Mona Shah
Co-Founder & CEO at Sproutlogix
I am a lifetime learner. Since the day I started speaking, I have been asking ‘‘How”, “What”, “Why”. How does this work? What is being done? Why does this happen? My curiosity knows...
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- Data-Driven Business Strategies: Leveraging data for actionable insights
- Women in Leadership: Empowering women to achieve executive roles
- AI Analytics in Business: Using AI to improve performance metrics
- Innovative Solutions for Startups: Strategies for success in entrepreneurial ventures
- Sustainable Business Practices: Integrating sustainability for long-term growth.
Meet the mentor
Tricky Workplace Situation Handled
- Change offers a chance to improve and make a difference, it helps you maintain competitive edge, adapt to customer needs,
- Evaluate the current market trends to understand what competitors are doing. Run brainstorming sessions with the team to identify areas of improvement and ideas where we can take risks with maximum upside potential.
- No, you must be open-minded to the fact that there could be another way of doing business that is more adaptive to the ups and downs you are facing.
- It is important to show Thomas first why he is valuable to the organization and allow him to come to awareness about how his behavior is impacting his team. This can be done by questioning him on how his team perceives him as well as by anonymous 360-degree reviews. He must then be allowed to reflect on this and come up with his own solution to address this.
- Humility is important. It is the ability to be transparent, take the blame when necessary, and be humble in success, without an ego. Humility is strength and a willingness to display that you are human, that you do make mistakes. It is being authentic. An ideal leader is the servant of all, able to display humility without the loss of authority and to show up as your true self with integrity and honesty.
- Strong character, motivator, inspiring, honest, straightforward, ethical
- You lose the respect and trust of people. The importance of the value between the leaders and employees/customers diminish.
- Lowers team morale. A leader should inspire and motivate rather than demotivate or kill the passion in his team.
- Firstly, Jack should accept that the LMS didn't meet all the requirements, and take the blame rather than letting the team take the blame. Then, he should identify how he can resolve some of the issues with workarounds or other ideas and get the team involved in brainstorming for solutions. Finally, he should work with the team to identify what went wrong in their process of evaluating the LMS that failed to highlight some of the concern areas.
- bad service, bad/damaged/ineffective product, being on hold, delivery times, a complaint against a service provider/individual
- Customer is likely not to repeat business and may give you a bad review in social media or through word of mouth.
- You can deescalate customers' frustration by remembering customer is upset at the situation, not you. Diffuse the customer's frustration; try not to interrupt or contradict, calm the customer down, listening and responding with empathy, listening with an open mind, respond with positive intent to help resolve issues, remove the focus from yourself and focus on their problem, stay detached, maintain an attitude of caring.
- The freedom leadership approach is one where the leader has a laissez-faire style and provides all the rights and power to make decisions in the hands of the employees.
- No, but the benefits of this approach are that employees are given a chance to explore, practice, and take risks without reproach. The problem with this approach is that it often leaves some employees without enough guidance and structure to be productive.
- Pros: freedom to explore and take risks, more autonomy for employees, encourages innovation, personal growth Cons: No guidance/support, limited teamwork, overburdensome to the individual, lack of clarity, passive
- It is not ideal for my team because there is high value in being collaborative and some structure is required to hold individuals and teams accountable.
- They may feel I don't stand up for what I believe in or that I am a pushover. It also leads to more conflict
- We lose trust and respect of people. The importance of the value between the leaders and employees/customers is diminished.
- Joan did not give importance to what the employees were trying to say. Listening was very transactional and she was listening more out of obligation, than out of her value for the employees' opinions. She pushed them off because she was more focused on her next meeting than in continuing the dialogue.
- If she didn't have time to discuss the issues the employees brought up, she should have acknowledged that their concerns had merit and mentioned that they should be discussed further. She also could have identified another time for this discussion.
- If you trust them and believe that their opinions and ideas have merit, you must value their input. If you don't trust them, they shouldn't be working for you.
- 1. give employees your undivided attention 2. handle good and bad news with poise 3. do something about what you heard when you were listening 4. do an anonymous 360-degree review with your team so you know where you stand
- Working from home part-time or on certain days of the week, flexible schedule to come early/leave early or come late/leave late
- The positives are that the team can innovate freely and are constantly encouraged by the frequent check-ins. The negatives are their creativity might be stifled and there is limited flexibility in how they work, which might suffocate them.
