and competition.

They may even gossip and create false narratives to foster a negative environment.

Last Words Of Advice!

Wanting and having power is not always a negative thing. You simply have to want it for the right reasons in order to go the distance. Otherwise, you will rapidly crash and burn.

If you come across one of those power-hungry leaders, don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself.

 

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The Importance Of Kindness In Leadership

Kindness is extremely hard to implement in the world we live in today because according to popular belief, kindness is weakness…

However, in the workplace, kindness is essential to leadership success.

Furthermore, genuine acts of kindness in the workplace don’t go unnoticed as people tend to pay it forward.

Indeed, most people who have been through fire in their personal and professional life appreciate serenity and kindness. They would try everything to maintain their self-worth and peace of mind.

Wondering how to develop kindness in the workplace?

The Importance Of Kindness In Leadership #leadership #kindness journeytoleadershipblog.com

Benefits Of Kindness in Leadership

Kind leaders act with the best interest and on behalf of their team and organization. They are authentic, humble, have high morals and a sense of decency.

In kind organization, leaders believe that the people are the heart of the organization.

Furthermore, leaders are able to increase engagement and empower team members who gradually grow in confidence.

In addition, being kind doesn’t mean that you are soft, a pushover, that you are avoiding conflict, that you lack boundaries, that you are people pleasing or that you have to put up with bad behavior.

It means that you take time to listen and understand the people around you before acting or making a decision. It also means that you analyze the consequences of your decisions. 

1. Kind leaders are kind to themselves

Kind leaders are firstly kind to themselves and the people closest to them.

They celebrate their own success, forgive themselves when they make mistakes and set clear boundaries.

Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love. - Lao Tzu Click To Tweet

2. Kind leaders use the Golden Rule

The best and strongest leaders put people first and treat their team with kindness.

They acknowledge people, show respect and demonstrate that they care. They simply treat people the way they want to be treated. They understand that they can get more things done, they have to treat people like people.

For example, they have face to face conversations and ask people how they are doing. They can be generous with their time and actively listen to people.

3. Kind leaders set clear expectations

They let people know what needs to be done to avoid miscommunication, misinterpretation, misdirections.

They don’t give out false objectives and avoid sending their team members on a wild goose chase. They celebrate their success and the success of others..

Team members will then commit to their work and reach their goals.

4. Kind leaders tell the truth

Telling the truth encourages growth within the team and builds up the leader’s credibility and respect.

They understand that the truth comes with consequences but they also want the best out of their teams so they overpass their need for self-preservation or self-interest.

They place people in the right positions and give honest feedback to help people perform at their best.

5. Kind leaders agree to disagree

A difference in opinion doesn’t dictate their character.

They have great communication skills and can handle tough conversations.

They don’t ostracize or belittle people who don’t like them.

6. Kind leaders believe in equality and equity

They treat everyone equally, regardless of their personal bias, stereotypes, personality, character and performance.

They are culturally sensitive and advocate for inclusion.

7. Kind leaders create a safe environment

Kind workplaces increase productivity and improve the company culture.

Leaders understand that employees need to feel safe in order to be productive.

Unkind leaders instill fear and use their power and position to make their employees comply. Employees feel unsafe and tend to quit their jobs or resort to the same bad behavior to survive.

Last Words Of Advice!

What of being kind requires too much time and effort that I don’t have? Kindness is a long term investment that requires authenticity, strength and courage.

There are some people who will create chaos, use fear and anger as a management, and try to discourage you from being kind.

 

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6 Reasons Why You Should Use Monday.com

Monday.comMonday.com is a centralized team management tool based in the clouds, founded in 2012 and launched as an independent startup in 2014.

Monday.com is one of the best communication and collaboration app available right now.

Through its visuals and features, it promotes transparency and boosts productivity.

Overview

Monday.com is a platform containing key information about a project.

You can remotely add members, assign tasks, customize workflow, track team progress, update your individual progress, monitor team performance, manage time, set deadlines, comment on project, add links and upload files.

