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Mentoring is an excellent way to enable employees to benefit from the knowledge and expertise of their colleagues. When done correctly, mentoring enables team members to share their experiences, learn about new challenges, and uncover unique ways of getting things done that might never have been tried before. However, not all businesses get mentoring right.

So, what are the golden rules of mentoring? Let’s discover 3 guidelines that your business needs to follow to make mentoring a worthwhile experience for everyone involved.

Define Clear Mentoring Goals

From the very beginning of a mentoring program, it is vital that all parties are privy to what will be involved and how mentoring will work. It can be useful to think of this stage of the process as establishing a contract outlining expectations and boundaries to help avoid any misunderstandings throughout the mentoring relationship. A mentee might have plenty of ambitions and articulate a range of aspirations, which is by no means a bad thing, but it is still important for a mentor to define these goals into achievable targets.

Spend time together breaking down objectives into measurable and manageable achievements that can be completed as a direct consequence of the mentoring program. Aiming to accomplish approximately one goal every 3 months should give mentors and mentees a realistic expectation of progress that can be made. Check in with these goals regularly and do not be afraid to tweak them as you both develop on your mentoring journey.

Match Mentors to Mentees Appropriately

Pairing the right employees is vital if your mentoring program is to be a success. An effective mentor should challenge, motivate and support a mentee, without explicitly telling them what they need to do. When it comes to a modern approach to mentoring, there are now HR software programs such as Together that can make pairing employees easier. By using an algorithm to match mentors and mentees, your business can save time and money that would normally be spent on administrative duties.

The role of a mentor is not necessarily that of a new line manager. Instead, this responsibility should involve asking open questions, listening to feedback, and challenging thought patterns. Encouraging development is all about supporting a mentee’s short-term goals, so a talented mentor must have empathy, awareness and interpersonal skills in abundance. Try not to restrict matches to employees who have mentored in the past or simply have the time and aim to include staff from all levels of the company hierarchy for maximum impact. 

Keep It Confidential

In order for mentoring schemes to be a success, the mentee must have total faith in the confidentiality of the process. Building trust and rapport requires a great deal of respect for privacy and dignity. The trust and shared vulnerability involved in a mentoring relationship allows for the discovery of how to approach and achieve real, actionable progress.

As a mentor, employees can often come into contact with sensitive information that must be kept secret. Upcoming projects might be legally protected by patents so it important that mentors take extra care when disclosing information. If there are any situations where maintaining confidentiality would not be possible, for example if there are allegations of harassment within the workplace, then it might be best to consult with an expert or HR for guidance and advice on how to proceed.

One of the most exciting qualities about mentoring programs is that they can be honed and refined through experience. In order to provide true value to a mentee, it is crucial that mentors adapt mentoring sessions appropriately to make the experience worthwhile for everyone involved. Understanding the strengths of your employees is key to running a successful business. For more tips on organizing successful business projects such as mentoring schemes, check out this blog about the importance of planning and effective communication.

Like it or not, SEO has always been important for any brand’s marketing plan, but when things do return back to normal, SEO is going to be more important than ever for your business.

This is why you need to continue your SEO efforts and planning even through a pandemic. You will need to shift your strategies to deal with how things will be after the pandemic, which is hard to predict at the moment. But you can still continue to work on your SEO so that you can come out of this on top of things and ahead of your competition.

The Power is in the Search

A number of goods are hard to find nowadays and they could continue to be hard to find even in the future. When things are scarce, people will search for it! If what they are looking for isn’t available, they will then search for alternatives.

Which is why your brand needs to be present on the web to capitalize on scarce items. Try to work your way up the rank with your SEO efforts.

Don’t Become Invisible

People are still in need of products and services and will be more so when the pandemic ends. Your brand never wants to become a ghost online during these times. The last thing you want to do is start at the bottom when things return back to normal.

 You can reach your consumers with your SEO marketing. So, if you haven’t already been working on a strong SEO plan, now is the time to jump on board.

 Show Support

Showing support during this time gives people hope. It helps for your brand to be available and deal with the masses. Before things return back to normal, you will need to re-evaluate things and be ready for what comes next. Things may not return exactly to what they were, but if you can adjust your SEO to fit the new normal, you will be good to go.

 Since you are already staying relevant during a pandemic, when things do normalize, your clients will still have their trust in you. It will take time to work on an effective SEO pan, but if you start now, you will be able to see the benefits when this is all over. And this is when you want to see your results most.   

Leave it the Professionals

This is definitely a tricky time for marketing. If you are unsure how to continue with your SEO efforts, work with a Phoenix SEO agency to guide the way. Remember, you aren’t in this alone and all brands are facing unique challenges, which is why it is sometimes best to leave it up to the pros. 

 

Many business people think they can use social media, search engines and websites to replace the magic tool of business cards. But that is far from the truth. No matter how social media and search engines have transformed the business and communication landscape, business cards still matter!

As a small business owner or corporate professional, you cannot afford to take business cards out of your marketing matrix. You have to understand the role of business cards and how important it is to your success. You also have to ensure that you get the best design possible for your business cards.  

A crappy looking business card is not going to earn you any point. And this why you have to be adamant about the design as well as the text you put on your business card. Whether you are looking for handyman business cards or travel agent business cards, you want the best design possible that projects success and professionalism.

While many people think the internet era has killed business cards that is rather contrary to fact. It has rather created new uses of business cards. Today, you can have your business cards either in a digital form or in print. Your business can be shared and distributed to many people to help you build your network.

If you think business cards are dead, rethink your option. The following are reasons why business cards are still not dead and useful for business growth:

  1.    Networking Tool

Networking is one of the primary ways to connect with people, know them and build new relationships. Some of these people can end up being customers, partners or even investors. Whether it is an event, a party or social gathering, you want to make sure you are ready with your business card. Your business card will enable you to professionally connect with people and build rapport.

  1.    Great First Impression

We live in an age where people have a short attention span. When you meet a new potential client or investor, it is important you get prepared with your elevator speech and business card. You need to quickly let them know what you do and what you stand for. But because there are a lot of things on people’s mind, just talking is not enough, you’ll need to give them your professionally designed business card.

  1.    Easy and Effective Marketing Tool

Your business card is not just a card with your contact details on it. It’s an important marketing tool for your business. Sometimes people might not have their phone or a pen at hand. Your business card will serve as a medium to market, promote and showcase your business.

The design and outlook of your business card will tell a potential customer that you are serious and committed to what you stand for. With a few words and your business card, you can end up getting new clients, closing deals and improving your bottom line.

Designing a business card be a lot of hassle. That is why top-notch firms like Basic Invite makes it easy to get a new, custom business card for your business with almost unlimited colors, custom samples and address capturing service. Right now Basic Invite is offering 15% off with coupon code: 15FF51. If you are looking for foil cards, they are available in gold, silver and rose gold. You can choose either flat or raised foil cards on all business card designs.