The sun was shining brightly one beautiful summer morning, not too long ago. As I approached the breakfast spot where I was meeting one of my mentees, Alice, I happily anticipated connecting with her. Alice is very passionate and fun loving and she always puts me great spirits. I expected our time today to be like always.

Alice arrived and joined me at the table. After making some small talk about our families and recent vacations, it was time to begin our session. A very focused and action oriented individual, Alice usually had an agenda or items she planned to discuss. But not today. ‘How strange,’ I thought. Furthermore, she didn’t seem to be acting like her normal self. I wondered what could possibly be wrong.

Alice opened up the conversation. Like a cannon ball, she fired out the sentence: “I received a bad review for the first time in my life.” Her watery eyes and shaking voice punctuated the gut-wrenching impact. Then, silence.

I knew to give her a moment to compose herself and gather her thoughts. But after about two minutes, I thought maybe I should start asking her some questions. Three minutes went by. The fourth minute of yawned on. I finally determined that she needed to feel absolutely comfortable to share so I decided to be there with her as long as it took, no matter how uncomfortable the silence was. After about five minutes, Alice finally continued.
Alice is responsible for a department of about 5 employees. Her team works with external clients to deliver on projects. As the manager, it is her job to assemble and assign the best team of talent for various client projects. On one particular project, she didn’t have any internal team members available with the right skill set for the job, so she had to rely on a contractor.

Among her options, there was one individual who would be able to provide content and design for the client. An added bonus, this person had previously worked with the company. The only caveat is that this person had a history of conflicts with some employees. Alice presented her options to her boss, who was aware of the consultant’s past negative interactions. Alice’s boss cautioned her that this consultant might not be the best choice of partners and further encouraged her to reevaluate whether the project truly required external help. Alice made the case that contracting the outside help would be great for displaying the company’s capabilities. Additionally, Alice projected that if they did a great job, the client would award them more business. Alice’s boss left the final decision up to her, so Alice proceeded with her plans.

Alice was confident that if she had an open discussion with the contractor, they might be able to establish appropriate boundaries and have a good working relationship. When they spoke, Alice acknowledged that not everyone gets along and sometimes there might be personality conflicts. She positioned herself as an advocate for both the contractor and the project, believing that with a careful working relationship, everyone involved – the contractor, the company and the client – would all be able to experience success. With the positive indications she received from the contractor, Alice felt strongly about proceeding with hiring her.

The multi-phased project was slated to be completed in 8 months. Initially, things started off well. Alice, with multiple other projects to manage and not having the right skill-set for the project, relied heavily on the contractor for her expertise. As the project moved into the second month, Alice began noticing a trend: the contractor never met a deadline. She always had a seemingly valid reason for not producing her deliverables in a timely manner. Alice was starting to get frustrated and had a conversation with the contractor who assured her that the work would get completed.

Not all experiences with this contractor were bad. When it came time to put the technical infrastructure in place for implementation, the contractor had recommended a particular tool. Alice, not knowing much about it, took the suggestion to her internal technology team. The team investigated the solution and determined that the contractor indeed had made an excellent choice.

In spite of the few bright spots, the project still proceeded with problems stemming from this contractor. The issues were no longer isolated; they were beginning to compound. Alice had a meeting with the contractor 8 weeks away from the project deadline and learned of many issues which were going awry. While the contractor had recommended usage of a critical tool, she didn’t have any previous experience with it. She was just learning how to use it as the project was going along and was creating a lot of errors in the process. Alice also learned that detailed conversations she thought was being conducted with the client were in fact very general; critical information for the project had not been captured.
As Alice continued recounting the story to me, she began to cry. I tried to comfort her by letting her know it was ok to make a mistake if she learned from it. But Alice said that wasn’t all. Alice had one of her colleagues to review the project and it was determined that the project is not going to be delivered on time.

“I have a way to fix it, but it costs more money and am going to have to ask for more time. The project will be delayed by 2 months.” Alice expressed feeling mortified over the impact having a delayed delivery was going to have on the company. She never intended to hurt her company’s reputation in this process.

I felt this was a good point in the conversation to begin to examine the various issues packed into this problem. First, I pointed out that there is nothing wrong with taking calculated risks. The key, though, is to always have a backup plan from the beginning. Next, we tackled the fact that she was advised against working with this particular contractor but decided to move forward anyway. Alice ignored her own instincts and red flags which she saw along the way. Alice didn’t have a plan for handling poor performance with this contractor.
Another area Alice could improve is having a better system for staying on top of projects in process to insure key milestones were being met at the designated points in the project time line. Here, Alice could have put together a team across the network of talent to work with her and the consultant; she could have shared the work load and avoid creating a bottleneck in the workflow.

