Category Archives: Career advancement

This shot was taken in honor of one of the people in the group who visited me in Ottawa this week from The West Indies.

They were with me to learn about how to improve service delivery, and, at the beginning of the session, technology was the first thing on their minds. 

Success! By the end, technology was the last thing that they listed when preparing to improve service delivery. Not bad for a bunch who represented the IT department.

Room at the top for the people with the white hats is getting scarce as the work force ages. Everyone wants a white hat and fewer people are willing to get their hands dirty. Meanwhile, the trend towards a flatter management structure continues. This reduces the need for white hats even more. What is a seasoned worker to do for advancement if there are no more ladders to climb? How does one increase their value? Your primary goal should be to move away from work that can easily be outsourced or automated and move towards activities that are not easily commoditized. Organizations need smart people who can shorten the time to achieve objectives, not simply good workers who can easily be replaced.

“Wayne McKinnon has been certified in the Mentor Mastery Program because of his outstanding ability to help people move to work of higher value. Wayne is one of less than twenty five people in the world, and one of few in Canada that are part of this program. Wayne is the only resource in Canada who deals with the unique challenges faced by technical people who want to maximize their potential Alan Weiss explains.

The Mentor Program is intended to significantly increase the success of consulting service providers. It is directed at all providers of professional consulting services who wish to create greater value for their clients.

Weiss had set up the Mentor Program in 1996. Since then, he had assisted more than 700 consultants. Wayne himself had worked with Alan Weiss since 2001. A significant part of Wayne's success in creating results for his clients was based directly on this co-operation. 

In addition to the direct assistance provided by Wayne, the program offers membership in an international network of several hundred colleagues. Each mentee is given access to Alan Weiss’ private consultants’ forum on the Internet known as “Alan’s Forums” where participants provide selective advice to one another. Within this global network that extends from Canada via Europe and Asia to New Zealand professionals are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

As of this writing, Wayne has only two more spots open until the next term for new mentees who want to work with him.

About the program