Posted on Jul 3, 2015
How can we better mentor our junior personnel?
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Mentor
Professional Development
Mentorship
Posted >1 y ago
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A suggestion I was given when I asked this question to a wise counselor of many in my profession was begin by setting some important ground rules. First discuss what mentoring is not:
parenting/eldering
coaching
befriending....
Secondly discuss what it is-
a relationship where both parties benefit, in which particularly at first, one party seems to clearly have more to offer yet it remains mutually beneficial.
There needs to be mutual respect, candor, thick skin and advice needs to be offered by putting the mentee interests first.
parenting/eldering
coaching
befriending....
Secondly discuss what it is-
a relationship where both parties benefit, in which particularly at first, one party seems to clearly have more to offer yet it remains mutually beneficial.
There needs to be mutual respect, candor, thick skin and advice needs to be offered by putting the mentee interests first.
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The relationship between mentor & mentee has to be both genuine & strategic. I've been fortunate to have great mentors in my military & civilian life. Mentee's need to be mindful of the mentor's time and understand that mentors are not responsible for coming up with solutions to their professional & personal goals or problems. Good military mentor will see value/potential in protégés as people and not force rank as a dictatative tool to guide their protégés. Mentee's need to provide value to their mentors as well. Get to know them personally, suggest ways to help them and never, ever say "can I pick your brain?".
Here's a good article for mentor/mentee's: https://www.amtamassage.org/mentor/Ten-Tips-for-a-Successful-Mentor-Mentee-Relationship.html
Hope this helps!
Here's a good article for mentor/mentee's: https://www.amtamassage.org/mentor/Ten-Tips-for-a-Successful-Mentor-Mentee-Relationship.html
Hope this helps!
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We can better mentor our junior personnel by being better senior personnel. I am still a firm believer that if you set the example and you place the needs of your subordinates above your own you will motivate younger Soldiers to be better. I think the problem with our junior personnel is that they are not stupid and don't blindly follow anyone. They are reading the news, look at Soldier media and watching our leaders and seeing the numerous failures of those at the highest levels or our organization and saying that if they are not doing the right thing then why should I? It is very hard to speak on values,beliefs, and doing the right thing when you see in congruent actions from those who are supposed to set the standard. Just my two cents. Great question!
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There are very few “mentors” in the AF; a couple times a year SNCOs get pulled up to the front office and told they need to be better mentors. They tell their TSgts and SSgts, they give us card and we have to write our mentor’s name as if this will make more mentors, few weeks go by where everyone acts like they care then it gets forgotten till the next time. The AF promotes based off of individual accomplishments, did you get your CCAF? Did you lead that event? Did you get DG? Did you get a 90+ on your PT test? Are you an active member of AFSA/TOP 3? How many hours did you volunteer for? Did you get the TPS reports done in time? Just about every award that matters for an EPR is an individual award and the hard chargers are those that rack up the most individual accomplishments, they don’t have time to mentor. With the new EPR implementation I don’t see very many people putting much more energy than what they already do in mentoring because if you take care of yourself you will promote faster than if you are the guy taking care of everyone. Ya… ya I know there are exceptions but the fact is they AF as created a me first culture.
There needs to be a way to get away from the me first culture and awards we should recognize individual accomplishments, mentorship and group accomplishments equally.
There needs to be a way to get away from the me first culture and awards we should recognize individual accomplishments, mentorship and group accomplishments equally.
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One thing that I think we need to bring back is the 3rd Lt. rank. Back in the days of long stretches of isolation from command, prospective officers were given a trial run as a 3rd Lt. You were shown the ropes by the command staff and was instructed on each position by an officer or senior enlisted man. If at the end of the tour of duty the command staff didn't think you merited a commission, you were out.
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Our Jr members need to have a better understanding of Psychology of Mind Sciences. We live in an era in time where we are not nessessarily worried about cold war politics, were concerned with the next lone wolf. It’s a different culture, a different era. A Holy Jihad is also mentioned to be an “Inner Struggle”, which does not always mean a violent aggression but a type of ware fare we have never seen before. Our Jr members need to be able to understand behavior changes, why they now suddenly have mental cognitive changes they have never experienced before. These changes could be diet changes as to why they now consume more food then they ever did before, or why they may be more irritable or angry, or even sad. These behavior changes can be the result of something more then an individual issue. We know that hypnosis changes behavior, and we have laws that regulate hypnosis. A Military type hypnosis is like an inner struggle, described in a Holy War. We have 22 Veterans commit suicide every day, which is un acceptable. We need our Jr Members with Clergy that understand the dynamics of these issues, and can deal with them. The mind is what we mentor, and one of the current battlefields is within the mind. How can we have psychological war fare and suggest our troops are mentally ill? I thought they are the Best our Nation has?
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Lt Col (Join to see)
Interesting comment. How do we go about educationing them in Mind Sciences? It is more than cognitive ability development, and we devote (and probably don't have a tremendous amount of time to initially do much else) most of our time to getting that 3-level out the door and on the way to a 5-level. How do we in your view better incorporate this sensibility into the profession of arms?
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TSgt Keith Wright
I agree it’s a very difficult issue. Mind Sciences can be something of a periphial subject, like short 5 minute video clips produced and shown on the Military TV network, or at AFEES restraunt areas, or while waiting in lines at different agencies for pay, travel, hospital appointments. Short video clips that capture the attention and convey a meaningful message. Mind sciences can be described in many different aspects and broken down into easy terms for the layperson.