- Spontaneity, experimentative mindset, and flexibility to be creative without the fear of punishment of failure will boost innovation. Having a learning mindset to go outside of the usual resources to look for solutions will also help.
- Yes, my company pays attention to employee turnover. The best way to remedy high turnover is: offer benefits, reward employees, have good organization culture, demonstrate respect, make the work environment fun, career progression, employee appreciation, more than just monetary compensation.
- Some pros to failure are that you know what Not to do next time. You learn how to face failure and you get an opportunity to practice. You may be able to break down the failure to understand which parts worked and which didn't; leading you to find a solution faster. You learn to be more resilient.
- Tim must reflect and become aware of the behavior he displayed and how it may have come across. He also needs to be able to understand what he can do to alter this behavior, and identify where it doesn't need to be altered. He has to bounce back from this setback by proving to the CEO and senior manager that he is capable of improvement.
- To manage failure we should learn from our mistakes, minimize risk, take the blame if you're the leader, move on, and approach the next problem in a more creative way.
- Often time a company is so busy dealing with external issues, they forget to issue internal communications to alert the employees.
- They want to do everything themselves to make sure it is done "right". They feel awkward assigning tasks to others and holding them accountable.
- Not being clear about the assignment including goals and due dates. Not being realistic about what is achievable. Assigning someone a task who isn't capable of completing it.
- I think they are generally clear on what is expected and feel they are able to ask questions freely if they are not sure about something. I am around to help them out when needed and can hold them accountable for completing assignments.
- There have been assignments given to employees that did not have the skillset and capability to complete them. But the management team desperately needed this task done. This would have been a great opportunity to turn this situation around by involving other members of the team who were more capable of completing this task.
- Mark should ask for constructive feedback from his CEO and his team on turning things around. He should ask his CEO for suggestions and coaching to help him improve his performance. He should ask his team to brainstorm with him on issues and ideas to turn the teams' performance around.
- One that fits, is unique to them, and within their budget
- Attention to the individual and customizable options to suit varying tastes/budgets
- We can demonstrate the best practices for personalization by taking advantage of data to personalize communication without infringing on privacy: -Give consumers control of their data; -Demonstrate the value exchange when consumers share their data with companies; -Be transparent and communicate proactively on data policies; -Show respect for consumer data;
- When customers experience an easy return policy, they are more likely to continue shopping / revisit your store. It also encourages them to buy things they weren't 100% sure of buying before.
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- Running a few customer feedback sessions to understand which of the cons are issues impacting more people and than focusing on prioritizing these.
- Primarily, adding more staff that have been effectively trained to handle the rush or busy times.
- This happens because of the unpredictability of shopping schedules. Hourly employees are more likely to call in sick and require others to fill their place.
- You can learn to be persistent in the face of adversity. You can learn to push past the pain while being cognizant of it, but having the end goal in mind. They overcome their challenges by focusing on the their ultimate goals. By trusting that they are capable of moving forward despite adversities, and by being resilient.
- Your ability to persevere is the most important way to move forward. Through grit and tenacity, you can work through fear, and not be afraid to fail. You have to be courageous to do the things that might be uncomfortable. And you have to believe in yourself and believe in your circumstances.
- I powered through a difficult moment when I had to manage working with an all male team while pregnant. I learned that I am capable of anything and that believing in myself
- complains a lot, personal hygiene issues, backstabbing/gossiping, lacks work ethics, cannot forge camaraderie with peers
- He asks the employee how they have addressed the problem and asked the employee to put themselves in Ben's shoes. He also asked the employee to think about why Ben behaves the way he does, so she understands the motivation. He ended by offering a few possible solutions and looking at what the underlying issue might be. In this way, he was getting the employee to feel empathetic with Ben but offering a few solutions that might work. He allowed her to come up with solutions too.
- Most of the time, though there will be instances that the employee's emotional state just won't allow a constructive discussion, in which case, taking a break (discussing after some amount of time) might help.
- Pointing out the behavior as it occurs to help them become aware of what they are doing, bring attention to it, and offer suggestions on how they can modify their behavior.
