Tag: #business

Four Concepts in Mentorship That Are Still Important, Especially in a Post-COVID World

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By Stephanie Diana Eubank

I have worked in the financial industry for over twelve years now.  While working in the financial industry, I have been blessed to have three mentors throughout my career. Two of them are women, and one identified as a man and happened to be a member of the LBGTQ community.  The diversity of my mentors has helped me as a leader and a college-level business instructor and given me a more global perspective.  I have truly been blessed to have such wonderful mentors.  Although one of my mentors Dean Marks, passed away this week after a long hard battle with cancer.  He is missed by not just me but all those in our field which he inspired. 

With COVID dividing leaders and aspiring leaders of all walks of life, there are four concepts to consider in mentorship that are often swept under the rug.  These four concepts are true for onsite and remote workplaces.  However, with remote work becoming more normative, the focus needs to be on how mentorship can be addressed in a remote work environment. 

The concept in Mentorship #1 is Ambiguousness of what mentorship is.

Mentors play a vital role in business employee development and leadership training.  Since COVID and the lockdowns connecting with mentors and networking has become a more vital skill than ever.  Not just for mentees but for those who are mentoring.   This fact has never been truer than now as we try to adjust to the new normal that is COVID.  In the book, Rolfe (2021), which can be found on Amazon at https://amzn.to/3PIp63H talks about the fact that mentoring often is an ambiguous term and can be confusing for both mentors and mentees.  In this book, Rolfe (2021); also takes a practical approach versus a theoretical approach. The book Rolfe (2021) also details the importance of communication, boundaries, and how to structure mentorship so proper implementation can be used.

The concept in Mentorship #2 is Encouraging Diversity in Leadership.

As a woman, there can be stigmas about being mentored regardless of the gender of one’s mentor.  As detailed in the book, Sandberg (2013); can be found at https://amzn.to/3IUyL4Z.  Many are familiar with the book “Lean In” by Sandberg (2013); the research noted within both practical and observational findings by Sandberg and data researched to support the findings.  The book Sandberg (2013); touches on the fact that there are few women of any race or creed in places of leadership.  With COVID hurting women’s careers as they fight to get into and stay in places of leadership in a growing remote workplace, mentorship has never been more important towards growing diversity in leadership and business. Although may criticize Sandberg for her privileged vantage point that not all women can enjoy.  However, she raises interesting points on how women being in places of leadership paves the way for positive change and creative problem-solving through diversity.  With COVID rates surging and women either having to leave the workforce or work remotely while balancing childcare and child education while the pandemic rage on mentorship is important and can make it difficult for mentors and mentees to ask for the help needed to progress.

The concept in Mentorship #3 Asking for Help Is a Strength.

Asking for help is a soft skill that is often ignored in leadership.   Mentors are a great resource in learning how to effectively ask for help and for mentees to learn what resources they truly have. Moreover, in a remote workplace, often leaders see asking for help as a weakness.  Which is a toxic leadership trait for any leader. Teams asking for help and leaders asking for help keep turn times under control and support workers regardless of onsite or remote workplaces. An interesting book that tackles this topic of asking for and receiving help in a leadership role is Brand (2019), which is found at https://amzn.to/3PmPT60.  It seems unconventional to read mentoring advice from Russel Brand, but his book highlights the concept of toxic leadership, where often, employees are not regarded as an organization’s strongest asset.  Also, in the book Brand (2019); it is noted that asking for help even before COVID has always been regarded as a weakness when the need for help is poor planning on leadership, and employees asking for help really allows leaders to know when the house is on fire in time to save it.

The concept in Mentorship #4 To Thy Own Self Be True.

Another concept discussed in the book Maxwell (2021), found at https://amzn.to/3v5r06x is the concept of authentic leadership and knowing oneself. Everyone has blind spots regarding our own personal flaws.  As leaders, we need to be introspective, not just with how we lead but how we pick mentees.  The book Maxwell (2021) discusses how knowing we and what works to lead authentically is important as leaders.  However, some concepts of knowing oneself include knowing what leadership styles don’t work in the remote world. 

Conclusion: I have been blessed to have many mentors who are diverse leaders in their rights. Remote work has made mentorship even more important to furthering the training of future leaders. In researching mentor books, four concepts emerged in mentoring.  The four concepts are as follows:

