Different people learn differently. In order to help you be successful as a business mentor, review the practical tips below so you can adapt your teaching styles and get the most from your people and their potential:

1. Do they like to gather information through words, and if so, what kind? Everyone responds to the spoken word, but some people are more “doers” than listeners

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Author: A. J. Schuler
Source: Becoming a Successful Mentor: How to Recognize the Different Ways Your People Learn
Subject: Management Questions

1. Are we fit to fight? Before even thinking about engaging in war, it is safe to wonder whether one is fit to fight. Companies faring worst in the boom-bust of the 1990s were those with high debt levels and/or over-capacity. So, the first question is: have we cleaned our house sufficiently structurally to be fit to fight—no more overweight soldiers, no more

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Authors: Herman Vantrappen, Hubertus M. Mühlhäuser, Nils Bohlin
Source: Smart Growth: A Road Map for Executives
Subject: Management Questions

The word “leader” stands for someone who leads, enables, articulates, decides, encourages, and rewards. Although these are not the only traits exhibited by successful leaders, they do epitomize those characteristics shared by nearly all those who successfully influence others. Besides applying the general guidelines noted above, those seeking to become effective leaders should ask themselves critical questions as part of an on-going effort to improve … [ Read more ]

Author: David F. Wilson
Source: Being a Leader
Subject: Leadership Questions

Before undertaking any knowledge management effort, answer three fundamental questions:

1. What is the work group? The first task of knowledge management is to select what one might call a unit of analysis or a unit of management. Then place primary responsibility for the content of knowledge management there. This is not necessarily a functional unit. Cross-functional project teams, for example, clearly need a “knowledge

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Author: Thomas A. Stewart
Source: The Case Against Knowledge Management
Subject: Knowledge Management Questions

Your IT system needs a major overhaul, and hordes of consultants would love to fix it for you. How do you find one who’ll get the work done on time and on budget? Start by asking these questions.

1. What happens if I’m not satisfied at the end of the project? A mediocre IT consultant will start talking fast about money-back guarantees. A smart one

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Author: Jennifer Gill
Source: Smart Questions for Your Tech Consultant
Subject: IT Questions

Michael Michalko, author, Thinkertoys: A Handbook for Business Creativity, recommends a technique invented by Alex Osborn, a pioneer in understanding creativity, in which you accept that there really are no new ideas, only updates of existing ones. With that in mind, take the subject you want to think about and ask the questions below to generate ideas. SCAMPER is a mnemonic to remind you … [ Read more ]

Authors: David Lidsky, Michael Michalko
Source: Brain Calisthenics
Subject: Innovation Questions

Overall innovation strategy must answer three questions:

1. Where to Innovate? Depending on their specific situation and ambitions companies must decide if they want to focus on new products for existing markets, on developing new markets, etc. Beyond this, they sometimes have to re-evaluate whether to change their position in the value chain through backwards integration, forward integration, etc. And if the current market position

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Authors: Per I. Nilsson, Thorsten Gerhard
Source: Innovation at Work: The Innovation Imperative
Subject: Innovation Questions

Can the technologies you’re considering pass this test suggested by innovation-diffusion theorist Everett Rogers?

• Relative advantage: Is the innovation better than the status quo? Better than competing alternatives? Is it compelling enough to get users to switch, given the expectations about how others will behave?
• Compatibility: How well does the innovation complement other products your users have? Is it interoperable?
• Simplicity: How simple is it to explain

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Author: Bhaskar Chakravorti
Source: The Circuitous Path to an IT Payoff
Subject: Innovation Questions

Searching for opportunities is an almost impossible task in the absence of clear guidelines for where to look and what to look for. The innovation process must therefore start with an attempt to create a vision of the company’s preferred areas of growth. The vision should be as concrete as possible. It should lead to an explicit set of strategic priorities and a broad map … [ Read more ]

Author: Jean-Philippe Deschamps
Source: Managing Innovation: From Serendipity to Process
Subject: Innovation Questions

Motorola has developed a broad-based approach to identify, resolve and elevate employee issues. In what is called the Individual Dignity Entitlement Program, employees are asked to answer the following questions every quarter and review them with their supervisors:

1. Do you have a substantive, meaningful job that contributes to the success of Motorola?
2. Do you know the on-the-job behaviors and have the knowledge base to be

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Authors: Albert J. Viscio, Bruce A. Pasternack, Shelley S. Keller
Source: The Triumph of People Power and the New Economy
Subject: Human Resources Questions