It is worth noting that had Renee moved up into this role about three months prior from within the organization, and had been promised an “on the job mentor.” This mentor would work with her and show her the ropes, as part of a departmental initiative to develop and nurture internal talent. (What a great concept and opportunity!) When Renee started the job, she enthusiastically reached out to her mentor to set up some time to put an effective plan together. She wanted to be proactive, so she met with me first to discuss a framework for this plan.

I can’t tell you how much work she put into the plan. She researched past departmental successes, challenges, and opportunities; she interviewed colleagues to understand multiple perspectives on the current business issues; she explored process and procedures and thoroughly committed herself to preparing for her mentor. She wanted to make the most of her mentor’s time, recognizing that their time together was an “extra” responsibility. I will tell you – I was impressed and knew her mentor, Sarah, would be too.

When Renee attempted to schedule their first meeting, Sarah explained that she was slammed with work. She said that they could communicate by occasional email, but they would not be able to sit down for a formal meeting for at least two months. Renee was disappointed, but she understood that Sarah had a full plate and decided to continue building her plan on her own until they could meet. During this time, Renee worked very hard to understand as much as possible about how the business worked, and how she could be a strong leader for her team. They moved forward, but Renee was hungry for her mentor’s guidance as to how she could make a positive impact and help each of her team members to excel.

Two months later, Renee and Sarah met to discuss her framework and plans. Sarah was amazed at the amount of preparation Renee had put into this meeting, telling Renee that she never expected her to have accomplished so much in such a short time. Renee responded that she respected Sarah’s time and effort, and wanted to make the most of their time together. As colleagues, Sarah’s team provided vital information and deliverables to Renee’s team to move projects forward, and when severe delays started occurring, Renee discussed it with Sarah to make sure that she was following the proper processes. Their conversation was productive, and after the meeting, Renee was excited. She felt she had found an excellent working relationship and mentorship with Sarah and a great opportunity.

A few months later, Sarah’s team still had not corrected the delays. Several conversations between Renee and Sarah had not improved the process, and Renee began to wonder if there was a problem she wasn’t aware of. She asked Sarah if anything if there was something she could do differently, and the response was a consistent “no.” Renee was approaching a major project milestone, and because of the delays in getting information confirmed, she was forced to “guestimate” a lot of what was needed. She was concerned about the risks and outcome, so she asked her manager for assistance. But she was cautious because she knew that Sarah was considered a “high potential” employee who was well liked and respected by her manager and other senior leaders.

On a dreary afternoon, Renee called me; we discussed how she could overcome this potentially damaging obstacle. When she described the approach she had taken so far, it seemed that Renee consistently took the “high road” working with Sarah to get things accomplished. As she thought through the experience, Renee had a realization. Her manager was planning some future restructuring of the team, and Sarah learned that Renee was being considered for a role that she wanted. Renee’s methodical approach and business skills had impressed management, and Sarah wanted the job, so she was sabotaging Renee by delaying deliverables critical to her success. In fact, Sarah had taken credit for things that Renee and her team had accomplished by saying she had mentored Renee to get results.

I am sorry to tell you, Sarah accomplished what she set out to do. She won the new job, and Renee stayed in her role. She was able to gain a few additional responsibilities, in fact, her team grew by two people, but she still lost out on the new opportunity for which she had prepared. So what did this experience teach Renee? Fortunately, Renee is philosophical, strategic as well as a hard worker, and here’s what she said that she learned:

Everything happens for a reason. Renee wasn’t going to be bitter – she knows that wouldn’t be productive. Instead, she decided to continue to work her plan and continue to learn more about the department and organization.

Everyone is not your champion. Peers, managers, and even mentors can work for or against you. Does this mean that you should never trust or support them? Not according to Renee. She believes (as I do) that you’ll go further in your career when you help others grow and develop, regardless of whether or not they support you.

Politics exist in every team/department and company. Office politics can make people do things to be recognized. Everyone, from administrative assistant to CEO, has a need to be known for their work. Sometimes (and often more than occasionally) ethical boundaries get crossed when people try to engineer the kind of recognition they believe they deserve. Renee understood this.