You can use Monday.com for

  • Project management
  • Tasks management
  • Client management
  • Marketing & PR campaigns
  • Recruitment processes
  • Progress tracking
  • Product roadmaps
  • Agile development processes
  • Sales & business processes
  • Design planning
  • Bug tracking
  • Event management
  • Venture Capital Portfolio management
  • Construction planning

… etc.

It is currently used by more than 80,000 teams in diverse industries around the world.

6 Reasons Why You Should Use Monday.com

Features

  • Simple & intuitive. With this app, you have a clear overview of projects, tasks and team progress in only one glance. You can start managing your projects as soon as possible without a training session.

  • Customizable & adaptable. Every user can create a brand specific board. This tool can be used to manage any type of project in process the way you want it. It fits every needs and every use case.

  • Easy communication and collaboration. There is no need for paperwork, long meetings or emails. You keep conversations, files and other data in one place. You can make your team and clients feel involved, leave live comments on a shared board, get automatic email notifications whenever a task is completed.

  • Accessible wherever and whenever you want. Stay on top of everything, manage your work in one place from your desktop or from your phone (iOS & Android).

  • Integrations. Monday.com has its own search engine and integrates different external platforms such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Pipe drive, or Zapier.

  • Reasonable prices. You can sign up without a credit card for a free 14 day trial to see if it works for you. After 14 days, you have the choice between 4 different plans. You can upgrade, downgrade or cancel your plan anytime you want to.

 

Test Monday.com for Free

 

Journey To Leadership curates the best apps available on the market to satisfy the needs of our readers and leaders.

You’ve got a great app and want to promote it on our website, make sure to check out our prices and to contact us.

 

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10 Ways Leaders Manifest Their Visions

Everyone has the ability to manifest their vision. 

With that knowledge, leaders just don’t dream about their goals.

Against all odds, they are able to attract what they want.

They support their dreams with actions, put forth the time and energy towards their goals. They watch what they say to themselves about themselves.

Wondering how leaders attract what they want and need out of life?

10 Ways Leaders Manifest Their Visions #vision #purpose #success #lawofattraction #leadership

We have all heard of the Law of Attraction.

It consists in bringing your deepest desires into reality by focusing your thoughts on them. To manifest your vision, you have to strongly believe that this is what you really want and this is your true purpose.

For example, you can manifest the perfect relationship or on the job you want by focusing positive thoughts and sending positive intentions its way.

1. Leaders are honest with themselves

Be honest with yourself because the truth will set you free.

Everything around is only a reflection of who you truly are. So be who you want go attract.

If you are not aware of your strengths and weaknesses, you will not achieve your goals.

If you are not an improved person you cannot expect the best of the best. You will only get the best for your level.

2. Leaders are grateful for what they have

They are always grateful for what they have no matter how small their possession.

They let go of control and are open to receive what is coming to them. 

You can cultivate the habit of making a gratitude list. A simple list can be:

I am grateful for the clothes on my back.

I am grateful to be alive.

I am grateful for my serenity.

I am grateful for my health.

I am grateful for my team and business.

After writing your list, read it everyday and change your mindset instantly.

3. Leaders value their imagination

Leaders are naturally dreamers.

They allow themselves to dream big.

They use their imagination for their benefit.

Indeed, your imagination is the best tool that you have at your disposal that nobody can take away from you.

Leaders use their imaginations all the time to escape, to motivate their team and to build products, companies. 

Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand. - Albert Einstein Click To Tweet

4. Leaders live as if their dreams have come through

Because the universe conspires with you on what you want to attract, they act up as if they have already achieved their required level if success.

They fake it until they make it. For example, they will dress for the position they want to have.

5. Leaders focus on their goals

Leaders place their focus on the essentials.

Furthermore, they focus on themselves and don’t compete with others.

They understand that whatever they put their attention on is what is going to grow.

They have a vision or dream board that help them see things more clearly.

They tend to place them in the area that you can always see and visualize yourself in that situation.

6. Leaders believe in intuition

They trust their intuition.

They listen to their feelings and do whatever resonates with them.

