Mary J. Anderson

How did you find out about Mind Tools?

I honestly don't remember. I've been an active member of Mind Tools for about seven years.

What made you join Mind Tools?

Mind Tools is my "go-to" resource for the numerous projects that I have completed in past organizations and am completing in my current role as Training and Development Manager.

How often do you use Mind Tools?

I check for resources and tools at least three times a week.

Why is Mind Tools useful?

There are so many tools and resources available on a myriad of topics from mentoring and giving feedback to leading others and delegating. I especially like the bite-sized training resources. I've used the delegating training and time management training recently with great success--huge time savings and economical to use these resources, rather than creating from scratch, or paying for an "off-the-shelf" product.

What's your favorite thing about Mind Tools?

There are a lot of things that I really like about Mind Tools, but if I were to pick one, I'd say, my favorite is the bite-sized training resources.

What areas of Mind Tools do you find most useful?

In addition to the bite-sized training resources, I find the various templates useful. I'm currently using the mentoring agreement template (with some tweaks) for our Summer internship program.

What areas of Mind Tools do you spend the most time on?

Where I spend most of my time currently is the leadership skill area. I am developing a leadership curriculum for my current employer and I find that these resources have helped me structure a program to include pre-, in-class, and post-activities.

What is your advice for someone thinking about joining Mind Tools?

Be committed to using the tool every day so that they can see the "real" value of Mind Tools; in my opinion, it takes a few weeks of exploring the site daily to really understand the many benefits/resources that are available.

Would you recommend Mind Tools to a friend?

I would absolutely recommend Mind Tools to a friend and have. When you have a broad range of responsibilities, as I have, Mind Tools is a "go to" composite of resources on any topic about the employee life-cycle, from recruiting to retiring. The resources are easy to find, which is a huge time saver, rather than searching endlessly for resources on the internet. And, the monthly fee for membership is so affordable.

What are your aspirations for the future?

To always be passionate about the work that I do and to do it for a company that appreciates it.

What is your advice for anyone starting out in their career?

I'd advise to network, network, network with others in the industry (e.g. Learning and Development), read, research and learn as much as possible so that they have a broad knowledge base about what the industry is and the opportunities that are available.