  1. The rules of mentoring are ambiguous and, as detailed in Rolfe (2021), note how establishing boundaries and give some more structure to mentorship. The book, Rolfe (2021) also notes the importance of communication which has never been more important than in a remote workplace.
  2. Mentorship needs to encourage diversity.  As detailed in the book, Sandberg (2013); shows how women in leadership help develop a more inclusive leadership plan and creative problem-solving.  As many of us have learned, COVID women have had to leave the workplace or convert to remote as a permanent need to address child or family care.  It doesn’t matter if you are a male or female leader. If you find someone who wants you to mentor them, especially women and minorities, pay it forward as your mentors did. High tides raise all boat mentorship making a leader more versatile. It doesn’t phase you out.
  3. It is almost always a cliché comment that communication is key to… well, everything.  Asking for help is communicating!  As detailed in Brand (2019), asking for help, regardless of being a leader or a would-be leader, is not a weakness.  It is a sign of understanding limitations and can save an organization.  We all need help from time to time, and teams needing help are a sign that there needs to be a pivot in implementing the process.  Teams and employees are a company’s most valuable resources, and leaders must treat them as such.
  4. Lastly, authentic leadership and understanding our strengths and flaws as people and leaders. The book Maxwell (2021), the adage to know thy self is true.  Failures teach us more than our successes; those are some of the things that should be shared so that mentees learn from their mistakes.  Another concept is some of these flaws can also be considered toxic in a remote work environment as some leadership methods just don’t translate pleasantly in remote workplaces.

These four concepts are important to remember when mentoring remotely because having the bravery to reach out and ask for help and mentoring is half the battle of working in a remote workplace.  Reaching out to mentors with remote employees’ professional isolation is healthy for all involved.  I don’t know where I would be today without my mentors, and the fact that one of them has passed is a great loss to the community.  I only hope I positively impact my mentees as he has on me.

If you enjoyed this article, remember that sharing is caring.  Also, if you have a mentor you want to discuss, leave a comment. 

Work Cited

Brand, R. (2019). Mentors: How to help and be helped. Henry Holt.

https://amzn.to/3PmPT60

Maxwell, J. C. (2021). The self-aware leader: Play to your strengths, unleash your team: Play to your strengths, unleash your team. HarperCollins Leadership.

https://amzn.to/3v5r06x

Rolfe, A. (2021). Mentoring: Mindset, skills and tools. Mentoring Works.

https://amzn.to/3PIp63H

Sandberg, S. (2013). Lean in: Women, work, and the will to lead. Deckle Edge.

https://amzn.to/3IUyL4Z

Remote Work is the Key to Increasing Creativity in the Workplace by Encouraging Diversity.

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By: Stephanie Diana Eubank

The topic of diversity in the workplace is a stimulant for creative problem solving and has been well researched and embraced in business.  In the Forbes article, Agona (2021); explains in layman’s terms why diversity creates more creative problem-solving.  In a nutshell, as detailed in, Agona (2021), workplaces with people with the same culture and similar backgrounds can create group thinking and, yes, people.  The article, Agona (2021); goes on to note that workplaces with diverse workforces have more dissenting ideas.  It may seem counterintuitive to have “no” people on one’s team, but as detailed in, Agona (2021); the diversity and difference of opinions and views leave room for developing creative problem-solving.

Companies that want to expand diversity to increase collaboration and creative problem-solving have a unique opportunity to do so in remote workplaces.  Sadly, many companies are missing out by pushing back against remote work.  As detailed in, Hunt (2021); remote workplaces allow for people from diverse, social, ethnic, and geographic locations.  Additionally, in the Forbes article, Hunt (2021); notes that single parents and women benefit from remote work as it allows more balance between life and work.

In the past companies often had to address geographic issues by transplanting or having to relocate workers from one area to a mecca of the industry like Silicon Valley.  Other issues when companies relocated to areas such as Texas to cut costs of running a business and paying to relocate employees or losing a large proportion of the staff because relocation would cause professional isolation.  As detailed in Cascio (2000), professional and geographical isolation has been long documented issues in remote work. The pandemic has since made this into an opportunity.   

In a LinkedIn article, McLaren (2021); details how the pandemic made many companies convert to remote, allowing expanded use of telecommunications tools like Zoom and Teams to be used more frequently and normalized.  Further detailed in the article, McLaren (2021); the wide utilization of remote work has helped dwindle the need for relocation and the costs for companies.  Further remote work has helped expand the use of telecommunication systems to dispel the age-old argument that remote work in business dulls collaboration and productivity. 

The facts about remote work and diversity and how remote work aids inclusivity shifts the conversation to ask how does a company battling the Great Resignation deal with attracting and retaining a diverse workforce?  As detailed in the article by White (2021), there are three ways to accomplish this.

  1. Encourage remote work and be willing to negotiate remote or hybrid work.
  2. Develop more comprehensive PTO plans and make proper accommodations regarding COVID and family leave. 
  3. Hiring managers who understand that employees are humans and respect the boundaries of their personal time. 

To quote one of my industry mentors, leaders need to remember to “Focus on managing the work not managing the people”.  Developing that concept in a nutshell as part of remote organizational culture will encourage employee retention and curb the stress on leaders and followers.

