Sue Mentors: Jobs, Careers, Lifework...

Most mentees I work with are pursuing a job – whether it’s getting a job or moving to a different job and/or company – and one area that mentees don’t routinely consider is that of a company’s culture. (See resources that describe “company culture” such as https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-company-culture-2062000.) Mentees focus on the job under recruitment and on the organization, but they don’t always take the time to understand the hiring organization’s culture – and the mentee’s fit in different company cultures.
There are many resources on categories of company cultures that provide job-seekers with ways to assess what categories they would best fit in. And these can be also used in an interview situation to determine culture. Organizational Culture Types https://www.ocai-online.com/about-the-Organizational-Culture-Assessment-Instrument-OCAI/Organizational-Culture-Types5 Types of Corporate Culture: Which One Is Your Company? https://blog.enplug.com/corporate-culture9 Types of Org…

Another feature of this blog is bringing you advice and perspectives from people who mentor, by answering these questions:

What 1 piece of advice do you give every mentee you work with?
Be the master of your change, not a victim to it, since change is inevitable.Enjoy your work - you have to want to go to work every day.

Why are you interested in mentoring?

So I can help, not be a hindrance to other people. I like finding how to inspire people. It increases my satisfaction to see others' growth. 






Photo Source: DeathtoStock_IntotheLight-05

Another feature of this blog is bringing you advice and perspectives from people who mentor, by answering 3 questions.
Here are Anita Gibson's responses:
What are mentees looking for? A sense of different paths one can take in international health and strategies to reach both personal and professional goals. 

What 1 piece of advice do you give every mentee you work with? Solid field experience is invaluable. Learning how to work effectively with multiple stakeholders and colleagues with varying world views is not straightforward.  These skills come with experience - particularly field experience. 

Why are you interested in mentoring? Admittedly, I haven't sought out mentoring opportunities; rather, I sort of fell into them, particularly with more junior colleagues with whom I work.  After years of advancing my career while raising a family in the US and overseas, I find that colleagues are quite interested in how to achieve both job satisfaction and work-life balance.  I certainly d…

It’s always a surprise to people when they find out how much I love TV – and The Voice is in my top 10!
Let’s rewind to mid-2016 – when I noticed ads for The Voice as I was fast-forwarding through commercials. Imagine my surprise when the ads showed Miley Cyrus joining the team as a coach.
I thought: Really? As a Guest Coach – ? She has been so outrageous for the past couple years – and not exactly a good role model.
It didn’t seem a “good” choice to me.

But I love watching The Voice so that overrode my initial reactions.
In one of the first shows of Season 11, Miley had an intense look, as you can see in the photo. It struck me that this must be how I look when I’m on a telcon mentoring session (because suddenly I’ll realize I’ve been so focused on listening and the interaction that I haven’t taken a note or looked at the clock).
And then in the Knockouts (after Belle sang), she said, “I think I'll learn a lot and grow a lot in this experience too.”
My AHA moment (besides realizing my …

Are you surprised to know that I am a dataviz-envier?

I don't consider myself very creative so I was happy, a couple years ago, to learn from Susan Kistler and Stephanie Evergreen (both then at AEA- the American Evaluation Association) about p2i-Potent Presentations. I finally made my own p2 for AEA 2013 and felt pretty good about how it turned out. [See It’s never too late – Just Do It (with apologies to Nike).]

 I follow all sorts of dataviz experts and expounders on multiple social media sites. I bookmark sites about choosing colors, "rules" for dataviz, and the like. And, occasionally, I look at links about making an infographic - but mostly I just look at all sorts of infographics.

At the end of 2013, when Stephanie Evergreen published her infographic Year in Review, I was so impressed - and envious.

And then the envy started again, when she published her 2014 annual report on December 23rd.

In the last few days of each year, I usually write a message to work collea…

Another feature of this blog is bringing you advice and perspectives from people who mentor, by answering 3 questions.
Today I feature Jackie Hilton, SPHR, Vice President of Human Resources at Social & Scientific Systems.

What are mentees looking for?
I work a lot with junior to newly-minted professionals. They are looking for advice on how to move up the corporate ladder, on navigating difficult work relationships, or are frustrated in the job situation. This often comes from their inability to be the "leader" about resolving their situation.
I work with them to make sure that they are getting clear about what the expectations are for them in their job. In addition, they need to understand how to put themselves forward in the job. This means owning their success – starting with visualizing this and then developing consensus (with supervisor, colleagues, etc.) for this. This will give them a roadmap for moving forward.

What 1 piece of advice do you give every mentee you work …