How can you encourage learning and mentoring in your industry?

360 feedback is a great way to identify learning needs. It's not always obvious to an individual/team what areas they should focus on so feedback from colleagues/stakeholders can be invaluable. People willing to engage in 360 feedback can demonstrate in itself a willingness and openness to grow. 360 just needs to be facilitated well and handled with care.

Understanding who needs the help is the first step. Leaders should go out periodically and quietly observe. Not micromanage, but observe. Tap your floor managers for insights, they will know based on how they have been observing. Let's build our staff up and not tear them down!

When I became a licensed architect, I didn't realize I had to take considerable hours of continuing education in specific subject areas to maintain my license. But I am glad my profession has this requirement because it forces my colleagues and me to get outside our office bubbles and specialty areas to learn about topics together. Many of my friends are in industries that don't have licenses or formal association requirements. These individuals can learn as much as they want or stay stuck in knowledge and training that may be decades behind the latest findings. But can you imagine going to a doctor, lawyer, or engineer who isn't up to speed on the latest research and methods for protecting the life, safety, and welfare of its clients?

360 feedback provides valuable input for coaching and development plans. It helps coaches and mentors tailor their guidance to address specific areas for growth. A 360 survey can reveal blind spots that the individual might not be aware of. Perspectives from various sources shed light on behaviors and areas for improvement that might not be evident through self-assessment.

Encouraging learning means helping people get into a different mindset. When their inboxes and overflowing and they have back to back meetings on their calendar, they are stressed and anxious. To engage in deep upskilling, people need to clear mindshare and get into a different zone. Learning how to learn is an essential skill that can help accelerate a lot of the key points in this article.

I do feel that often some of the best mentoring opportunities which are the most productive are often unexpected. Accidental coming together of unlikely mentor/mentoree. These are relationships that can not be forced to occur. So both mentors and mentorees need to be aware to also look outside and beyond of formal pre planned opportunities to join people together ??

As much as people say they want to learn new things, when the day finally arrives, it's never a good time. And like a root canal, they find creative reasons for why they can't make it. Making learning fun, social, and relaxing is key to getting people to commit to regular learning. And having others count on you to be there with them can help ensure you show up. Therefore, we schedule many lunch seminars/roundtable discussions or afternoon snacks and drink lectures that are casual, light, but informative events. While having an expert present information to you is useful, the biggest learning opportunities happen when we get others involved in sharing their ideas, experiences, and perspectives about a topic.

As much as people say they want to learn new things, when the day finally arrives, it's never a good time. And like a root canal, they find creative reasons for why they can't make it. Making learning fun, social, and relaxing is key to getting people to commit to regular learning. And having others count on you to be there with them can help ensure you show up. Therefore, we schedule many lunch seminars/roundtable discussions or afternoon snacks and drink lectures that are casual, light, but informative events. While having an expert present information to you is useful, the biggest learning opportunities happen when we get others involved in sharing their ideas, experiences, and perspectives about a topic.

As a strategic design firm, we depend on having everyone on the team use their eyes, ears, and senses to sort, sift and filter what's happening in the real world. One of the best ways to get everyone involved is having regular cultural show-and-tell sessions where staff are given a new and interesting topic to research, test out, and bring back insights, ideas, photographs, and artifacts of what they experienced. These events don't have to be like doing a tedious homework assignment but more like a fun adventure and spy mission. When people get to use their brains and add their opinions to a topic, they put a lot more into it, which benefits everyone.

Happy to share 3 tips to create a supportive and collaborative learning environment. The key is to have fun and learn! 1)Employee Engagement Initiatives are a great way to foster collaboration. Using gamificiation ,online learning and collaborative tools helps the learner contribute and collaborate and have fun with learning. Activity based learning is effective and engaging . Implementing different creative ideas like creating a common vision board, problem solving games, innovation and creativity , jigsaw puzzles are a few ways to develop a learning culture in a fun way 2) Encourage learning with rewards and recognition points and dedicated time slots for the same. Thank you!

I've been a manager and firm leader for over 35 years and still spend a significant portion of my year taking additional classes, courses, and training. I make it a point to let my staff know that I am proactively learning new stuff because it improves my knowledge and enhances my professional performance. The office is like a gym to me, where everyone comes in with the mindset to train hard and become the best version of themselves. There's something about seeing others work hard and train hard that makes people push themselves to reach greater heights. Letting others know what you're trying to work on and improve is a great way to motivate your staff to do the same analysis and create a culture of excellence.

Establish Formal Mentorship Programs. Set up structured mentorship programs within your organization or industry association. These programs can match experienced professionals with younger or less experienced individuals seeking guidance. Formalizing the process helps ensure commitment and accountability.

It's common for employees and managers to have a different understanding of their job expectations. Therefore, I like to ask employees to describe what they think the minimal expectations of the job are and how well they believe they're hitting those expectations. I then ask them what they think would exceed those expectations and how they might achieve them. It's always illuminating to hear how employees describe these expectations. Similarly, managers need to describe the minimal expectations of their employee's jobs and discuss what they believe would exceed those expectations. Something critical happens in these discussions as employees and managers see what matters to each other and how they can reach better alignment by learning.

Humans learn by watching others climb up or fall down social structures and organizational ladders. Therefore, when employees do well, and the boss notices it, staff picks up on it. And when bosses are disappointed by something, staff notices that as well. Over time an implicit or explicit list of things to do and not do evolves. We recommend clarifying these things and focusing more on positive behaviors and accomplishments rather than mistakes and failures. Most employees want to make their bosses proud, so the more clear you can be about celebrating the victories, the more they will strive to achieve them.

I believe that leaders make leaders. Thus, it is responsibility of a leader to mentor and coach his/her team members to shoulder higher responsibilities. In my experience, it should be undertaken in three stages:- 1. Engage with your team members - To understand the strengths, areas of improvement and point of views of the team members. 2. Enable the team members- To provide them resources, time, training, grooming and up skilling opportunities to take on the responsibilities. 3. Empower them to lead - To let them take decision and take charge of the situation/ project/ operations so to allow them to gain confidence to lead ! This, help them transform into future leaders!

In order to have a learning culture within an organisation it is essential for individuals and teams to adopt a growth mindset. This means they are willing to learn new skills, don’t mind making mistakes and see them as an opportunity to learn. Once there is that culture in play, learning becomes easier and individuals and teams are more willing to be opened to learning opportunities like coaching and mentoring.

One the best outcomes of mentoring programs is increased diversity in managerial positions. Research shows that the bond between mentor and mentee is strong enough (through cognitive dissonance) to overcome any biases that would ordinarily stop certain groups from progressing. Having this front and centre as a benefit will encourage many to sign up and participate.