In conclusion, companies need to encourage remote work as a tool to increase diversity in the workplace.  The recession and the great resignation are teaching all sectors of business the value of creative problem solving and how diversity helps encourage collaborative thoughts.  Remote work is an underused tool to help give organizations the competitive advantage needed to survive the trials ahead.

If you would like to read more on remote work and diversity, please see the citations below. Also, if you like this post, be sure to leave a comment, like, and subscribe. Sharing is caring, so please share far and wide.

Work Cited

Agona, L. (2021, October 13). Council post: Is remote work a diversity and inclusion issue? Forbes. Retrieved July 11, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2021/10/13/is-remote-work-a-diversity-and-inclusion-issue/?sh=3f16d771626c

Cascio, W. F. (2000). Managing a virtual workplace. Academy of Management Perspectives, 14(3), 81–90. https://doi.org/10.5465/ame.2000.4468068

Hunt, S. T. (2021, May 12). SAP brandvoice: How hybrid remote work improves diversity and inclusion. Forbes. Retrieved July 8, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2021/05/12/how-hybrid-remote-work-improves-diversity-and-inclusion/?sh=8965f01321fe

McLaren, S. (2021, February 3). Why the rise of remote work may help companies become more diverse – and more inclusive. LinkedIn. Retrieved July 11, 2022, from https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/talent-acquisition/why-remote-work-may-help-companies-become-more-diverse

White, N. (2021, May 27). Here’s how to foster diversity, equity and inclusion in a remote-work world. Entrepreneur. Retrieved July 11, 2022, from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/372149

Six Reasons Why Companies Should Promote Remote Work as the Primary Workplace Environment?

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By: Stephanie Diana Eubank

There are a number of articles in the news about companies pushing back against remote workers.  A particularly glaring example is the NBC News article, Bendix (2022), which is cited below, commenting on Elon Musk stating that remote work is “no longer acceptable.”  There have been a number of old-school comments that have, according to the article written by Cascio (2000), noted excuses about hindrances to collaboration that have been bought up since the 1980s.  (Yes, remote work has been a concept researched in business since the 1980s.  Sadly, it took a pandemic for the world to see that remote work is the future.)  The research cited from SHRM, Maurer (2021); comments on how comments of lack of productivity and lack of collaboration in remote workplaces that have been spouted sing the ’80s is flat out wrong, and the lockdowns during the pandemic proved it.

These arguments from leadership on the validity of remote work are causing the round in circles argument that has sparked what is coined “The Great Resignation.”  The Great Resignation is famous for employees no longer asking for remote workplaces but rather demanding remote workplaces.

As an effort to stop the merry-go-round of arguments from leadership, this article is to address why companies should encourage remote work as it is for their (business industry as a whole) best interests. Here is a list of why businesses should work to pivot and encourage the expansion of remote work.

  1. Remote workers take less time off.  This is a true statement about remote workers as they have a better ability to coordinate doctor’s appointments and family and friends engagements, among other personal needs, during break and lunch hours in a remote workplace.  Where in an onsite capacity, there is often the physical distance between work and home, and this can create delays, and tardiness for employees before, during, and after work.  Remote workers also take fewer sick days as they power through work while sick and do not infect the entire workforce when these workers work from home. This offers employees a level of freedom not seen in previous generations.
  2. Investors crave more transparency of the work and products being created.  Remote work gives businesses more transparency to show investors.  Remote work is also an easy way to provide additional transparency to investors. 
  3. Remote work allows for more workers to balance work and family.  Which, I hear a lot of business owners ask me, “why does that benefit business”?  According to the most recent PEWs research, Kramer (2021); the United States of America has the highest single-parent household demographic in the country. According to the PEWs Research, Kramer (2021), 23% of American households are single-parent households.  For business leaders who may have staffing issues finding quality workers to come onsite is difficult.  And those they can hire may have attendance issues, tardiness, and issues with obtaining childcare.

Remote work allows employees to balance this issue and make child care more affordable.  (Speaking from a mother’s perspective, it is easier and cheaper to get a nanny in the home while I am at home than to drop my children at daycare. Moreover, businesses forget or discriminate against those employees who have families. In the Forbes article, Ibarra et al. (2017); noted that men, especially single men without children, tend to be promoted more. They are promoted more than women or men with children, regardless of marital status. According to Ibarra et al. (2017), businesses tend to view single men as “hungry” and more “go-getters.” 

However, now that we are in a pandemic and unprecedented recession, businesses are undervaluing people with families.  People with families are both skilled and show commitment.  Giving these employees a remote workplace allows for increasing employee retention and maintaining a skilled workforce.  Another thing major corporation forgets on this topic is that employee retention is both cheaper than recruiting and looks better to investors and the public compared to a publicized revolving door of employees.

