How can we better mentor our junior personnel?

I have dealt with this recently. I would say that you have to be engaged and make time to mentor your junior personnel. It shouldn't be viewed as a burden. It should be a time that planned and well thought out. Not just a second thought.

Lt Col (Join to see) ... by actually caring... walking the walk... not just talking the talk. Many leaders talk a good game... but many are also more concerned about themselves and their job, promotion, etc... Be a good leader and mentor means genuinely caring about your subordinate leaders and making it your mission to help them achieve their maximum potential. It is not about you, as you know, it about the team.

The first thing that needs to happen is for folks to stop forcing themselves on others as a mentor or even worse.....having mentorship programs in which individuals are assigned as mentor.

A mentor must be sought out by the individual being mentored the relationship cannot start in any other way.

The most important thing us "mentors" can do is realize the just because we are the command chief, first shirt, sq sup, sec NCOIC, etc.....we may not be the right mentor for everyone.....and if/when we identify someone in need of assistance/guidance that is not responding to us we need to help them to find someone to whom they can respond and have this type of relationship.

Mentor-ship is the responsibility of senior leaders - the commander and senior NCO's. In my view its a requirement of good leadership. I was effectively mentored by an E-7 when I was a 2Lt - I knew then to listen more than talk. That experience was the best mentoring I had, although I had few mentors since. Had I known to find a good mentor and sponsor as a company grade or field grade officer maybe I would have risen higher in my career - or not, who knows.

I think people underestimate the value of the casual conversation. My best mentorship experiences all occurred at my first NTC rotation. I was brand new to my unit (had just arrived from BOLC), and I was pushed into a battle captain slot where I had no idea what I was doing. My OC, a Canadian colonel, spent a fair amount of time chewing my ass on day one, so day two, I made a new set of mistakes. After ENDEX, he pulled me aside and we talked about his experience running a TOC in Afghanistan. Over the next two weeks, the battalion XO and S3 both took time to talk to me about the best ways to battle track, about the command relationship between battalion and the companies (and most importantly, about how the staff is there to help the companies, not the other way around).

The thing about these conversations was, it wasn't a bunch of field grade officers sitting down and lecturing brand new 2LT Reese on how to be a good battle captain. It was someone with experience, talking one on one to someone who didn't have it about things that they had done or seen. Too often, mentorship looks like the battalion commander calling all of the lieutenants in once a month and giving a lecture on Army property management. Which is a fine topic, certainly, and something we should know, but it's impersonal and impractical to teach that way. The best lessons are the ones that come in those five minute lulls during field problems when the senior has time to grab a cup of coffee and shoot the shit with the junior. That's when we're most honest, most receptive, and most topical.

That said, I think junior personnel have an responsibility to seek opportunities for mentorship. Many of us don't, because (in my experience) no one wants to spend extra time talking to the boss, or the bosses boss, or the staff. We want to spend time with our guys, training, or getting the admin work done without anyone bothering us. It's too easy to forget that most of the people in charge have really done this before, and are doing things the way they are for a reason even when it doesn't make sense at our level. Real conversations are what remind junior personnel of those truths, and what helps them learn the lessons that follow from them.

Engage us in basic conversation. Be transparent with orders and commands and be able to answer the whys when appropriate. Show appropriate respects and just treat us like the people we are.

You don't have to be our friend. I'm just looking for someone with sound judgement who will give me honest, candid, and useful advice for my career/life when I'm looking for a mentor. I need someone who will tell me what I NEED to hear, not what I WANT to hear, but can word it tactfully.

Very good question indeed. Until people begin to treat each other with respect this will be a difficult task. Gone are the days of do as I say and not as I do. Also gone are the days of blind followership. Certain careerfields still need the airmen that can take orders and react in a quick manner, but most airmen in garrison do not. First you must get to know your people and find out what makes them tick. I know they teach this in PME, but I am always surprised when I meet NCOs and SNCOs that don't care and the Airmen can tell. Every generation of Airmen have come in being treated like they are stupid. These kids coming in now are smart, but socially awkward and somtimes communication is not their strong suit. As leaders it is up to us to take the time to learn them and figure out how to get them to function. It is our fault that the enlisted force has degraded as much as it has. I have faith in the future. We didn't let the AF fail and neither will they.

Realize mentoring is not a straight 1:1 ratio. It's not a singular relationship.

When I was a young troop, I had DOZENS of mentors, from the guys in my shop, to the company clerk, to the Adj to the SgtMaj to the Chaplain, and that's not including all the other NCOs which I have forgotten since then.

Some mentoring sessions were 15-60 minutes. Some were years. I remember talking to a Recon Gunny out at my first CAX. He took few minutes and explained how radio signals "stretched" during sunset, and he was stirring up some field spaghetti. I couldn't tell you his name to save my life now, but I remember that.

In my humble opinion we need to show them that we care and there is not an invisible line that separates NCO's and SNCO's from the Junior Enlisted. We need to help people and we need to be there to help people when they need help. We need to provide leadership and there needs to be a system that allows safe reporting of those in leadership who do not lead.

It might be taboo to say but during my 4 years (and still today because I keep in touch) my office had one of the lowest morale rates polled on base. We had the correct leadership but none of them we're being leaders. It was terrible. By the time I had left we already had several of the junior enlisted come and going from Mental health and another than actually tried suicide.

The problem with the Air Force as I see it, as someone who just left, and was a junior member, is the division of the Junior Members and the NCO's. What happened to that old mantra: one team, one fight? That's where we need to emphasize. We need teamwork, comaderie, and we need all levels of the Force to care about each other.

Another story real quick for that last point about all levels caring about each other. I respected no person in my chain of command more than our Chief, the hospital administrator, who went out of his way to shake your hand when he saw you regardless of how much he outranked you, went out of his duties to ensure the airman in the dorms complied with regluation but also had a safe and working living space, and the man you could go speak to at anytime for any reason...even if it was just to say hello and talk about the weather. He was a former MTI, scary as hell if angered, as friendly as can be if acting as a mentor or even as a fellow airman. If we had leaders like that we'd be perfect.

Thank you for asking a real question rather than something that is somewhat sensationalist and inflammatory.

I think mentoring is the perfect term as that what's needed, mentoring. Good leaders serve as role models and find time to include junior personnel in the planning phases when possible. Two way communication can be extremely effective and can increase mission success.