Encouragement

My friend Sheila O'Connor sent me a link to a presentation by Jan Eaton on the Wichita Society of Women Engineers. Though the talk focuses on mentoring, several points fit for managers, team leads, XP coaches and ScrumMasters, all of whom have at least informal mentoring roles.

In my view, paying attention to people's development is one of the most important things you can do for performance, satisfaction, and retention. So it's not touchy-feely, it's about the bottom line. (I feel compelled to state this disclaimer, though I tend to believe that paying attention to people's aspirations and appreciating them is good just because...)

Some snippets:

So what does a mentor do?

Model -- Be aware of your own role modeling
Encourage -- Support your people in risk-taking
Nurture -- Get to know your people's unique skills and capabilities

Encouragement has three components. Any of these is good, and in combination they are even more powerful.

1. Recognize - notice something
2. Verbalize - say something
3. Mobilize - do something

And you do that by saying something like...

Recognize: "Hmm, looks great, I didn't know you like this kind of stuff"

Recognize and Verbalize: "This is really good. Is this something you'd like to do more of?"

Recognize, Verbalize, Mobilize: "If you like this kind of work, why not let Marc in Graphics know, and while you're there, find out when he's offering his next graphics course."

You can find the entire set of slides here, though as with most slides, they are supporting material. I'm sure Jan Eaton had lots more to add.