Excellent communication with your boss is vital. Though it did not result in the promotion, Renee’s open discussion with her manager did help protect her because he knew the day-to-day quality of her work. She used an “AAI with the Power of I” template that could work well for anyone. In meetings with her manager, she presents her Accomplishments, Actions, and Issues. She uses the power of “I” to show that she takes full responsibility for a situation with remarks such as “I must not understand,” or “I might be mistaken.”

You need champions in all parts of the company. For others to know what you are contributing, you should let others “carry your glass of water success.” Colleagues will be able to speak about you and your accomplishments if you connect with them, and keep them updated on your progress.

Renee continues on her career path, working her action plan and doing exceptionally well. I am happy to say; she is doing it without stepping on anyone or taking credit for other’s efforts. In other words, she is true to herself in the pursuit of success, and I applaud her!

Jackie and I met one afternoon for coffee after she called sounding very distraught and confused. In December (2014), her company reorganized and she lost her job. She is a single mother of two children with no support from the father, which means she carries the full responsibility for her family. Jackie received 8 weeks of severance pay and was upset at her company and scared to death. It’s understandable that Jackie was upset, but her emotions were keeping her from taking a practical approach to her situation. When I suggested she start making her plan, like most people she wasn’t sure how to begin. So we started with a list.

I asked her to write down her objectives and goals for the year. We looked at several things:

• Her previous job
• Potential comparable jobs utilizing her skill sets
• Temporary jobs that could hold her over
• Opportunities for her to cut expenses

When we got to the objectives regarding comparable jobs that would use her skill set, it became very evident that Jackie had never considered jobs that were different than what her last role as technical operator in a broadcast company. However, there weren’t many jobs available for this type of specific role. So rather than focus on that job, we began to explore the skills that she had developed to see if we could apply them to a different role.

Jackie also had great soft skills – she was very organized and personable, plus she understood the broadcast industry with the software and tools that are used. Until this point, she had not thought about how important these skills would be to her job search. So we discussed potential alternative jobs that would leverage these skills such as:

• Customer support for the vendor of the software packages that she knew.
• Administrative assistant to a technical executive where she could utilize her technical aptitude and possibly help with project work within the department.
• Industry consulting firms that help organizations establish process and procedures within the technical area for clients.
• Possibly training others in the software that she has learned.
• She also considered working for herself in some capacity utilizing her skills and knowledge.

It became clear to Jackie, that there were far more options than she had originally considered – but she had to visualize a different approach. We took each option and wrote down the pros/cons/next steps to move forward.

Through this exercise her plan began to crystallize and she saw how to attack each area, one step at a time. As part of this action plan, we talked about getting the word out to her network that she was exploring new opportunities, so that she could leverage their insights in her search. We also discussed broadening her network (and possibly skill sets) by volunteering for organizations that would place her in the environments that would help her to meet others in the industry.

One Jackie could see formulate her professional plan, it was time to address her personal plan: her family needs and the operations of her household. I mentioned to her, “Remember, you are the CEO of your company called HOME. You must put all pieces together to move forward.” This included:

• Financial plans – including a thorough review of the family budget;
• Strategic plans for each member of the family. She had started her plan, but she also needed to identify what her kids needed and visualize the plan to meet those needs.
• Operations plans for how to operate on a daily basis;

When she started approaching her home life with a methodical, business-like approach, something wonderful happened. She stopped feeling so angry with her previous employer and realized that the decision to eliminate her job (and others) was not a personal decision meant to harm her – but an objective decision made in the best interest of the company. This was a huge step forward – not for the company’s sake, but for Jackie’s. This allowed her to let go of some of the bad feelings about what had happened, and move forward toward her next career move. This was great to see!

As we examined her list, she began to differentiate between her family’s necessities and indulgences. She knew that by eliminating some of those “wants” her budget would be extended, and she knew it would not be forever – but for the time being. She was amazed that by cutting those expenses out, she was able to save an extra 20% per month of her disposable income!

Jackie’s children were her priority, and losing this job put her further away from a goal she had been working toward – sending them to private school. This was not an option now, but she wanted the best education for them – and public school was not offering her kids all that she felt they needed.

We discussed alternatives and I tried to help her visualize new approached to supplementing their education without spending money she didn’t have. I asked what she could do for her kids – and she put together a plan for reading in the evenings, using free computer games for math and language online, etc. She actually created a supplemental program for the kids in the evenings and weekends.

The last piece of her puzzle was a logistics plan. She was struggling with getting her kids to after school events and sports practice, etc. so we listed friends and neighbors who might also need help and be willing to trade off and work as a team. Jackie was thrilled with the plan and looking forward to starting it.

