What’s a Leader to do to Create a Fantastic Work Environment?

Part 5: Mentor in the Moment

Below is an excerpt from an interview with Deb Boelkes by Tyler Gallagher, CEO and Founder of Regal Assets, featured in Authority Magazine  This is the fifth installment in a 5-part series.

What is the final thing that managers and executives should be doing to improve their company work culture?

Mentoring should happen every day, not just during annual or quarterly performance reviews. If you wait to discuss performance issues for weeks or months, until formal review time, you lose the opportunity to continuously improve performance and build close, trusting bonds.

Take time to walk the office each day—if you have direct reports nearby. Keep your office door open whenever you can and let people know you welcome drop-in visits. Smile when people come to see you. If your direct reports are located remotely, pick up the phone and call— just to say hello and see how things are going.

If team members only hear from you every now and then, or only when problems arise, they’ll begin to perceive you as the bearer of bad news. They’ll want to avoid hearing from you. With regular, friendly, and helpful communication, you will build a trusted ally and confidante. You’ll be perceived as the mentor you should be.     

As a manager, I cherished those close-knit moments my team members and I had together. However brief these moments might have been, we each felt comfortable candidly sharing what was going on, what was working well, what could be improved, new or better ways to accomplish necessary tasks, and ideas to move the business forward.

As a result, my team never hesitated to share their out-of-the-box ideas with me or ask for feedback. Rather than being perceived as a superior who sat in judgement of them, on a mission to point out faults, they actively sought my opinion and welcomed any helpful pointers I might have. 

You might be surprised how easy and fun this kind of mentoring can be.  Do it in the moment, every day.