If they have negative vibes about a situation, they immediately take a step back and analyze the situation.

7. Leaders monitor their thoughts

They meditate and actively monitor their thoughts.

When a thought comes through that bring up negative emotions, they are instantly aware. Then they fight their negative voice in their head or sleep to give their mind a rest or exercise to get rid of cortisol. 

In addition, leaders constantly elevate their own mood. To make themselves feel better, they use positive words of affirmation.

To elevate your mood, you can read books that comfort you and make you feel better about yourself.

You can carefully choose your activities, music and TV shows, screen what you put in your mind because it programs you. 

8. Leaders live a life of abundance

They are conscious of their personal power and are at peace with themselves.

Furthermore, they walk with integrity, don’t harm anyone and mind their actions. They believe that what they put out is what they will come back to them. 

They are conceived that they will succeed. They are cognizant that something great is on its way.

They don’t set your thoughts on want is missing or on want others want from them.

They are not easily offended or don’t think that they are victims of their circumstances.

9. Leaders know that words have power

They are conscious of the power of their words and choose their words carefully.

Indeed, if you say, “I’m so tired” you will eventually be exhausted for the whole day. If you say, “I’m stressed out” you will definitively be overwhelmed by stress.

To manifest what you really want, start saying and doing how you want to feel and what you want to do.

10. Leaders are altruistic

They care for people other than themselves.

The process of caring for others take them out of their negative space and environment.

For instance, they help their team and people in their communities. 

Last Words Of Advice!

When things are not going your way or you are not achieving your goals, know that you can always turn things around, improve your mindset, achieve your purpose and find your peace.

Fight negativity. Show yourself some love.

 

Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!

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The Importance Of Forgiveness In Leadership

When you are a leader, you go head first into battle, experience joy, success, hurt, failure and disappointment.

Contrary to popular belief, being prone to forgiveness does not make you a weak leader or doesn’t mean that you have forgotten.

Forgiving someone who has harmed you is some way is difficult because you might think that you are giving them a pass, that you are being weak, you are giving in too easily, giving them your power, you don’t love or respect yourself.

Actually, by not forgiving they are holding power over you because nursing negative emotions is only harming you.

Wondering how important is forgiveness in leadership and how to forgive?

The Importance Of Forgiveness In Leadership #leader #leadership #forgiveness #peaceofmind #selfimprovement #selfdevelopment #selfawareness #serenity #JourneyToLeadership

The benefits of forgiveness

Forgiveness is a powerful and efficient tool.

Forgiveness is an often overlooked, undervalued gift but it requires strength, character, emotional intelligence and self awareness. Forgiveness is an active process.

It allows you to reach a state of inner calm to put negative memories at rest and get rid of negative emotions. Indeed, after forgiving, you feel re-energized, empowered, free and present.

In addition, forgiveness helps to resolve conflicts, move forward, promote creativity, build trust and relationships.

Forgiving leaders encourage risk taking, authenticity, collaboration and dissenting voices in the workplace.

Lack of forgiveness in the workplace can heavily affect employee morale, retention, productivity, satisfaction, innovation and cohesion. It can create a toxic workplace.

How to forgive?

People have different values and motives in life. They would not hesitate to hurt you to get what they want, to shift blame and judge. To forgive:

  • Avoid shifting blame. Take accountability for your actions and take back control of your emotions. When you forgive, you are no longer a victim nor do you become a persecutor.

  • Acknowledge what has happened, be compassionate with yourself and give yourself time to recover.
  • Own and learn from your mistakes before you make them again.
  •  Remember that you cannot control the behavior of others and you can only control yours.
  • In the words of Don Miguel Ruiz in The Four Agreements, don’t take it personally. It is hard to cope when someone’s anger is directed at you. However, their bad behavior has nothing to do with you but everything to do with their insecurities or they are doing the best with the tools that they have.

  • See an opportunity to grow and see this as a challenge.

  • Understand that all situations can be resolved. Do what you can, if you can, to repair the situation. If you need to talk it through, have an honest conversation.

