Laura Francis's posts

Laura Francis is Chief Knowledge Officer at River. Laura joined River in 2000 and became the company’s voice to the market straightaway. Her blogs often focus on how mentees and mentors can get more from their relationships and on ideas for mentoring administrators to use as they run their programs. She also uses her life as a mom to a child with special needs as inspiration for many of her writings.
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My Mentoring Mantra

I have many mentors and supporters in my life as a mom to a child with special needs. I also have a mentoring mantra that we can all use: I do not have to do this alone.

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Mentoring Buzzwords

Mentoring software. Conversations. Relationships. Diversity. Leadership. Onboarding. Mentoring buzzwords abound, but there's only one word search puzzle. Can you find all of the words in River's ...

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How to Set Priorities in Mentoring Relationships

Don't get overwhelmed in your mentoring relationship. Here are four steps you can take to set priorities for your mentoring goals.

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Encourage More Female Leadership by Using Mentoring

More women in leadership roles can boost your bottom line, positively impact your corporate culture, and make you stand out as a stellar employer. Learn how Sodexo did it via mentoring.

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Do Generational Differences Matter in Mentoring?

Are our ideas about mentoring tied to our generational identities? Or is that just an easy stereotype?

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Is It Time to Say Goodbye to Your Mentor?

All good things must come to an end...even your mentoring relationship. Try these tips when it's time to say goodbye to your mentor.

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Expressing Gratitude in Mentoring

Taking the time to explicitly state why you are grateful to be in this mentoring relationship with your mentee or mentor can be a great conversation starter. Here are some tips to get you going.

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Which Mentor Matching Option Is Right for You?

When you’re designing your mentoring program, one of the biggest factors you will need to determine is how you want mentees and mentors to be matched. Is self-directed or administrator matching ...

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Mentoring Programs Are Not One Size Fits All

After nearly 20 years in the mentoring software business, here are three lessons we've learned with our clients on how to make mentoring programs successful. They are not one-size-fits-all!

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5 Mentoring Activities You Can Try Today

Are things feeling stale in your mentoring relationship? Are you feeling stuck? Have you run out of ideas? Try these five mentoring activities to bring some zip back into your learning relationship.

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Do More with Mentoring

From mentees and mentors to administrators and companies themselves, we see the value that mentoring can bring to each group. How can you do more with mentoring?

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What Does Success Look Like to You?

Success looks different for each of us, and it can even look different for us as we grow and change. Here is what success in mentoring could look like.

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How to Mentor Introverts

Not everyone is comfortable networking or finding a mentor. Yet mentoring can be a great development tool for everyone, even introverts. Administrators can try these three things to get more ...

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Mentee and Mentor Training and Services Set River Apart

As a mentoring solution, River stands out from the crowd because of expert consulting, training, and support services. Read more here.

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What Is Mentoring?

People often talk about mentors as their coaches, guides, teachers, advocates, and advisors. This begs the question: What is mentoring?

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5 Questions All Mentees Should Ask

Mentoring can sometimes feel overwhelming, especially for mentees as they embark on a mentoring relationship and try to figure out what areas they want to focus on, what goals they want to set, ...

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Sage Advice for Mentors

Most people feel it is a great privilege to be asked to be someone's mentor. It can also be a little humbling and overwhelming at times to be looked upon as someone who might have the answers to ...

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Don’t Let Mentoring Just Become a Fad

Mentoring should not be just a fad. Here are three tips to help you make your mentoring program a staple of your organization.

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Mentoring Makes Employees Happy and Productive

Mentoring can be a great equalizer. Access to leaders, knowledge sources, and collaboration opportunities are critical. Learn more here.

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Reverse Mentoring: 10 Tips for Making It Work

If you want your reverse mentoring program to be a success, here are 10 how-to tips that can help ensure your mentees and mentors discover the value and joy of mentoring.

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Keys to Creating a Mentoring Culture

Design the mentoring culture you want! Here are three things to get you started...beyond just launching a mentoring program.

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Make Mentoring Conversations Meaningful

Hooray!  You’ve found a mentee or mentor and are officially part of a mentoring relationship.  Now what?  Now comes the work...

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Three Mentoring Lessons from Hamilton

Three sentiments I uncovered in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s brilliant award-winning musical Hamilton that can apply to the practice of mentoring.

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The Mentoring Journey

Mentoring is a journey. Once we embrace the fact that our mentoring relationships may move us in unexpected directions, we can begin to explore some of the wonderful and amazing insights, ...

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Four Phrases Every Mentoring Relationship Needs

If you want to build a more genuine, caring, and meaningful mentoring relationship, then you need to know the four phrases that can help you get there.

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Be Brave in Mentoring

Having the courage to admit your flaws, identify your weaknesses, pursue your hidden dreams, and tackle the things that scare you most can take a mentoring relationship to an entirely different level.

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How Do I Design a Mentoring Program?

We hear from people every day who need to start or expand a mentoring program, but who aren't sure of what steps to take. Here is the answer.

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Modern Mentoring 2.0: The New Way to Run Mentoring Programs

Four lessons we've learned in the past few years when it comes to modern mentoring and running a business e-mentoring program.

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Does Mentoring Software Make Mentoring Impersonal?

At its core, mentoring is about learning from the experience of others.  But does mentoring lose something when software is introduced into the mix?

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Retain Employees Through Mentoring Programs

Mentoring and retention go hand-in-hand. Learn how mentoring software can positively impact your employee retention efforts in this blog.

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So what are you waiting for? Contact River today to schedule a demo of our mentoring software.