Agile Learning & Development

Agile Articles

4 Key Questions to Ask Yourself When You are Dealing with Change: Less than two years after setting up Agile, Helen Krag has moved to Kaizen Training. Find out how I made the transition, and learn about the questions you need to be asking yourself when faced with change ...

Delegate Effectively: Important Steps for Better Results (Joanna’s Story): Most of us know intellectually what we should be doing to delegate effectively to others, so why do we still hold on to tasks and responsibilities, and fail to get the best from our team members? What is it that makes it so difficult for us to let go ...?

12 Ideas to Make More of Your Time and Be More Productive Right Now: When we get stuck in a cycle of ‘busy-ness’ it can be helpful to take an objective look at how we spend our time and how productive we really are ...

Christmas Reading Suggestions: If, like me, you’re an inveterate learner and you want to feed your mind as well as your tummy this Christmas, here are some of the books I’m hoping to find in my stocking ...

Deliver Incisive Feedback – What Yoga Can Teach Us: When we want to give really elegant feedback, the more specific we can be, the more helpful it is to the other person ...

Feedback - 9 Essential Steps to Tell Somebody Something You Think They Don’t Want to Hear: A structure to help deliver constructive feedback and initiative 'difficult' conversations ...

Choose Your Attitude To Mentoring, Then Choose Your Mentor: I have a confession to make. I’m a bit of a ‘celebrity interview’ junkie, particularly the sort of interview where people divulge their early influences in life ...

Inspiring Motivation Quotes: A selection of motivational quotes from the worlds of sport, business, TV and film ...

5 Tips to Motivate Employees Through Change: One of the most common questions I am asked in business is 'How do I motivate my team?' Read on for some practical considerations and tips ...

5 Myths of Leadership, Dispelled: Helen Krag considers the definition of leadership, and the ways in which some people hold themselves back from taking a leadership role ...

A Dozen Favourite Leadership Quotes: Check out our favourite leadership quotes ...

Influence Sustainability - July Newsletter: Check out our July newsletter for ideas on how you can personally influence a more sustainable workplace ...

Personal Influence For Sustainable Business: With Harvard Business School MBA graduates pledging to 'create sustainable economic, social and environmental prosperity worldwide', Helen Krag examines what individuals can do to influence a sustainable agenda in their place of work ...

Case Study: Sustainable Business - Taking the Initiative: Fiona Astin of Synergy Housing Group tells of how she has seized the initiative to build a more sustainable agenda in her workplace ...

Non-Verbal Communication - June Newsletter: Check out our June newsletter for some thought-provoking and fun ideas to improve non-verbal communication ...

Communicating Non-Verbally - Are You Paying Attention?: We use far more than words when we communicate, yet often we don’t pay attention to the non-verbal messages we and others are conveying ....

The Power of Influence: We all exert influence, all the time. Tap into your personal power and learn to influence positive change ...

Choose Your Attitude To Mentoring, Then Choose Your Mentor

I love those celebrity interviews where the interviewee divulges their early influences. You know the sort of thing:

‘I grew up in the slums, and we never had any money, but my Dad taught me that the most important thing in life, no matter how bad things get, is to remember to polish my shoes before I go out, because you can tell a lot about a person by their shoes.’

We all have values that are important to us and many of them were formed in childhood and shaped by those who nurtured us as we grew up. We also continue to develop and hone our values in our working life. If you reflect on your early career, and perhaps you are just setting out on that path now, there will be people that shape the way you think and behave in particular scenarios: people whose values and ways of working rubbed off on you, some good, some bad, and shaped the way you now operate. You may not have considered it at the time, or maybe you did, and you can now look back and realise, ‘Ah yes, I learned the importance of thinking commercially from person X ... and how to conduct myself in meetings from person Y’.

And it’s possible you don’t think about those things, until I ask you to (or until you’re invited to do a celebrity interview!). And I wonder, as you do think about them, which of those things you have learned are serving you well, and which ones do you need to change?

The Value of Having a Mentor

For me, the value of having a mentor is to help you reach the next step. It may be somebody you work with on a formal basis for a period of time, or it could be someone you engage with briefly for a specific reason. It is usually a person who has trodden the path you want to take, perhaps making mistakes along the way, and has emerged further along that path having achieved what they set out to do; or it might be someone whose principles you identify with. And you don’t just have to have one mentor. You may have several mentors concurrently, or at different times in your life.

So, once you decide you would value some help from a mentor, what are the next steps? The first thing is to be specific about what you need help with, and also why you think this person is the one to help you. Of course, it helps if you already know the person, but don’t be put off if it’s someone you don’t know yet. Consider if there is anyone you know mutually who could introduce you (networks are so much more explicit these days thanks to technology such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook). Or failing that, approach the person directly and be clear about what you admire about them and why you think they can help you.

I Know What You May Be Thinking

I know there are some of you out there thinking that this is all very one-sided, and why should that person give up their time and help me? And I want you to know that it’s not helpful to have those thoughts, because it immediately puts you in a position of being apologetic. When you ask someone to mentor you, you are asking them to share, over time, their experiences and their expertise. For some mentors, it may be the first time they have articulated this stuff, and it is extremely likely that they will gain their own insights and learning when they do. Also, ask yourself how you would feel being asked to talk about your achievements, and how you have been successful. Most people like to do that, so be sure to listen and give them the time to be heard. You need to believe that the mentor gets some value out of the process too. I recently asked someone I had never met for help, and we had a half hour telephone call because she is based in the US. When I emailed her afterwards to thank her for her time, (and I was specific in this mail about what she had helped me with), she in turn thanked me back because our discussion had served as a reminder of something that is important to her.

A Closing Thought

Finally, I want to touch on the power of reciprocation. We know from the work Robert Cialdini has done in this area that reciprocation is very influential – if I do something for you, you will probably feel you need to do something in return for me. Whilst I buy into this principle, because it seems to be played out in human behaviour, it’s not directly helpful in this scenario. Why? Because when you ask someone for help, it’s not always possible, or appropriate, to immediately offer something in return. Think about it this way instead. In a family of three children, the middle child will (usually) look up to the eldest sibling. They want to wear the same clothes as that sibling, and be allowed to do what the elder child is allowed to do. The youngest child probably doesn’t seek to emulate the eldest child, especially if the age gap is quite big. However, their hero is the middle child, and they want to wear the same clothes and be allowed to do what the middle child can do. In this way, the middle child is both mentor to the younger one, and aspiring to be like the eldest. I believe we all have this dynamic in our lives.

Contact us for a confidential discussion on how to get to where you want to be.
us or call +44 (0) 845 224 5657.