  • Envision what will happen to your emotions, mind, self esteem if you don’t forgive.
  • As a leader, encourage forgiveness in the workplace and be a model for forgiveness.

  • Don’t let this negative event or negative emotion define you.
  • Focus on the positive. When we are pushed in a negative situation we can only see the person in a negative light.

  • Create new positive memories. Leave the past in the past.
  • Be grateful for that experience.

Last Words Of Advice!

The hardest thing is self forgiveness. Our inner voice is most critical of our decisions, actions and thoughts.

If you are the one who has hurt someone else:

  • Be honest with yourself
  • Forgive yourself.
  • Remember that what goes around comes around.
  • Think of how you would want to be treated in that moment and if you would have wanted a second chance.

 

Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!

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19 Signs You Are Doing A Great Job As A Leader

Being a leader is hard work.

Matter of fact, the demands of the job can take a toll on your leadership and on your self-perception.

There are plenty of weak leaders who give in to the pressures of the job and become horrible bosses.

If leadership was easy, everybody would aim for the job and everybody would do it.

Sometimes, it is good to remind yourself that you are a good leader.

Wondering what are the signs that you are doing a great job as a leader?

19 Signs You Are Doing A Great Job As A Leader

Sign #1. Leadership wasn’t your main goal

The truth is you didn’t want to be a leader in the first place.

You simply wanted to be competent, enjoy your job and you have always put your best foot forward.

You maintain your work ethic even though you have never aimed for a leadership position.

Sign #2. You don’t abuse your power

Great leaders don’t mistreat their employees because they understand that their business depends on them.

They treat people humanely, empower their employees and make sure to maintain a healthy workplace culture.

Sign #3. You don’t play mind games with your employees

You give your employees the respect they deserve by telling them the truth.

You don’t pit them against each other, gaslight them or scapegoat them.

You don’t play favorites.

You don’t force them to be something that they are not just to please you.

You don’t shift blame or prey on your employees insecurities.

You don’t spasmodically change the expectations, sabotage their efforts with irresponsible deadlines and over the top objectives.

Sign #4. You manage your own insecurities 

You don’t have imposter syndrome but you are secure with yourself.

Even if you may sometimes feel like a fraud, you don’t take out your insecurities on your team and you manage your insecurities in private.

You don’t put people down, ego or power trip in order to sit down your authority or feel better about yourself.

You treat everyone with fairness.

Sign #5. You are not self-centered

You are hyper-aware of your surroundings.

Everything you do is for others and to answer to a higher purpose.

You adopt a servant leadership style and lead with humility.

Often poor leadership is masked by those with the loudest voices and strongest opinions. - Nick Fewings Click To Tweet

Sign #6. You are not defined by your mistakes

You do not punish yourself for your mistakes.

In addition, you do not punish others for their mistakes. Instead, you give them the opportunity to correct their mistakes and to learn from them.

Sign #7. You take care of your employees well being

You make sure that your employees goals align with yours.

You take care of their well being first because you link productivity to your team’s mental health.

If they are sick, you invite them to take days off.

If they are bored, you give them challenges to fulfill them.

If they are under performing, you place them in their areas of strength.

Sign #8. You maintain your calm under pressure

You don’t lash out on your employees when you are under pressure.

Instead, you stay transparent, explain the reason for the bad situation, come up with an appropriate situation and make the hard decisions.

Sign #9. You don’t participate in office politics

It is quite easy to get caught up in office politics.

The best strategy is to stay clear from all drama.

You don’t talk about your employees to your employees.

Sign #10. You don’t drag out conflicts

You believe in forgiveness so conflicts can quickly be resolved.

You want to maintain a healthy workplace where employees are not bullied, are unafraid to express divergent opinions.

Sign #11. You get down in the trenches

You don’t let your employees do the dirty work.

Your employees will trust and respect someone who is competent, who can do what they do without complaining. They will know that your directions are sound.

Sign #12. You keep people accountable

You don’t let bad behavior or poor performance slide.

There are ways to let people know that they are going down the wrong path. You know how to give and receive feedback even if it hurts.

