Mentorship is an often mentioned topic. Mentorship means different things to different individuals. From my perspective I would evaluate leaders I worked with, peers, subordinates and seniors and determine if what they said matched their behaviors. If so I would then parse out those that I respected professionally and as a person and do my best to emulate their example. I would contend that this was useful also for those that might have flaws, but excelled in areas that might serve as a model to be followed. I count few that I had a dialogue with, asked advice of and think that it might have been better had I engaged more with my mentors.
How about you? What worked for you, and how do you think of the mentorship process? Always interested in hearing other perspectives.
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2 comments:
I don’t believe you need to emulate the traits of an individual for that person to be considered a mentor. Mentors can be sought after for very specific needs. My vision of this is Hannibal Lector Your personality and personal beliefs may lie in direct conflict with that of the one you chose as your mentor. The fact that this person retains knowledge on the specific problem or aspiration you have makes him attractive. To emulate the traits of an individual whose behaviors match what they say creates a very small pool of potential candidates. This is especially true when you narrow the search for a particular career path. I believe it is much more advantageous to choose mentors for specific moments in time for specific requirements.
I believe if we take a step back we would discover that we do a better job of mentoring others than choosing mentors for ourselves.
The mentor selection process is one of the most overlooked aspect of developing leaders. As we progress in our military careers we need to be cognizant of the process and need to find and maintain good mentors. The higher in rank and position an officer attains, the harder it becomes to find an good mentor and the smaller the available poor actually becomes. Who does the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs ask for advice? Officers get very little guidance or training on how to find a good mentor. I decided I needed a mentor when I found an issue about my own career progression that I couldn't find reliable answers for. I decided it was time to find a mentor who could help guide me and who wasn't in my chain of command. This senoir, objective advisor gave me honest and frank advice for my career progression and helped me plot the "way ahead". I think the Army would be well served to spend some effort developing a mentorship program for application at the early stages of an officer's career. After an officer serves for several years he/she may then select another mentor based on personal experiences and traits. This is something that could easily be implemented today that would greatly help mold young officers and establish the program.
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