  • Companies argue that there is a skilled labor shortage.  This is a misnomer because companies are not working to attract one of the biggest demographic of educated and skilled labor.  Specifically women. As detailed in the research article, Perry (2021); noted that women for the twelve years of the research project have consistently all the doctorate degrees awarded in the United States been awarded to women. In the master’s degree article, Perry (2021); notes women earned 60% of the awarded master’s degrees.  In the article, Perry (2021); goes on to talk about how these women did not get advanced degrees in underwater basket weaving or other nonsensical programs.  The women detailed in the research of Perry (2021); earned degrees in STEM, business, and other marketable and needed skills. According to the Washington Post article, Collins et al. (2021); show that mothers’ employment has dropped by over 7% as of 2021.  This information is further supported by Kramer (2021); which noted that of the 23% of single parents in the US, single moms are the biggest demographic of single parents.  Women are slow to return to the workforce because of a lack of childcare.  This means companies not investing in remote work are missing out on the opportunity to get the edge on the completion by having the skilled and highly educated demographic of women. 
  • Two basic principles are taught in business school regarding leadership and development.  One of your employees is an organization’s greatest resource.  The second is that diversity in an organization allows for more creative problem-solving.  In the Forbes article, Hunt (2021); Professor Hunt notes that remote work encourages diversity.  In the article, Hunt (2021); goes on to repeat the concept that diversity in the workplace increases creativity.  This flies in the face of the argument used since the 1980s that remote work decreases creativity and collaboration. 
  • So, many companies get subsidies and tax write-offs, among other governmental benefits in the United States.  This is not a well-hidden secret. With remote work, employees have the ability to spread out and live in less expensive areas.  The real estate market has noted since the start of the pandemic of remote workers moving to lower-income areas such as Texas, Kentucky, and Mississippi.  With these workers relocating, they are bringing their “big city money.”  As such, this has made it so many of these communities experience unprecedented growth.   Showing that business is doing what the government has been unable to do with regard to lifting up struggling communities.  This gives businesses more wiggle room to negotiate more benefits within governmental support.  However, this negotiating power that companies now have predicates on companies’ willingness to let go of old management concepts and evolve with how the world has changed. This change to remote work will benefit all around if the fear of change is managed more.

All six of these reasons are in addition to the fact remote workplaces allow for lower overhead costs, and give companies the ability to pare down the real estate and other physical operations costs.  Making remote work even more of a win-win scenario.  The reasons noted above are topics that have been researched since at least 80’, especially in relation to remote work specifically. All the research cited in this article is noted below in the work cited in case you want to read further. 

The conclusion to this article is that remote work is an unprecedented opportunity for business, and many of the most outspoken thought leaders are giving pushback to all industries’ detriment.  Especially these thought leaders saying no to remote work are influencing other leaders to cut their own noses off despite their faces.   The business world and the workplace where business is conducted are changing, and companies either evolve or share the fate of dinosaurs.

Work Cited

Bendix, A. (2022, June 8). Musk is pushing staff back to the office, but the research is only partly on his side. NBCNews.com. Retrieved July 7, 2022, from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/elon-musk-staff-back-office-research-mixed-rcna32136

Cascio, W. F. (2000). Managing a virtual workplace. Academy of Management Perspectives, 14(3), 81–90. https://doi.org/10.5465/ame.2000.4468068

https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/ame.2000.4468068

Collins, C., Ruppanner, L., & Scarborough, W. J. (2021, November 8). Analysis | why haven’t U.S. mothers returned to work? the child-care infrastructure they need is still missing. The Washington Post. Retrieved July 8, 2022, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/11/08/why-havent-us-mothers-returned-work-child-care-infrastructure-they-need-is-still-missing/

Hunt, S. T. (2021, May 12). SAP brandvoice: How hybrid remote work improves diversity and inclusion. Forbes. Retrieved July 8, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2021/05/12/how-hybrid-remote-work-improves-diversity-and-inclusion/?sh=8965f01321fe

Ibarra, H., Carter, N. M., & Silva, C. (2017, September 7). Why men still get more promotions than women. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved July 8, 2022, from https://hbr.org/2010/09/why-men-still-get-more-promotions-than-women

Kramer, S. (2021, May 28). U.S. has world’s highest rate of children living in single-parent households. Pew Research Center. Retrieved July 8, 2022, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/12/12/u-s-children-more-likely-than-children-in-other-countries-to-live-with-just-one-parent/

Maurer, R. (2021, July 6). Study finds productivity not deterred by shift to remote work. SHRM. Retrieved July 7, 2022, from https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-news/pages/study-productivity-shift-remote-work-covid-coronavirus.aspx

Perry, M. (2021, October 14). Women earned the majority of doctoral degrees in 2020 for the 12th … American Enterprise Institute. Retrieved July 8, 2022, from https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/women-earned-the-majority-of-doctoral-degrees-in-2020-for-the-12th-straight-year-and-outnumber-men-in-grad-school-148-to-100/