Keeping people accountable will allow more employees to ask questions, to take risks, to make mistakes, to admit to their own mistakes and to tell you when you are making some.

Sign #13. You communicate clearly

Every single one of your objectives is communicated and justified.

Your team can clearly follow your train of thought and can understand what you want.

Sign #14. You adopt a democratic leadership style

You do your research and request your employees opinion before making a tough decision.

You make the ultimate decisions but you believe that it is always good to have a sounding board.

Sign #15. You understand the importance of recognition

You don’t hug the spotlight. Instead, you give credit when credit is due.

You recognize when an employee over-performed or nearly burnt out on a project.

Sign #16. You help those who need it

In the workplace, people don’t forget easily (unfortunately).

They don’t forget who helped them in time of need and wont hesitate to reciprocate afterwards.

Sign #17. You love to try new things

You are open to change.

Besides, you are not complacent with your position or with your knowledge.

You are always open to learn new things, to change, to take risks, to question yourself.

Sign #18. You don’t take yourself too seriously

You have serious objectives and a lot of responsibility.

Leadership is hard enough to not have some fun once in a while.

Sign #19. You care way too much

You want the best from and for your team. You care because:

  • You really want them to succeed.
  • You are invested in their well being.
  • You have an open door policy.
  • You listen to their dreams and aspirations, to what they have to say without judgement.

Last Words Of Advice!

If you answer to these signs, then you are definitely doing a great job as a leader.

Otherwise, be kind to yourself and begin working on these signs.

It’s all about finding the right balance for yourself and for your team.

Keep the respect to get alignment, be likable to create influence, be approachable at the same time.

Keep the respect to get alignment, be likable to create influence, be approachable at the same time. - Vanessa Sylvester Click To Tweet

Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!

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Building An Impactful Mentorship Relationship

I always wished someone had thought me what I know now, so I didn’t need to learn life and office politics the hard way.

Needless to say, mentors are hard to come by and it is difficult for women and minorities to find mentors in powerful positions.

However, achieving success without a mentor is possible but having one will definitively make your life easier.

Wondering how to score the perfect mentor or perfect mentee?

Building An Impactful Mentorship Relationship

What is mentorship?

Mentorship is usually the realization of leadership. It is similar to tutorship, to parenthood, to partnership, or to an alliance.

To simplify, mentorship is basically an often exclusive work relationship between two people who are willing to learn from each other and to grow with each other.

Furthermore, mentorship is built on reciprocity and commitment. It requires trust, loyalty, personal empowerment, respect, effective time management, and resistance to social pressures.

Most mentorship are informal and naturally happen in the workplace. However, they can take place in your personal life.

If you are looking for a mentor…

You have to be able to effectively manage yourself, to handle all responsibilities and to not self-sabotage.

Are you ready for mentorship?

To prepare yourself for mentorship and to make yourself attractive to a mentor, you must develop your skills and your character on your own:

  • Keep a positive attitude and be open to learn.
  • Have goals and ambition.
  • Learn to build relationships, to handle office politics, pressures and failures.
  • Humble demonstrate your character and your smarts.
  • Take calculated risks.

Benefits to having a mentor

Mentorship provides the mentee, the learner or the protégé with:

  • Insights into the corporate culture, sound advice and ongoing feedback.
  • Leadership skills and increased job performance.
  • An ability to adapt to change.
  • More independence, more experiences, more challenges, more success and opportunities for evolution.
  • Appropriate jobs and roles in regards to your strengths.
  • Increased visibility, access to responsibilities and high positions.
  • Higher pay.
  • Emotional support, emotional intelligence, self-awareness, higher self-esteem, better focus, stronger confidence.

How to find a mentor?

