Many young association professionals would benefit from a mentor relationship, but a good mentor is hard to find.

To make finding one easier, LinkedIn recently introduced a  service that helps people looking for a mentor find one in their field. “Initially, LinkedIn has tapped a hand-selected list of potential mentors, who will come up as a list, Tinder-style, to people who indicate that they are interested in getting some mentoring, so that a match might get made,” reports Ingrid Lunden in a post for TechCrunch. “Mentors are given options about who they would prefer to mentor, be it people in their first- and second-degree networks, in their region or their former school.”

Mentors are handpicked for now, but LinkedIn plans to eventually roll out the service to everyone. Once a mentor and mentee are matched, they can begin to message each other, and either side can cut off contact at any point.

Please, Take a Vacation

Vacations have become counter-cultural within our busy workplaces. You have a responsibility to reverse the trend https://t.co/odWDaCY0QR

— Harvard Business Review (@HarvardBiz) August 4, 2017

We’re sadly approaching the end of summer vacation season. Have you made sure you and your employees are taking advantage of your PTO?

An Harvard Business Review article says that vacations are good for workplace productivity, but Americans are taking less time off than ever. Why is that? Write Liane Davey points to one study that reveals that employees worry their bosses will think less of them if they take time off.

That means bosses should do everything they can to encourage employees to take a vacation. The article recommends making the business case to your employees about the benefits of vacation, including improved “reaction time, creativity, and engagement.”

Also, set up your workplace to make it less arduous for people to be away from the office. “Over the long term, establishing backups for each role and codifying processes through knowledge management make it easier for any one person to be away with the confidence that their job will be in good hands,” writes Davey.

Other Links of Note

Do you use WordPress.com Business to power your site? WordPress just announced that they will be offering built-in support for third-party plugins and themes.

Be mindful of your workplace. Beth’s Blog shares the benefits of cultivating your company culture.

What keeps members engaged for the long haul? Smooth the Path reveals the reasons behind why some long-term members choose to stay with your organization.

(via LinkedIn)