There is something wonderfully inspiring about meeting strangers and feeling like you’ve known them forever within hours. That’s what happened to me a couple of weeks ago when I had the pleasure of presenting at the International Mentoring Association Conference in Phoenix, Arizona.
I guess that’s the power of bringing together 120 people who are all passionate about mentoring as a means of people development. As the sun rose over the desert, bonds were already being made as we embarked on two days of connecting, learning and sharing knowledge.
Being held where it was, it was probably no surprise most attendees were from the US. What also struck me was the high representation from academic institutions compared to corporate organisations. However, those that were represented gave some fabulous insights into how they use mentoring to develop talent in organisations as diverse as The Mayo Clinic and the CIA.
My Session: Career Conversation Toolkit
The theme of the Conference was Best Practices in Mentoring:Â Tools and Strategies for Success.
I was invited to share my Career Conversation Toolkit. I am sharing an annotated version of the slide deck with you here on the blog. I say annotated because I deliberately don’t include much text in my slides when I present. But that isn’t much help to you when you just have the slides to read without me talking through them.
In the session we covered why career conversations are important, what makes a career conversation effective and how the Career Conversation Toolkit can help mentors have a quality career conversation in 15 minutes or less.
And then participants got hands-on with the toolkit and had some positive and often powerful career conversations with each other.
The Power of a Career Conversation Guide | The Toolkit
Different pairings used the toolkit in different ways. Many focused on one tool for the 15 minutes conversation. A number blended 2 or 3 different tools to address a specific question or challenge. And one pair managed to apply all 10 tools even in the short time we had available.
Most importantly, all found the toolkit valuable and got real value from having the conversations. I was delighted with the feedback.
This was my first time at the Conference even though it was the 27th time it has run. I’m already planning to return next year when it will be held in Alabama from April 13-15, 2016.
As always, with my slides, I hope you get something out of them and if you need any extra information please contact me.