You must not wait to be chosen by a mentor: you should make the first move. To find a mentor:

  • Identify your strengths and weaknesses.
  • Identify your goals and make sure that they align with those of your future mentor.
  • Handle your career on your own, manage your own reputation, gain pertinent skills, work on yourself and on your goals first before seeking help.
  • Verify the role and status of the person of interest. The person must not necessarily be your supervisor, must not work at the same company or have the same position. Make sure that your mentor has exceptional skills, is well read, is self-aware and is always on the path of self-improvement.
  • Observe your mentor’s behavior and character to ensure that you will get along with them and look up to.
  • Test your mentor’s ability to handle work then ask for help.
  • Get to know your mentor on a personal level and keep in touch from time to time.
  • Seek understanding and accept mentorship influence.
  • Learn to keep secrets.

If you looking to be a mentor…

You must be willing to share your experiences, to be authentic, protective, fair, positive, patient and confident.

Mentors are motivators, are able to create strong relationships, are part of a powerful network, demonstrate exemplary leadership behavior, have influence, dedicate themselves to people, take risks, give sound advice, and give credit when it’s due.

Benefits to being a mentor

Being a mentor is rewarding and is an illustrious position. In a mentorship relationship, everyone benefits from each other’s success and brings equal goods to the table.

On one hand, mentors are able to share their life experiences, to share great work tips, to provide different perspectives, to retain the best employees and to improve the workplace. They can delegate work to a trusted employee, bridge the generational gap, get to work with different people and get more free time to themselves.

On another hand, without being part of your organization, mentees are able to positively impact the mentor’s image, reputation, forces them to sharpen their skills and to improve their work-life balance. Mentees keep their mentors in touch with their organization, up to date with their technical skills

Finally, mentorship is fulfilling because mentors are able to leave a legacy, to make their mark.

How to select a mentee?

The perfect mentee does not exist.

  • Be open to mentorship proposals early in life and early in your career
  • Observe if they have potential
  • Verify the mentee is curious, eager to learn and open to change
  • Verify that they are willing to put in the work

How to be a mentor?

To be the best mentor you can be:

  • Be a role-model.
  • Find out what you and your mentee want to achieve.
  • Set realistic expectations about the job and help them clarify their goals.
  • Find your most convenient mentorship and leadership style.
  • Know how to navigate most challenging situations.
  • Give support whenever you can, have an open door policy, respond to the needs and goals of your mentee.
  • Show appreciation and show that their opinions matter.
  • Give your mentee time to grow, time to commit and time to develop their skills.
  • Open up your network to the mentee and give direct access to success.
  • Don’t mold the mentee in your image and understand that they are their own person.
  • Incorporate mentoring programs in your organization if you can.
  • Let go of the mentee if your goals don’t align anymore and if the mentee has outgrown you.

 

Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!

Don’t forget to like, share and leave a comment below.

Empowering Your Team & Retaining Talent

Keeping a job for a lifetime at the same company is no longer a concern for employees. Nowadays, most employees are looking to explore, to evolve professionally, to grow personally and do not depend on one company to do so. 

With the amount of layoffs in the last generation, employees have learnt to mistrust leaders and corporations. They no longer feel empowered, committed, engaged, aligned with their organization or no longer think that leaders have their best interest at heart.

However, good employees are needed to reach company goals. Leaders should be concerned when several good employees leave in a matter of weeks, when employees start performing poorly, act disengaged, take too many sick leaves, skip meetings, arrive late, are unmotivated, are overworked, unproductive or underpaid.

Wondering what are the strategies and tactics to empower your team, to maintain a trust climate, increase employee alignment and retain talent?

Empowering Your Team & Retaining Talent

What is employee empowerment?

Employee empowerment is a loosely used term.

It mostly designates the way people feel about themselves at work, the ease with which they are able to use their strengths, to freely demonstrate their talents, to achieve their purpose, to find meaning and satisfaction in their jobs.

It also stems from their ability to feel productive, confident and in control in the workplace.

Furthermore, employee empowerment is a leadership style. Leaders must feel empowered in order to empower. Indeed, they must be able to maintain self-confidence, to manage their time, to gain influence, to effectively communicate, to listen, to reach their goals and to be open to learn.

In addition, an empowered employee doesn’t need permission to do his or her work, to create an appropriate process, to control the outcomes of his or her work, to develop a personal scope.

