I had a little “incident” at home.  I tried to open a jar and couldn’t do it.  Actually, it’s happened a few times recently and each time, my eight year old son comes to my rescue.  I hate to admit that getting older can mean that I lose certain abilities such as strength or dexterity.  I was also reluctant to have someone help me, let alone someone so much younger who was then able to do the task with ease. Then I realized, it’s the way the world works.  The techniques that he was using were different than my approach and ultimately, his way worked better for me.

As we age, there are many things that the younger generations can do that we cannot.  I’ve experienced it on the other end of the spectrum too, where someone more senior to me may be resistant to my help or expertise.  It’s human nature to want to do things for ourselves, in the way that we are used to doing them.  However, by doing this and not capitalizing on the skills of others, we are only limiting ourselves.

Benefits of allowing others to teach you

• Learning new skills to aid in your job or personal life
• Exposure to new technologies to improve inefficiencies you experience
• Allowing yourself to be inspired by the “spark” or passion that another person can share when they teach you something

It’s well known in the business world that if you find a mentor who is more senior to you, they can share their experience with you.  This leads to improved skills and knowledge and ultimately to higher level positions or pay increases as you develop.  Lesser appreciated is the reverse, when a younger, less experienced individual shares their knowledge with you, it can also lead to increased skills, revenue or higher level positions.

My point today is open yourself up.  Regardless of age, having teachers and mentors of all ages will help you become a more well-rounded leader.  Do you have people in your life who mentor you?  Does their age or experience level impact your development?  Share about them in the comments.  I’d love to hear some great mentor stories!

Guest post courtesy of author and HR professional Ben Eubanks.

Screeeeeeech.

Hmmm… Even the person who is the least knowledgeable about cars knows an engine isn’t supposed to make that sound. It signifies a problem. It’s a sign of an internal stress that needs to be resolved immediately.

Internal stress for people usually isn’t that obvious, but it can be just as costly for a business to ignore the signs as it would be for the car owner in the example above.

Managers have a tough gig. They have to manage people and their various personalities, preferences, and performance levels. They also feel stuck in between employer policies and the needs of their staff. And when the going gets tough, who are the first to leave? The best employees, that’s who. They can find another company to work for if they are top performers.

So how can managers change their mindset and still find time to be genuine leaders to their employees? Here are a few ideas…

• Stop micromanaging- If you’re spending half your time telling others how to do their jobs (and it’s not for one-off training purposes), then it’s either time to replace them or step back and determine if your constant interventions are even necessary.
• Productivity training- Most people have never had much training on how to be productive. Teach them how to use To Do lists, how to manage their inboxes, and how to use technology to save time and effort.
• Pay them to lead- As long as the results are good and it’s not at the expense of their “real” job, some companies have seen a lot of success in this area. Chipotle reduced manager turnover by 47% by using these and other related incentives.
• Motivate someone- Give them the tools to motivate their employees. You never know, acting like a preschooler might actually work for you…

The bottom line

We are living in stressful times, and it doesn’t look like things will get drastically easier any time soon. But when managers can help relieve stress for employees through effective leadership skills, their own stress goes down as well. They feel like they have some level of control over their situation, and that gives people hope.

Do you have any managers who might need to read these words? How do you help your managers cope with stress (either on the job or off)?

Ben Eubanks is an HR pro, blogger, and speaker in Huntsville, AL. He recently authored Rock Your Corporate Culture, a guide focused on helping HR professionals and senior leaders leverage their corporate culture for business success. He thinks of Trish as the big sister he never had and is one of the co-founders of the HRevolution unconference.

I remember how it felt to be ten years old.  I was one of the kids in the class that most kids liked.  I wasn’t too bossy, too silly or too needy. I was generally happy and was probably most known for helping others.  I tried not to be mean to other kids and I think I was fairly successful, at least most of the time.  When I look back at report cards, I was always described as “talkative and creative”.  I guess some things never change.

I also had friends who were a couple years older than me, so no matter how smart I was or how well I did something, there was often an older friend who was just that much better than I was.  Age is a funny thing because to a ten year old, even two or three years can mean a lifetime of difference in someone’s experience level.  Back then, I could always find someone with skills I envied.