To make sure this logistics plan would work, Jackie took the time to create a calendar. As you know, when you write down your plan and consistently follow it, you are more likely to keep it up. Jackie wrote down everything in her schedule for her and the kids. She included chores that the kids could help with and processes for checking their progress with the supplemental educational tools.

By the time we were finished with our coffee, Jackie finally had a plan in place to work and accomplish her goals. She was thrilled. By redirecting her energy from feeling bad about her lost career path, she was able to develop a strong, strategic plan, visualize a new approach and take a positive step in the direction of a great year and even better future.

Stay tuned for update on Jackie’s plan and success for 2015.

Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) are working later in life, while Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980) are in the primes of their careers. Some of the Gen Y/Millennials (born between 1981 and 2000) have just launched their careers, yet a recent Harvard Business Review article titled Mentoring Millennials reported that “In four years Millennials …will account for nearly half the employees in the world.”
This is a major shift that creates obstacles and opportunities, especially in mentoring.

In most cases, we think about mentoring relationships involving an older, more seasoned leader mentoring a younger, less experienced mentee. Yet in this new economy, the skills and insights of younger generations are often the key to survival and success for many businesses. I recently took some time to explore the question “Can less experienced individuals be the mentor to more experience individuals?”

What I found may surprise you.

As boomers remain in the workplace longer, and as businesses reorganize to attract and retain top talent, many boomers find themselves reporting to someone significantly younger. In fact, this is becoming more common, especially as some of the priorities and needs of what a Boomer expects from their career shifts.

This creates a need/opportunity for an organization to develop a mentoring program that attracts younger generations to teach, as well as learn from, colleagues who are older. We can all agree that different generations have different approaches to and expectations of career. In a ‘safe’ mentoring environment (one in which participants are open and eager to learn from one another, regardless of age and experience) all three generations might learn the characteristics, values, goals and motivators of their counterparts.

Millennials, who get all their information and most of their socialization from the Internet, may help Generation X’ers understand that email is preferable to long meetings. The team-oriented Baby Boomers will find common ground with Millennials who highly value teams. Generation X leaders may help coach Millennials on self-reliance, and learn longevity from their Boomer colleagues.

Regardless of the generation a leader comes from, the leader who better understands what motivates his team has a better chance at creating incentives and rewards that will drive the team goals forward. And the team that understands and respects how their multi-generational peers view “work ethic”, diversity, work/life balance and compensation – the more harmonious and productive the team will be.

This type of environment also helps surface ideas on how to increase their services or enhance their products to reach multiple generations of customers. (Of course, this becomes a no brainer if the company is trying to grow their customers who happen to be in one of these demographics.)

I think it is also important to note that a mentee can gain insights personally, if they happen to have children, grandchildren or parents the ages of the specific generation. It can help them to see things from another perspective and gain insights on how to better understand and relate to those family members.

So, if you are part of a younger generation, why would you want to mentor a more experience leader? The thing you would gain from this relationship is the foundation of nearly every mentoring relationship – to learn wisdom from their experiences and journey. No, the journey for your mentor may not be the same as it is for you, and times change, but you can’t replace experience and knowledge when you are trying to grow and develop. Their path can provide you with ideas and strategies that have helped them advance. That different perspective enables the mentor to grow, as well.

So how would an organization get started? This is what a progressive company, one that wants to be a leader in innovative solutions and an employer of choice, would ask.

There are numerous ways to accomplish this goal. I think you have to consider the culture and climate of your organisation to determine what will work best for you. Here are a few things to consider before laying out this program.

1. Will all organizational leaders have access to a mentor? If not, how will the program be offered?
2. Will mentoring become part of an internal leadership development process?
3. Would participation be a requirement or optional?
4. Are there any expectations of the mentoring pairs (output, projects, etc.?)
5. How long should the mentoring program last?
6. Is the program being established to attain a specific initiative for a service or product?
7. Are there measures and metrics that we want to gauge the success of this program?

The answers to these questions will help establish the framework for an impactful, multi-gen mentoring program. They are also critical questions to answer, as these answers will be the foundation of the next step of matching mentoring partners and implementing the program.

No one wants their mentoring program to become known as…”the brown noser to get ahead” or the “you owe me syndrome because I participated and helped the company to move forward.” Instead, the program should address the business need and provide value to both individuals involved. Ideally, a multi-gen mentoring program will also enhance the environment and atmosphere of the company … for generations to come.