On the other hand, employees who are disempowered don’t openly critique the organization, don’t make open suggestions, don’t challenge the status quo, don’t know what is expected of them, and are often blindsided. When employees don’t feel empowered, they tend to leave.

What are the challenges of employee empowerment?

Deciding to quit is a long process that can be triggered by various traumatic, memorable and emotional events:

  • Lack of empowerment, of recognition, validation or compensation.
  • Lack of career opportunities and possibilities of growth.
  • Lack of challenge. This creates boredom, a need for a career change and a need for more responsibility.
  • Lack of purpose. In this case, employees feel like they are not operating at their maximum potential, that their strengths are not properly used, that their jobs don’t have meaning and don’t bring them satisfaction. Work constitutes an important part of your life. Therefore, making it meaningful and empowering is necessary.
  • Career disillusionment. Employees feel like their career path is not as they believed it to be.
  • Workplace toxicity and leader’s unethical behavior. Workplace toxicity comes from the fact that core values and trust have not been instilled. This can result in being influenced, in spreading toxic behavior, in feelings of being marginalized or harassed.
  • Aggressive office politics.
  • Poor communication with higher-ups.
  • Work-life imbalance and lack of flexible hours.
  • Change in personal situation (health, family, …).
  • New sudden career opportunities.

Should you hold back employees who want to leave?

Retaining young employees is the most difficult because they need more care, more validation and more training.

To increase employee engagement and to compete for talents, most organizations resort to quick fixes that provide short them results. It is essential to:

  • Accept that employees are going to leave no matter what.
  • Accept that employees who are leaving are sure about their decision.
  • Accept that the decision to leave is potentially connected to your behavior, to the company’s policy and culture.
  • Hire appropriate employees for the job in the first place by directly asking them about their needs.
  • Conduct an employee exit interview and ask your employees why they want to leave. Doing so will help you fix recurring problems within the organization and reduce employee turnover.

How to empower employees and prevent them from leaving?

To decrease employee turnover, leaders must change their mindset and rethink the company culture. Empowerment can lead to higher levels of commitment, innovation, motivation, more productivity and better relationships.

  • Determine your core values. Have enough integrity to share and demonstrate your values.
  • Be an example, demonstrate the benefits of empowerment, act ethically and a teacher to your team.
  • Assess and improve your communication style.
  • Be fair at all times and don’t pick favorites.
  • Learn to cope with change. Don’t expect immediate change and the change you envisioned.
  • Build an environment that promotes inclusiveness and unity. For example, remove the traditional organizational structures to improve communication among workers.
  • Value your employees and their expertise.
  • Listen to your employees. Ask them for advice, let them speak freely and truly consider their responses.
  • Share your vision and your story with your team in order to motivate them towards a unique goal and to check if they align with it.
  • Set high but achievable expectations for your team. Let them know about it.
  • Clearly define everyone’s activities so they don’t step on other people’s toes.
  • Help your employees identify their purpose, even if their calling is not in the organization. It would be more rewarding for them and more effective for you to remove them from the team and give them some indication of an ideal career path.
  • Increase your employees awareness. Share information about organizational policies, processes, structures, standards, decisions.
  • Involve your employees in the decision-making process. 
  • Learn to delegate. There is nothing more frustrating than a leader who micromanages, who needs to approve every stage of the process, who doesn’t think that their team can have the workload without them.
  • Encourage people to take initiative and to solve their own problems.
  • Give your employees autonomy and more ownership of their work. Give them the freedom to reach the company’s objectives.
  • Allow people to take risks and to make mistakes.
  • Increase accountability and avoid the blame game at all cost, especially when something goes wrong.
  • Recognize, reward your employees and show appreciation for the work that your team puts in. Help them understand that their contributions at work have a real impact.
  • Request and provide feedback often. Give credit when it is due, provide coaching and training.
  • Have an open door policy, if possible.
  • Help your employees grow professionally and personally. Allow them to succeed and be the best. Make them look good and they will reward you with good work
  • Increase benefits, avoid overwork, allow flexible hours and leaves of absence.

Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!

Don’t forget to like, share and leave a comment below.