Executive Coaching Expertise- Dr. Karen Otazo

Mentor the Mentors Series

Mentoring others is a Sacred Duty of All Leaders

The Givens:

To mentor someone he or she needs to be:

Convinced something needs to change
Willing to self-correct as they work
Willing and able to try out new ways of behaving

As a leader, you have the carrot and the stick. The carrot is the vision of a better job and a more robust career, a bonus or other perks. The stick varies from the performance appraisal and yearly salary review all the way to possible dismissal.

When you mentor mentors, you want them to understand that a complete reversal of old behavior is not easy or all that desirable. The ideal results are self-correcting and self-generating employees who are willing to try new ways of doing things. A leader is not so much teaching “an old dog new tricks.” The dog is trying the new tricks on his or her own.

Availability

How can I help one of my direct reports be more available to their group without appearing busy, inconvenienced, rushed or interrupted? He is typically multi-tasking in the office. While he is concentrating on something he has his head phones on listening to music.

With the perception of “availability” you are dealing with at least two issues: 1) Being seen as ready to talk and 2) Tuning in when someone comes to talk. “Busy” managers are turned on by multi-tasking. The lure of doing more than one thing is too great sometimes. It’s a bit like a drug. One way to kick a habit is to substitute new behavior(s) for old one(s).

	What says “busy”	What says “available”

1	Sitting with back to your office door	Fully or partially facing the office door
2	Watching the computer screen while having a conversation	Turning the computer off while having a conversation or turning away completely
3	Answering the telephone while having conversations	Learn to divert or silence incoming calls without a ring in the office
4	Wearing headphones and listening to music while working on the computer even if it helps you focus	Resist the temptation to wear the headphones during regular office hours
5	Showing impatience when someone stops by unexpectedly because you want to concentrate to finish something	Letting others know your “open office” time period; be truly “available” during those times
6	Wiggling or tapping your hands or feet	Pressing a ball or some executive “toy”; telling people that is what keeps you focused

What says “busy”

1) Sitting with back to your office door

2) Watching the computer screen while having a conversation

3) Answering the telephone while having conversations

4) Wearing headphones and listening to music while working on the computer even if it helps you focus

5) Showing impatience when someone stops by unexpectedly because you want to concentrate to finish something

6) Wiggling or tapping your hands or feet

What says “available”

1) Fully or partially facing the office door

2) Turning the computer off while having a conversation or turning away completely

3) Learn to divert or silence incoming calls without a ring in the office

4) Resist the temptation to wear the headphones during regular office hours

5) Letting others know your “open office” time period; be truly “available” during those times

6) Pressing a ball or some executive “toy”; telling people that is what keeps you focused

What did you think of this article? Dr. Karen would love to here your feedback!