Jane, a seasoned accounting manager, was recently given an opportunity to represent her department on a cross functional team. She jumped at the chance for the broader exposure in the organisation and the opportunity to show her supervisor that she could represent her team at a higher level. However, her excitement faded after the first few team meetings. The Vice President leading the team had a procrastination management style that caused him to frequently delay making key decisions until just hours before the team meeting, leaving Jane and other members scrambling to put the necessary information together to keep the team moving forward. Soon she began to dread these meetings, feeling that her lack of preparation caused by the team’s leader misrepresented her actual skill set. She asked her mentor to advise her, and through their discussion, they discussed the difference between procrastination and procrastination as a management style.

Some use a procrastination management style as a method to explore possibilities, leverage creativity and secure additional time to strategise. This leader waits on decisions to take time and identify the best course of action. However, one can only have this luxury if the speed in a decision or action is not critical. On the other hand, there are managers who procrastinate for other reasons – even reasons they may not understand themselves. Some of these types of procrastinators can be described as:

The Perfectionist has a need to always be “in control”. They are reluctant to delegate, have an unrealistic view of time, and become paralysed at the possibility of making a mistake. Keeping decisions to themselves seems like the best way to avoid mistakes by others, but their plates pile up so high that very little gets accomplished.

The remedy for this procrastinator is to build a practical plan and timeline for a project, accept help from others and give his or herself the permission to occasionally fail.

The Dreamer has unrealistic fantasies about their work and frequently resists focusing on details. This individual sees his or herself as special, and above the restrictions and requirements of others. While the dreamer can be a creative and innovative force, often their unrealistic approach hurts the team.

The remedy for this procrastinator is to use creative visualisation to turn their dreams into goals, then build realistic plans using concrete timelines and asking the “5 W’s and 1 H”.

The Worrier is highly resistant to change and has a serious problem with commitment. Like the perfectionist, they fear mistakes yet these procrastinators seek lots of help from others. Their fear incapacitates them, and those whose work depends upon them.

The remedy for this procrastinator is to remember that putting off decisions is making a decision to do nothing. They must acknowledge their worries, yet resist “catastrophising” things. They become energized by breaking down large tasks into smaller actions, spending time with positive people and attempting a task they had been avoiding.

The Crisis-Maker likes living on the edge. The excitement and pressure of dwindling time helps them to act. They tend to like being the focus of attention, and dislike dull routines.

The remedy for this procrastinator is to identify multiple reasons to complete a task and reward his or herself for finding motivation. They should avoid manufacturing crises and exercise their need to live on the edge via healthy, adrenaline flowing activities.

The Rebel expresses hostility indirectly and sees life in terms of what others do. They resent authority figures and resist constructive criticism. These individuals never go “all in” on their work, always holding the best part of themselves back.

The remedy for this procrastinator is to view their job as something they are choosing to do, and use intelligent reasoning to choose their battles. They will find success when they become involved in activities that they feel some control over, but also learn how to work constructively with a team.

The Over-extender can be found in nearly every office, particularly among women who have trouble saying “No.” Despite some good intentions, they take on more than they can realistically finish, they lack self-discipline and have trouble relaxing.

The remedy for this procrastinator is to Be PROACTIVE and practice saying NO to extra responsibilities. They must make solid plans for getting key jobs done effectively and avoid viewing themselves as powerless. By getting over the guilt and being less defensive about times that they don’t work hard, this procrastinator will graduate to a healthier and more pragmatic work style.

By looking at procrastination as a characteristic, Jane and her mentor saw that there are times when it can be beneficial by providing time to think before doing; consider consequences; think outside of the box. These are great characteristics as long as time is on your side. But the key is to keep the characteristic from holding yourself, or your team, back from success. Once you begin to impact others or the business, it becomes a true hindrance to yourself, your team and your career. As they say, “procrastination on your part does not dictate an emergency on mine.” Jane identified some of the core reasons she thought the Vice-President delayed decisions, and tried to counter them with the approaches noted above. She continues to work through this challenge, and has promised to keep me updated.

When I picked up the phone, I could tell immediately that Lisa was distraught from the sad tone in her voice just from the simple hello. Lisa is the kind of person who is always upbeat and ready to conquer the world. She is a truly generous person who always finds a way to help others. Hearing her sound sad was extremely unusual, so I asked her what was wrong. “My life is falling apart on all levels,” she said and began to sob a little. I asked her to slow down, and see if we could take it one step at a time. The first thing that was upsetting her was career related.

