The Art of Mentoring Page 11

  Lucien said, “Take my word for it. If my wife says she’s reasonable, she’s downright thrifty. Beth is the thriftiest person I know.”

  “Now Lucky, don’t give Rachel the idea I’m cheap. I’m just a good shopper, that’s all.”

  “Well, cut me a piece of your delicious orange cake, and I’ll shut up,” he said.

  “How about you, Rachel.”

  “I’ll shut up too,” I promised. Everyone laughed.

  When I went back to my apartment, I thought about how lucky I was to have met Lucien and Beth. They were such a delightful couple. Something ached inside of me. I called Paul. When I heard his voice, the aching stopped. Brad was out with some friends, squeezing a lifetime of fun in before his first work day putting patties on the grill. I shook my head. I wasn’t coming home this weekend, I told him. I was a bit tired and thought I’d catch up on my rest. “Well,” said Paul, “you’re about to have some company. I’m lonesome and I’m flying down for the weekend. And don’t plan to meet me. I’ll catch a cab and see you Saturday morning around ten.” My spirits lifted.

  CHAPTER 8

  Asking the Right

  Questions

  A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.

  — Francis Bacon

  The next morning was a late September Friday in Houston, Texas, and the sky had arranged a rock concert complete with the rhythm of staccato rain, lighting effects, and intermittent drum beats of thunder. I was on my way to work and more in need of quiet chamber music. Traffic crawled along, but my head was racing. Quiet music on the radio, thoughts of the weekend with Paul and unfinished business with Brad, Stuart, Katy, and Alicia competed for my attention. My agenda was not too detailed that day, but I was on edge.

  Instead of my usual cup of coffee, I made some hot tea and focused attention on my meeting with Alicia. This time I wanted to talk about the rock. She had made important contributions to Marketing, but I was convinced she had more to offer and more to receive. It’s funny about people like Alicia. We think of them in the most utilitarian way. They add to our comfort, they take care of the many details that are keys to our success, and yet we realize how vital they are to us only when they go on vacation or get sick. So, we accept their hard work, we smile, we say the right things, but secretly we are content to let the Alicias of this world go on pushing that rock because we know that if they don’t do it, we may have to pick up a piece of it. And sometimes, without intending it, we thoughtlessly add to the rock because we know they won’t resist.

  At ten I was in the conference room. No Alicia. I went to her office, and she was just hanging up the phone. She looked up, grabbed a pad and walked toward the door. “Conference room?” she asked. I nodded and followed her brisk steps down the hall.

  I knew immediately that she felt stressed, especially when the tapping started. “Alicia, can you give me an hour?”

  “I don’t know. I hope so.”

  “I’ll take a completely focussed forty-five minutes,” I said. “In fact, I’ll set the alarm on my watch.”

  “No, let’s take the full hour, Rachel. We need to talk.”

  “An hour it is,” I said glancing at her hands. The tapping stopped.

  Alicia’s Role

  “I liked the questions you gave me, Rachel. Can we go through them? I wrote some notes.” I smiled. “The first one was what do I see as my role? And why does TYH have me doing these things? Good questions! I think my role is to be a link between the marketers and the company before the sale and to be a link between the customer and the company after the sale. Why does TYH have someone doing what I’m doing? Because lots of details have to be taken care of to make sure things go right. I mean, sometimes the marketers make a sale, and they don’t finish the forms they need to or they might need to find out if there has been a price change. Also, the shipping needs to be considered. You know, the timing and whatever.”

  “What about the customer and the company part?”

  “Well, we need to make the customer happy. Right?”

  “Right. So how do you do that?”

  “Well, I call the accounting department, confirm the order, provide any information they need, and thank them for their part of the process. If there’s any question about the order, the customer usually likes to call me because I have the most information. If they have special needs, I take care of them. Many times the reorders come directly to me.”

  “I think I know the answer to this question, Alicia, but I’ll ask it anyway. Given your role, what part of your work adds the most value?”

  “All of it is important, but if you’re asking me what I think is most important, it’s working with the customer. I wish I had more time to do that. I’d really like to follow up with them and make sure they are happy. I believe we could do a lot more business if I had more time to answer their questions. Sometimes when I talk to them about other products, they increase their orders.”

  “That leads me to another question. You obviously like to deal with people; you know the products. So why did you turn down the selling job?”

  “That’s simple. Travel. I won’t leave the boys. I’m already gone too much.” (Bingo!) So why hadn’t she said that to Charlie Rothstein? Because men sometimes don’t understand these things, she told me. In response to what she did that she thought was not worth her time, she replied it was TYH follow up and paper work. She was continuously checking with Distribution when orders weren’t shipped properly or on time. There were reports she had to file with copies to HR, Distribution and Altis’ office, all of which seemed to engender additional questions and requests for more reports. The Marketers were constantly calling in and asking her to make airline reservations, change meetings and clear up questions.