I suppose time hasn’t changed much.  I still see those individuals in my life who can do things better than I can.

Perspective Helps You Measure Up

The difference between ten year old Trish and the person I am today is my interpretation of people who are more skilled.  Now, intstead of pangs of jealousy, I can either choose to just admire the person for what they accomplish or I can choose to build those same skills myself.

Too often in the workplace, we find employees stuck in the jealousy phase.  What can we do to focus their attention on either admiration or personal skill building?  Here are a few we can suggest:

• Find a mentor at work and ask questions about how they learned the expertise they have
• Take specific classes to build the skills you need
• At work, ask to be assigned projects that will challenge you in new ways
• Look for sources online like the Learn New Skills Blog

How do you learn or improve skills you have?  How do you do the same for your team?

I recently wrote about techniques I use to give feedback to the C-suite.  That prompted the offer to do a podcast with Lance Haun from TLNT.  If you’re not familiar with TLNT, they are, “an HR blog about the business of HR, with news, insight, and topical information from experts and thought leaders in HR, talent management, and all areas related to HR and managing a workforce. This includes legal topics and issues, compensation and benefits (health, financial/retirement, and voluntary), HR technology and software, training and development, HR management, and other related areas.”

Be sure to listen to the podcast and I’m interested in any feedback.  Thanks!

http://www.tlnt.com/2011/09/21/three-ways-to-better-communicate-with-the-c-suite/

*Today’s post is sponsored by PeopleClues.  PeopleClues provides cutting edge behavioral assessments for business use.  The PeopleClues line of assessments incorporates modern, validated behavioral assessments in an easy-to-use online platform specifically designed for the commercial market. Highly affordable and requiring little or no training or expert interpretation, PeopleClues Assessments are used by thousands of companies around the globe to hire, train, and promote the right people for the right jobs. The ease of use, custom benchmarking, applicant ranking, and data mining capabilities make it the right choice for both large and small companies.

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Each day seems to bring more disappointing news about jobs.  Just yesterday, Missouri announced that the jobless rate is inching back up slowly and is now 8.8%.  While it’s good that it has remained below 9% for five months, the fact that the creep is in the wrong direction is troubling.  Yesterday also brought the news that national employer Bank of America plans to cut over 30,000 jobs in the next couple years.  With news like this continuing to pour in each day, people remain tense about the jobs they have or about jobs they have lost.

One of the best ways to approach anxiety about the economy and the lack of security in jobs is to take action personally and embrace self-development.  This will give you new skills that you can use in the job hunt or in keeping an existing job secure.  It can help strengthen existing but weaker skills in order to increase your value to an organization.  The reason it works is that it can provide a sense of control when thinking about a situation that is very much out of our control.  This approach is also not just for employees who are more junior in their career.  In fact, it’s even more important for those established individuals who may not have thought about self-development in many years.

Moving Toward Self Development

• Identify your skill gaps-  This can be challenging to do on your own, so reach out to several colleagues or trusted advisors who know you and will give you honest feedback on strengths and weaknesses you have.  If you’re an employer, you can reach out to providers, like PeopleClues, to provide the assessment tools you need to identify the skills your staff have and the ones that they can improve upon.
• Research and determine what new skills are needed in the workplace-  As times change and technology and other factors impact skills needed to be successful in the workplace, you need to determine how this can affect your career trajectory.  This may mean you need to take responsibility for training yourself or you may need to find a class or expert to train you.  In the end, it will be time and money well spent if you’ve done your homework and selected a skill set that is truly trending for the future.
• Get trained-  Find ways to get experience with the skill or skills you need.  Offer to use the new skill for free so that you can build credibility.
• Find and mirror mentors-  Identify people who area already demonstrating their mastery of the skill you desire to have.  Most people are willing to teach others what they know when approached in the right way.

Giving career advice as my career, I’ve had occasion to have the conversation about taking charge of your own career and skill development many times.  The real key for me comes down to the person being open to learn from others.  People tend to enjoy showing you what they know and what they have expertise in.  They often take that a step further and share how they learned the particular skill, how they stay current and even resources of how to acquire the skill.