Why your organisation needs a mentoring programme.

In today’s competitive work environment attracting and retaining staff is hugely important. One of the strategies that is being increasingly used in recruitment and retention packages are mentorship programmes that can offer a wide range of benefits for both mentors and mentees.

In the past mentoring was often seen as a great way to help new employees integrate into the workforce but a strong mentorship programme can do so much more

• Knowledge Transfer - Mentors provide valuable insights and practical knowledge gained from their own experiences which can help helping mentees navigate challenges more effectively. Mentors can also have industry-specific knowledge and a background in best practices that may not be available through formalised study.

• Career Development - As well as providing guidance on setting and achieving career goals, identifying strengths and weaknesses, and developing the skills needed for success, mentors can introduce mentees to their professional networks, expanding their opportunities for career advancement and collaboration.

• Personal Development - Mentors help mentees identify and work on areas for skill improvement and personal and professional development. Their encouragement and constructive feedback helps mentees gain in confidence and self-assurance.

• Feedback and Support - Mentors offer constructive feedback and guidance which helps mentees recognise areas for improvement and how to enhance their performance. Mentors also serve as a source of encouragement during challenging times, offering a listening ear and advice to navigate both professional and personal issues.

• Increased Productivity - Mentors assist mentees in aligning their goals with the broader objectives of the organisation, contributing to overall productivity and success. Learning from a mentor's experiences can also help mentees avoid common pitfalls and achieve their goals more efficiently.

• Diversity and Inclusion - Mentorship can contribute to diversity and inclusion by connecting individuals from different backgrounds and fostering a culture of support and understanding.

• Succession Planning - Organisations benefit by developing a pipeline of talented individuals who are groomed for leadership roles through mentorship programmes. Mentorship also helps to pass on institutional knowledge and expertise from experienced employees to newer generations, ensuring continuity within the organisation.

• Mutual Learning - While mentors share their knowledge, mentees can bring fresh perspectives and ideas, creating a dynamic exchange of knowledge and fostering a culture of continuous learning.

By connecting experienced individuals with individuals who are eager to learn, mentorship programmes can play a crucial role in professional and personal growth as well as in creating a supportive environment that enhances skills, builds relationships, and contributes to individual and organisational success.

Navigating an organisational pivot

Keywords - Resilience - Organisational Pivots - Change - Personal Growth

In this episode of Resilience Unravelled, Jason Shen, an executive coach with a focus on resilience and reinvention who is renowned for guiding entrepreneurs through crucial transitions.  A former national champion gymnast Jason faced multiple setbacks including layoffs, lawsuits, company failure, and traumatic knee injuries, so he understands what it takes to adapt and overcome adversity!

Jason talks about the importance of continuous learning and personal growth and talks about his background in the commercial world, including working in marketing roles and starting companies. The conversation focuses on organisational pivots and the importance of making changes earlier rather than later and Jason emphasises the need for leaders to adapt their leadership approach during these transitions. They also touch upon personal resilience and how taking care of physical and creative/emotional needs is essential. Cultural considerations are mentioned, such as differences between men and women's expressions of emotions or vulnerability based on Eastern/Western philosophies.

Main topics

• The concept and process of organisational pivots

• The impact of founders in organisational pivots

• The relationship between resilience and pivots.

• Cultural considerations in coaching

• Exploring different coaching approaches

Timestamps

1: Introduction and Background - 00:02-00:44
2: Understanding Organisational Pivots- 02:17-04:06
3: Navigating Organisational Pivots - 04:06-06:23
4: Developing Leadership Capacity during Pivots - 07:21-07:30, 07:55-08:59
5: Cultural Considerations in Pivots - 09:46-12:07
6: The Cycle of Learning and Support - 14:46-16:02
7: Overcoming the Fear of Not Knowing - 16:35-17:32
8: The Role of Coaching in Organisational Change - 20:37-22:19
9: The Path to Pivot Book - 22:19-23:41

Action items

Jason’s book is called "The Path to Pivot," or find out more at jasonshen.com

You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information here. Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.
Find out more about our innovative Resilience and Burnout solutions.   