  Why wasn’t Judy doing that, I wondered. She told me that Judy’s predecessor hadn’t been very careful about schedules, and everyone came to depend on her. Now that Judy was permanent, she hoped that would change. When I asked her how much of her time was spent on these activities, she told me she didn’t know exactly, but they represented frequent interruptions. What was interesting to me is that throughout this discussion so far Alicia had not once looked at her watch, and there had been absolutely no drumming on the table. Nervous energy or stress?

  What did she enjoy doing? It was the interactions with the customers. She had a sense that she was good at negotiating deliveries, solving problems and selling products. She was pleased that most people she dealt with regarded her as a friend. What about her aspirations for the next two to three years? She didn’t have any. Maybe she would take some time off. (Not good enough I said to myself.) Long term? When the boys were grown, she wanted to be a marketer.

  Okay, so now we had some things to talk about. I went back to the early part of the conversation. Do the marketers have laptop computers so they can do some work in processing their own orders? Yes, but they don’t use them that way. Accounting prefers to filter the information through one person.

  “That may be,” I said, “but I’m not sure the option is solely theirs. You spoke of waiting for the boys to grow up—we’re talking about years. Would you be satisfied with what you’re doing ‘til then?”

  “Not really. Sometimes I think about leaving. In a way, I’d like to stay home for a while, have another baby. But there are parts of the job I really enjoy.”

  “Of course, there are. Let’s start there. Alicia, if you’ll bear with me a minute, I’d like to describe a simple process I use when I move into a job. I think it works just as effectively if you want to transform the job you’re in. Want to hear it?”

  “Sure, why not?”

  Job Transformation: A Process

  “The first step is to go through the process we’ve just been through—determining your role and contribution to the company. There are certain things you enjoy doing because they are personally rewarding. I think of them as fulfilling your purpose. That’s the place to start, because when your work and your purpose are in synch, then
you get satisfaction from what you’re doing.”

  “So my purpose is working with customers.”

  “That’s the who, but my question is why?”

  “Because I like using my negotiation, problem solving, and selling skills.”

  “Again. Why?”

  “I love helping people solve problems. It gives me a sense that I’m doing something worthwhile.”

  “And that’s why you’re so good at it. The next step is to find more time to work on this contribution. Your strategy, step two, is to look at what you don’t enjoy. In your case, it’s taking care of the Marketers’ reservations and schedule combined with TYH follow up and reports, answering questions and requests for information from a variety of sources. You’ve become the hub where requests come and go. No wonder you have so little discretionary time.”

  “But Rachel, if I like to help people solve problems and make things work, why do I feel the way I do about the Marketers’ schedules?”

  “Why do you think?”

  “Those aren’t problems. They’re just time killers that anyone could handle. And they take me away from what I really enjoy.”

  “You’re right on target, so let’s go to step three. This is where you make an important judgment. Are all the activities you’ve described really necessary? Take the reports, for example. Do you know how Distribution and HR are using them? Maybe they can be condensed. Perhaps they’re just filed. You’d be surprised how often these things become a needless exercise. Someone wants them—just in case.

  “Can others do the work better? The answer to that is the next step. For example, are there some things Judy should be doing? Perhaps the Marketers should handle their own schedules. They’ve got laptops. Maybe they just need some improved software.”

  “Yes, but they won’t like it.”

  “This is just a what-if exercise at this point, Alicia. We’re a team, and you’re an important member, albeit an overworked one. There are some processes that aren’t working as well as they should, and that’s a team issue.”

  “So what’s the last step?”

  “You take what’s left of the work you don’t enjoy and figure out how to condense it, develop a program that automates some of it, or find a way to do it better. That might include finding out how others, highly successful in similar situations, might do the same work. Sometimes we’re so close to a situation, it’s hard to find creative solutions.”

  “But how would I do that?”

  “I’ve thought of a way to start, and I’d be willing to help, but since you told me you don’t want to travel, it could be a problem.”

  “Tell me.”

  “Would Tomás let you go out of town for a couple of days, I mean if it weren’t a routine situation?”

  “I think so, especially if it meant that I’d be happier at work. He’s a very good husband.”

  “Well, then, I know someone at Perry Winkle Enterprises who is great at streamlining activities and examining work processes. I think he could show you around and offer some help. And there’s another person there, a computer genius, who might offer some automation solutions.”

  “Could I really go?”

  “Of course, you could. Next week, if you’d like.”

  “Let me talk to Tomás first.”

  “Okay, you let me know when you can go, and I’ll make the contacts. Sound okay?”

  “How long would I be gone?”

  “Two or three days at the most, but I promise you, it’ll be worth it. Can you talk to Tomás this weekend and let me know Monday?”

  “I will. Rachel. You don’t know how much I appreciate your help. Why are you doing this for me?”

  “I like you, Alicia, I really do. And besides, you’re too valuable to hide behind stacks and stacks of reports. One more question, okay?”