- Participative: Yes, it allows the team to collaborate Servant: No, it takes too much of the burden on the leader Freedom: No, there needs to be some structure and organization to achieve goals Structural: No, there has to be some flexibility for growth and innovation Transformational: Yes, it is important to lead by inspiring
- Employee absenteeism is when an employee misses work. This can throw off deadlines, leave work pushed to others, and cause disruptions to the flow of work.
- Feeling tired/bored to go into work event with family or friends personal issues late night previously vacation extension
- Recognize their contributions and achievements.
- Recognize the problem and consider the individual employee's issues. Speak to the employee and let them know that you are concerned and help them understand the options available to them (flex work schedule, leave of absence, time off). Have a policy that provides flexibility and allows employees to deal with issues besides sick days.
- Not being taken seriously, not being familiar with events that pre-dates them, and the experience that comes along with it. Being treated like a kid
- The older employee undermines the manager. He must feel like the manager doesn't trust him at doing a job he has been doing for ages. I feel the employee is stuck in his ways and doesn't want to try to change. The employee might be afraid of the manager's changes and feel it will kick him out of a job. He uses his age and experience to shake the confidence of the manger and prove his superiority by calling him laddie and talking about experience.
- I had to manage a team that was all significantly older and more experienced than me. It was challenging to get them to respect my authority and ideas to change processes to build efficiencies. My advice is to be straightforward with your ideas and goals. Ask for opinions but explain that some changes have to happen. Try to collaborate and ask for the older team members' experience to help in that collaboration.
- I have seen a previous manager make a mistake in hiring the wrong person for the team. It has brought down morale and led to a toxic work environment.
- Giving criticism publically- It embarrasses the employee and makes them focus on their shame rather than fixing the issues. Also causes a bad relationship between employee and manager. Inconsistency in treatment- Makes the employee feel the manager doesn't like them or favors someone else. Also causes a bad relationship between employee and manager. Excessive micromanaging- It makes the employee feel that the manager doesn't trust them. Also causes a bad relationship between employee and manager.
- The impact on the employee is it causes them to lose confidence and interest in the project. It undermines the employees' capabilities. The manager focuses so much on micromanaging, they aren't able to be strategic. This is a waste for the business as well because the manager is focusing on small inconsequential details. ultimately an employee that feels undermined, probably won't stick around for long causing problems for the manager and business as they have to rehire and retrain for this position.
- Not providing enough context or background information is an issue sometimes. To improve it I should focus on updating employees with the background info prior to assigning a task. Assigning tasks by email without proving enough details. To improve this, I should suggest a quick call/discussion to introduce a task and then follow up with an email.
- Experience, education, or (related) salary requirements beyond the requirement of the role.
- 1. They feel the candidate will get bored or be dissatisfied with the role and leave. 2. They feel the candidate does not suit the role because they are overqualified. 3. They feel this might cause management issues between the manager and a candidate that is more qualified than them.
- Their experience can bring a lot to the work environment and reduce the amount of time it takes in problem-solving. Overqualified candidates can raise the bar for the entire team to perform better. They can also serve as role models/teachers to other employees.
- Yes, if they are clear on the role, and what's required of them, including what the limitations of the role are.
- Most often the reason an overqualified candidate has been rejected is because of their salary requirements. The company could have benefited from their experience and expertise.
- The second email is ideal because it frames the message positively while being constructive and straightforward about the issue at hand. It also implies a collaborative approach to coming up with a solution.
- Transparent and open communication opens up doors for employees to talk without allowing the issues to become the "elephant in the room" . When a manager uses open dialogues and creates an environment where people feel safe to communicate, he allows an opportunity for these issues to get addressed effectively.
- Yes, I agree. It goes back to the old saying about "Doing unto others" . When a leader walks the talk, employees follow the behaviour they see. So it is important for a leader to behave in the way they wish their leader behaved.
- A leader that inspires while trusting an individual to learn, practice, and fail.
- Disruptions include long meetings, siloed functions, and certain "toxic" individuals. The measures taken include identifying agendas for meetings, and time/attendee limits, encouraging open seating plans and non-work related activities to forge cross-functional bonds, creating safe spaces for open dialogues for individuals and groups.