For the last 10 years, Lisa had been doing temporary work – with more than six years at one company in a temporary pool of executive assistants. I had always been under the impression that she enjoyed the flexibility that this role offered her, but she actually had hoped to someday be considered for a permanent, non-administrative role – possibly in a position that leveraged her technical skills. During her

tenure with this company, she had an opportunity to work for a true leader who showed an interest in Lisa’s career. Lisa confided that while she loved working for this leader, she knew she was capable of doing more and was eager to have an opportunity to show it.

At that time, her leader had a permanent Executive Assistant position available, and Lisa expressed interest in the role. The leader responded that she would not consider Lisa for the job because it wasn’t really what Lisa wanted. She said “You don’t want to be an executive assistant and you need to keep your skills sharp. If I gave you this job, you would stop working toward what you really want.” Lisa was upset, but she understood the leader’s perspective. Family disharmony was another area that was upsetting Lisa. Her grown son, Michael, has been married for many years to his wife, Maria. They both work, and Michael is also very involved with his ministry and graphics arts. Until recently, Lisa had always had a close relationship with Michael and Maria, but now things were strained.

Lisa didn’t get to see Michael as frequently as she would have liked, and she felt the daughter-in-law was not being supportive of her son’s needs. She perceived that her son was moving away from his spirituality and faith, which had been the foundation of his identity. Maria had told Michael that his responsibility was to support his wife, and that his mother needed to manage her own issues. Lisa felt that she had little influence over the direction her son’s life, or their relationship, was heading. We talked about her options in how to handle her family concerns, and Lisa realized that Michael’s path was really up to him. She had to hope that she had given him all of the tools he needed to make the best decisions for himself and his own family.

This is the hard part as parents, to accept that when our children are grown, we must respect their decisions and desires – even when we worry that they are not the best choices for them. We must trust that our kids to do the best they can – just as we have done the best we could do with our own circumstances. Lisa began to think of supportive ways she could be more supportive of Michael and Maria in the future, and hopefully build back to a closer relationship. Our discussion was going well, but there was still much on Lisa’s mind so I asked her about it. She confided that she was disappointed with herself, both because of being stalled in her career pursuits, but also because of some recent weight gain. We discussed her eating and exercise habits, and I asked if she kept a record, a diary of what triggered her to eat. Over the years, my mentors and mentees have shared many different reasons for overeating and eating poorly. Sometimes it will be out of boredom, depression, and even over portioning at the end of the day.

Lisa decided to write down her eating and physical habits over the last week, and when she reviewed it, it became apparent that she was eating out of depression. All of her food choices were comfort foods, and she never felt like exercising. After our detailed discussions, she began to relate her feelings to her eating. We talked about ways to deal with the root cause of her depression – and this brought us back to her career. Lisa had been working in a temporary capacity for so long, she felt like she was not good enough for a permanent job. Though she worked for her employer in different temporary roles, the company never seemed to offer her a full time opportunity. She wondered if something was wrong with her and that was why she was not part of the full time family. Her self-esteem was very low. We took a step back and analyzed her career path to this point, and determined that she had stayed in the temp pool as an Executive Assistant for too long. It had been years since she had used her other skills or updated her capabilities. She kept holding on thinking that a job would just fall into her lap, but didn’t network with others to pursue new opportunities. After 10 years, she was working at a temporary part-time job.

It was time for a plan. Together, we mapped out her next steps for her path to a fulfilling, full-time position. Lisa decided she would:

Seek opportunities to become more active within professional associations both to grow her network and gain experience in other areas.
Increase the tools in her toolbox by learning additional skills after work hours. She would consider online resources including free tutorials and skill building articles posted online.
Meet weekly with her mentor to help stay accountable to someone and also have support as she makes her plan each week for exercise, a meal plan and career action steps.

Lisa also decided to keep a journal of her feelings: What she was happy about? What upset her or made her feel incomplete? What were the positive changes and her feelings about them? This will help understand some of the reasons for how she feels, and will offer her a new perspective. I’m so proud of the way Lisa has taken charge of her life, and her actions are really paying off. She started by walking 3 days a week for 2 miles in 30 minutes. She kept a food diary and began to realize how frequently she was eating without even thinking about it. She said that the journal of feelings and action plans to secure a full-time job helps her stay focused. Lisa and I spoke a few days ago, and she said that meeting with her mentor has really helped. Having a regular time to express her thoughts and concerns with someone who solidly in her corner gives her something to look forward to, and has been a boost to her confidence. And while Lisa has not found a full-time job yet, she is definitely on the right track and improving in all aspects of her life. Well done, Lisa!