Soft skills. Essential to support AI technology?

Often, the soft skills that help to build the connection between an employee, their job, their organisation, and their colleagues are seen as less important than the more tangible, technical skills that connect employees to the physical function of their jobs. But will the rise of AI with its increased demand for technical skills actually make soft skills more important in the ‘4th Industrial Revolution’?

Soft skills refer to personal attributes, communication abilities, and interpersonal skills that enable individuals to work effectively with others and its these skills that create the environment of belonging and purpose that increases employee engagement and productivity and reduces staff turnover. While AI technology primarily deals with data analysis, automation, and problem-solving, there are several areas where soft skills become valuable:

1.     Communication: AI professionals need to communicate complex concepts, findings, and insights to stakeholders, clients, and team members who may not have technical expertise so clear and concise communication ensures that AI solutions are understood, properly utilised, and aligned with the needs of the organisation or end-users.

2.     Collaboration: AI projects often involve multidisciplinary teams, including data scientists, engineers, domain experts, and business professionals so collaboration and teamwork are essential for integrating various perspectives, leveraging diverse expertise, and ensuring that AI solutions address the specific requirements and challenges of the organisation.

3.     Creativity and Innovation: While AI algorithms excel at pattern recognition and data analysis, creativity and innovation are still largely human capabilities. Soft skills related to creativity, ideation, and thinking outside the box can help AI professionals identify new ideas, explore innovative solutions, and envision AI applications beyond traditional approaches.

4.     Critical Thinking: AI systems often encounter complex issues, ambiguous problems, or unexpected challenges that require human intervention and decision-making. Critical thinking and problem-solving skills help in assessing AI outputs, identifying biases, interpreting results, and making informed judgments.

5.     Ethical considerations: As AI continues to advance, ethical considerations become increasingly important. Soft skills like ethical reasoning, empathy, and critical thinking can help in navigating the ethical implications of AI, such as data privacy, bias, and fairness and AI professionals must consider the broader social and ethical implications of their work.

6.     Adaptability: The field of AI is rapidly evolving, and professionals need to adapt to changing technologies, tools, and methodologies. Soft skills such as adaptability, flexibility, and a growth mindset can facilitate the learning and integration of new AI techniques and frameworks.

7.     User Experience: Soft skills like user experience, design, empathy, and user research are valuable in AI projects that involve human interaction. Understanding user needs, preferences, and behaviours can lead to the development of AI systems that are intuitive, user-friendly, and aligned with end-user expectations.

Soft skills are increasingly being recognised as crucial in the field of AI. While AI technologies excel at data analysis and automation, they still rely on human involvement for their development, deployment, and application. Soft skills complement the technical aspects of AI by fostering effective communication, collaboration, critical thinking, ethical considerations, creativity, and user-centric approach, all essential in successfully navigating the new world of work.

Moving on from alcohol addiction

Veronica Valli is a recovered alcoholic and drug addict, who has personal experience of what it takes to recover from an addiction. At the height of her addiction, she was unable to go to work without the aid of a drink and her life and confidence were in tatters. She got sober in 2000 at the age of twenty-seven and went into working in the addiction field as a Psychotherapist primarily because of her own personal history.  Since moving to the USA with her husband Veronica has written two self published books and has a new book coming out in February. She now works mainly as a coach with women who want to change their relationship with alcohol.

Veronica feels alcohol is part of the social fabric and that people who struggle with their relationship with alcohol do four things. 1. They drink.  2. They think about drinking. 3.  They think about not drinking. 4. They recover from drinking. People who don't have a problem with alcohol don't think about it because it doesn't rent any space in their head and take up energy. Veronica’s calls this bandwidth. You can do a lot with 70% bandwidth but what you can’t to is emotionally grow the way you’re meant to because you are spending that bandwidth arguing with yourself about whether you’re going to have a drink that night or not, whether you drank too much at the weekend or whether you should do Dry January.

Problems with alcohol start a long time before the external signs such as missing work appear. Only people with a problem think about not drinking - why would you be thinking about not drinking? People who don't have a problem think about alcohol the some way people think about sandwiches. It's the thinking about not drinking that's the indicator.

