Have you ever noticed that it's exactly when you stop focussing intensely on a frustrating problem and are doing something random - like gardening, or taking a shower, or walking, or you land on your couch with a great 'oomph', or you're washing the dishes - that you suddenly see what you couldn't see all day? Eureka! Insight arrives.

In terms of how your brain works, this is part of its design and the paradox. The harder you focus on something that evades you, the further away your ability to see the solution. That's why brainstorming is powerful. It allows...

We constantly ask ourselves how we could be more effective in supporting our mentees. We take part in numerous professional development activities and share best practice with fellow mentors however, I wonder how fully aware of our strengths we are,  how many of us are orienting our work around our strengths and are able to identify the ones of our mentees.

Over the years of practicing mentoring and training mentors I found out that the more consistent we are in putting our strengths into play, the better we become at matching ourselves with mentees and the...