For instance the DC Shooter was complaining about “Microwave Transmissions” and a type of “Telepathy”. What we should know is that “Microwave Transmissions” is from a comic book from the early 60’s. The same with “Psychotronic weapons” which is another comic book from the 60’s. The same is listed under a mock web site made to look official describing Civil Defense weapons and is supposed to be listed under HR 2977 Authored by Sen. Kucinich. However the information is bogus, Sen. Kucinich never wrote any such HR 2977 and HR 2977 has nothing to do with Civil Defense weapons. Which should give us a clue that someone wrote these items and used an old comic book to “Guide” or “Inspire” people to this information, threw some kind of clairvoyant way. These videos should describe what “clairvoyant” means and what is Telepathy, is it the same as telepathy? The videos should describe what causes telepathy, is it religion? Is it a Born less ritual? What are these things and compare these findings with mental health explanations? If our young people understand what is hitting them psychologically then they have a much better chance at recovering their life before they loose it. The other thing is whoever is a comic book fan and has a fascination with civil defense items is screwing with our Airmen, Soldiers, and Marines.
Short Video clips on Hypnosis and why some states developed laws that regulate hypnosis, what is hypnosis, how does it work etc. Is it possible to encourage suicide threw hypnosis? Why and how does hypnosis change behavior? Maybe if this question is posed to a large group maybe someone can come up with a better answer?
Thank you, Keith.
For instance the DC Shooter was complaining about “Microwave Transmissions” and a type of “Telepathy”. What we should know is that “Microwave Transmissions” is from a comic book from the early 60’s. The same with “Psychotronic weapons” which is another comic book from the 60’s. The same is listed under a mock web site made to look official describing Civil Defense weapons and is supposed to be listed under HR 2977 Authored by Sen. Kucinich. However the information is bogus, Sen. Kucinich never wrote any such HR 2977 and HR 2977 has nothing to do with Civil Defense weapons. Which should give us a clue that someone wrote these items and used an old comic book to “Guide” or “Inspire” people to this information, threw some kind of clairvoyant way. These videos should describe what “clairvoyant” means and what is Telepathy, is it the same as telepathy? The videos should describe what causes telepathy, is it religion? Is it a Born less ritual? What are these things and compare these findings with mental health explanations? If our young people understand what is hitting them psychologically then they have a much better chance at recovering their life before they loose it. The other thing is whoever is a comic book fan and has a fascination with civil defense items is screwing with our Airmen, Soldiers, and Marines.
Short Video clips on Hypnosis and why some states developed laws that regulate hypnosis, what is hypnosis, how does it work etc. Is it possible to encourage suicide threw hypnosis? Why and how does hypnosis change behavior? Maybe if this question is posed to a large group maybe someone can come up with a better answer?
Thank you, Keith.
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Lt Col (Join to see) -- Sir, great thread here. I would like to take a less common angle in my response, though I agree with much of what people have said here already. I'd like to point out that it is also important for the junior personnel to be proactive with pursuing mentorship. For example, you are a senior officer, and you have several junior officers under your command one way or another. You are also super busy, and even if you deliberately carve out time to mentor your junior officers, how are you supposed to know who REALLY WANTS that mentorship? Now, if 1 of those junior officers came to you and said ,"Sir, I'd like to get on your calendar and talk about my career progression, specifically topics X, Y, and Z and the options I have" -- then the whole interaction becomes much more efficient. As a senior officer yourself, your whole command under you can't fairly expect for you to be a mind reader with infinite time for mentorship. Just making the point.
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Lt Col (Join to see)
Good point. As your become more senior, you do need to balance every responsibility you are assigned. True, you do become busy, but we need to become proactive from both perspectives. Sheer numbers dictate that the effort is unequal towards any one individual, so making sure that there is an environment where a junior enlisted or officer can respectfully engage with senior leadership is key. I honestly try to be approachable and engage in conversation outside of what our jobs require us to do. It has made for memorable exchanges for the majority of folks I've had the privilege of serving with, and I hope I've presented some of the qualities of what a good officer should be. Thanks for your response!
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Mentor/junior personnel is a very fine line. I have seen mentors act as if they have nothing to learn from new ideas junior personnel have to offer, instead of hearing out the ideas and pulling from their experience to discuss from experience rather than just disregard. I have also seen junior personnel move forward with shock and awe ideas, not pausing to think a mentor might be able to offer an opinion or a path less resistant.
For me it is all about being open to what ANY person has to say and being willing to explore new ideas while keeping within the rules and regulations on both sides of the relationship. I truly believe I have more to learn from every person I meet than I will ever know.
For me it is all about being open to what ANY person has to say and being willing to explore new ideas while keeping within the rules and regulations on both sides of the relationship. I truly believe I have more to learn from every person I meet than I will ever know.
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Maybe it was the unit I was in supporting an MOS school, but mentoring just didnt happen, everything was reactionary, someone does something wrong, they get hammered otherwise it was business as usual, I struggled trying to understand what was wanted of me beyond generalities and there was a lot of contradiction between company level command and section level, there was a lot of contradictory information in general. While it was nice being in a unit that worked mon-friday 8-4, at times i wished i had been in a more organized place. sorry for rambling.
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