In the UK we have normalised abnormal drinking. People are seen as successful in the various areas of their life on the outside - they check the boxes, of having a job, a house and a car so not seen as having a drinking problem. If people go to work every day they are seen to be functioning and can appear to be OK. It may be that one part of a relationship is worried but the other isn’t concerned and feels they are functioning well. They still have a job and Veronica feels the job is the last thing to go because it’s where the money is and money is where the alcohol is. Typically though the relationship will break down before the job goes.

There is always the need to find support. The most common approach is the 12 Steps and Veronica got sober using this because at the time there where no other options. She found it very useful and always makes it clear that the 12 steps are simply ancient, spiritual wisdoms so we get into good enough fit enough shape to become alcohol free and then go and get some professional help. It’s a helpful approach but she feels there should be other options and that its not the perfect fit for everyone as some people don't relate or identify with it. It's a peer led programme and many people Veronica knows also have other issues such as limiting beliefs or relationships that need professional intervention

There is a difference in how alcohol affects the genders and the way of working with different genders. Veronica was part of Generation X and in the 90s binge drinking was sold as feminism. The belief was that if you drank like the boys it was equality.  To women of her generation abusive drinking normalized. Over the last five or six years though there has been a culture of alcohol being seen as a reward at the end of a stressful day. Perception is far harder if you drink, there is a numbing of feelings and a default to alcohol to deal with problems so you don't develop the skills you need as human beings to deal with disappointment or frustration. When you’re drinking you re not really alive, you’re not really present – you don't have all your band width – which is similar to the feelings associated with taking pills for  anxiety or depression. There is a feeling of walking through life thinking we’re are dealing with everything but not dealing with anything

Alcohol is marketed to women differently. There has been a rise in female led drinks such as Prosecco which are seen as being fun and glitzy – that if you’re not drinking you’re missing out. Women simply can’t drink as much as men and there are also unique problems woman have. If women going through menopause drink too much it makes the situation worse but drink is pushed on woman whatever stage of life you’re in. Male drinking is different. It’s more sociable as men tend to drink in groups whilst women tend to drink more on their own. Veronica feels that alcohol is one of the few ways men are allowed to express emotion, that it’s acceptable to cry on best friends shoulder if their football team lost. If alcohol wasn't involved men wouldn’t do that. There is no permission for men to express their feelings and alcohol gives them the avenue to express that.

Veronica feels that alcohol is sold as a belief system before we even start to drink. Not drinking is never presented to us as a option because drinking is what adults do. Alcohol is the best way to get to the land of fun, excitement, relaxation, belonging, connection rewarding yourself, romance and sex . That's what’s sold to us and who doesn’t want that? You want these things but if you feel inadequate alcohol will get you to that place. If you’re not drinking you’re seen as being boring and have to fight the social conditioning and stereotyping that goes with it.  It can be hard to challenge this on your own as the messaging is so clever and insidious.

Connection and community are essential to stopping drinking as we all need to have meaningful connections. We need people who really know us, who we can be vulnerable with – part of the reason AA has been around so long is that it provides community. At 27 Veronica lost all her friends because no one was staying in on a Saturday and she didn't have anyone to hang out with. When you stop drinking you feel like you’re the only one so you need to be with people who understand what you’re going through. It’s also powerful a bit further down the road to be with people who can say ‘I remember that’,  ‘I felt like that this is what I did’,  ‘this is how I feel now’. Seeing people who’ve been through it helps you think that it is possible for me. Connection is the most healing and life sustaining thing we can do.

Veronica’s latest book is Soberful,  a personal development programme that would be helpful for anybody not just people who have a problem with alcohol. Everybody has to do personal development work but most people don't realise that and just bumble along. An alcohol problem is a wake up call, you've got to do some personal wok on yourselves. We all need to exercise regularly for optional health and personal development are just exercises for our mental health that we need to do regularly as well .

 You can find out more about Veronica and her work at soberful.com or https://www.veronicavalli.com/ Her book Soberful is available via Amazon.

You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information here. Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.