Continuing the Mentoring Conversations Model

As I've mentioned previously, Randy Emelo, CEO/President of Triple Creek Associates, and I have been writing a series about Mentoring Conversations.

This new model suggests the conversations that are necessary to guide anyone from orientation to decision making on an issue. Randy and I wanted to provide a tool that could be both diagnostic and prescriptive.

The fifth issue of our six part series introduces the partial confidence.

Take a look at the series. When you finish our series, I recommend that you read Randy's back catalog of newsletters.

I'm Back Again...

It's been a crazy two months:

• My home pc died in late October. I played with it for about a month. I got it to breathe again, but never got it to work with the internet. I finally gave up last week.
  Good news - I was able to save all my files.
  Better news - I have an excuse to buy a new computer in March.
• I graduated with my Masters in Adult Education and Training. I wrote my action research paper over the last 10 weeks. I learned that I like learning a lot more than I like recapping my learning.
• Work picked up. Suddenly, in September, our classes started filling up. Budgets are back. I've been teaching at least three days a week, which is great.
• slide:ology exploded onto our scene at work. I've been leading at least one workshop a week. The Duarte approach is changing our culture.
• I've got a two-month Tour of Asia coming up. More about the trip later, but planning that hasn't been easy.
• My Training. I attended Decker Made to Stick Messaging, Leadership Challenge (where I 'slideologized' their deck), and Influencer. I would recommend all of these. I'll write more about them in the next week.
• Projects. We're working with Rick and Mary Gilbert of Power Speaking on "Speaking to the Big Dogs 2.0", and with Ed Muzio of Group Harmonics on "Make Work Great". Randy Emelo and I have also released the first four installments of our six part series on the Mentoring Conversations Model.
• Thanksgiving? Christmas? New Year? Yep, dealt with all of those - plus a nasty cold that put me down for about 72 hours during the holidays.

Apologies to any and all that I've neglected during this time.

All-in-all, it was a hectic end to a pretty great year, but I'm back again.

Keeping busy!

It's been a busy week...

• Finished class number 11 (out of 13) for my Masters in Adult Education and Training...
• Started class number 12
• Packed up my office and went 'open work' (ie: homeless)
• Received my Kindle DX and loaded it with brain candy
• Delivered slide:ology webinars to South Korea and Singapore. Both went really well...
• Helped an internal team build their vision statement
• Ended up on the winning team in an HR Iron Chef challenge!
• Facilitated a team session with DiSC, Tuckman's model, and the ever-awesome spiderweb
• Got in a hike at Alum Rock Park
• Watched the Yanks sweep the Twins (Yanks/Angels should be a great series)
• Watched the Giants beat up on the Raiders (or is that 'beat down')
• Worked with Randy Emelo on Part III of our Mentoring Conversations Model
• Worked with Ed Muzio on the instructional design of the workshop version for his upcoming book

Yep... it was a good week.

Mentoring Conversations Model

I've been fortunate to work with Randy Emelo, CEO/President of Triple Creek Associates, for the past few months on a writing project.

We're writing a series about Mentoring Conversations. This new model suggests the conversations that are necessary to guide anyone from orientation to decision making on an issue. Randy and I wanted to provide a tool that could be both diagnostic and prescriptive.

The first issue of our six part series introduces the model. Each of the following articles will explore the conversation zones in detail.

Randy is a smart, smart guy with a lot of expertise in mentoring. I highly recommend that you read his back catalog of newsletters!

A Cinco de Mayo Recipe for Good Times

Want a recipe for a great evening?

1. Get some warm weather
2. Find some cool people
3. Go to a nice place
   
4. Pick an interesting topic to discuss
5. Hope for some serendipity

Last night met all the above criteria.

1. After a couple of weeks of (by California standards) crappy weather, the sky cleared and the temperature warmed up last night.
2. Brent and I met up with Randy Emelo and Brian LaComb, of Triple Creek Associates for dinner.
3. We went to Santana Row - the best place in San Jose for atmosphere on a nice night.
4. We had an outstanding conversation around mentoring and some of the best practices that Triple Creek is implementing. I left with a brain full of ideas, and more questions than I came with (always a good thing).
5. It turned out to be Cinco de Mayo. I should have known that, but didn't. Still, it was a happy surprise.  We had drinks outside, listening to music and enjoying an energy that you don't usually see on a Tuesday night.

I highly recommend that you visit Triple Creeks website and visit the resources section.

Randy writes a great newsletter and is very generous with podcasts, as well.

They are good people doing some great work, so check them out!