  “I tried, Rachel. I mean it. Maybe I’m not so good at giving feedback, but Katy’s got such a temper when she gets riled up. I tried a couple of times I really did.”

  “Thanks, Alicia. I understand completely. Still, situations like yours and Katy’s have to be settled at some point. Right?”

  “Right.” She looked at her watch and back at me. “Thank you,” she said and went back to her office.

  So that’s where we left things. She had her Katy; I had my Stuart. Talk about common ground!

  NOTES TO MENTORING FILE

  _____________________________

  Clarifying a Person’s Thinking about

  Her Current Role

  Many times, mentoring issues directly relate to a person’s dissatisfaction with work. By the effective use of good questions, you can help her clarify her thinking about this. The first step is to help her think through the essential elements of the job, including:

  The purpose of the job, why it exists. If necessary, ask questions to help differentiate between the job (actual work done) and the role (why it needs to be done).

  What part of the work contributes the most role value?

  Transforming the Job

  Help the mentee identify the area in which she makes the greatest contribution and obtains the greatest satisfaction.

  What part constitutes the area of least contribution? Are all these activities really necessary?

  Should someone else be doing these activities? Or can someone do them more effectively?

  Is there a way to streamline the work?

  The idea behind these questions is to help the individual find more discretionary time for greater contribution by enhancing her role, pursuing learning opportunities or focusing more attention on the areas of work that produce the greatest satisfaction.

  CHAPTER 9

  Straight Talk

  The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives. It is too bad that more people will not accept this tremendous discovery and begin living it.

  — William James

  When I got back to my office, I found an e-mail from Judy. The votes had been tallied, and I was not surprised to see that almost everyone, with the exception of Judy, had opted to make individual art work choices. Katy had suggested a team meeting to discuss next steps, and Judy, after checking everyone’s calendars, had set it for three today. Fast work! I stopped by Judy’s desk and asked her to invite Justin. While official announcements weren’t out yet, I thought it would be a good time to introduce him to the team, and I certainly didn’t want him to miss getting the information about the walls. Lily had assured me there would be an e-mail announcement about the transfer by four today.

  A few minutes before three, Justin came by my office, and we walked together to the conference room. With everyone assembled, I welcomed him officially to Marketing. Everyone knew Justin because TYH was a small company, but I could tell his moving into the group surprised Katy and Stuart, who were exchanging sidelong glances. On the other hand, Alicia said she was very pleased with the choice since she had worked with Justin several times before on project teams.

  We all sat at the conference table, that is, everyone but Katy. She had placed a flip chart pad and markers near the end of the table and immediately took charge. “Judy and I went to look at the warehouse pictures,” she said with a nod toward Judy. “They’re just not suitable. Rachel has the name of a woman who owns a frame shop, and she will be here Monday, find out what we want, and work with each of us individually to select the pictures for our walls. There is approximately $6,000 available,” she said, writing large red numbers on the flip chart, “and that makes about $850.00 apiece,” she added, sounding very much like my third grade math teacher.

  “I’ve got a question,” said Alicia. “There’s a new art store near my house. I’d like to take a look over there and see if I can find something that I like.”

  “I have a friend who’s an artist,” said Justin. “Would it be possible to buy one of his paintings?”

  “But it’s already been decided,” said Ka
ty.

  “Eight hundred and fifty dollars. Are you kidding?” said Stuart. “That’ll buy one picture.”

  Tom Gaines guffawed. “Come on, Kennedy. Is Prince Charles dropping by for tea?”

  “This is my meeting,” said Katy, “so quiet down and let me finish, please.”

  Everyone got quiet. All of a sudden, all eyes were fixed on the commanding symbol of authority standing before them with flashing eyes. Surprisingly, Alicia was the first to speak. “Sit down, Katy. I don’t think this is your meeting,” she said, her face flushed in anger. “This is for all of us, isn’t it Rachel?”

  I nodded.

  For a moment, Katy hesitated. Then she sat down. Stuart immediately jumped in. “Don’t go off the deep end, Alicia. That’s not what she meant.”

  “I’m not going off the deep end,” said Alicia, with a previously unheard (at least by me) edge in her voice. “I don’t like being talked down to.” All of a sudden, everyone was talking at once.

  “Simmer down—please.” That was Tom, the voice of reason. “Katy, my friend, you’re out of line.”

  “So are you,” said Stuart.

  “One moment,” I said. It was time, and I knew it. “Let’s stop action, take deep breaths and talk about what’s going on here.”

  Judy was shaking her head. “This was meant to be such a positive meeting.”

  “So what happened?” I asked.

  “We blew it,” said Judy. “Katy, I think you took over, and....”

  “I know,” said Katy in her best drill sergeant voice, “but we agreed that since I called the meeting and I had the agenda, it was my meeting—and then everyone started talking at once, and no one wanted to listen.”

  “Who agreed?” I wondered.

  “Everyone—Judy and me,” Katy replied, her voice beginning to waver.