Mentoring from the ‘HART’

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”1667″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeIn”][vc_column_text css_animation=”fadeIn” css=”.vc_custom_1500495208731{margin: 0px !important;border-width: 0px !important;padding: 0px !important;}”]By Staff Sgt. Michael Davis Jr., Maryland National Guard Public Affairs Office[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css_animation=”fadeIn”]Command Chief Master Sgt. Glenn D. Hart, senior enlisted advisor for the Maryland National Guard shares his experience and knowledge on mentorship with Soldiers and Airmen in five phases.

Mentor: An experienced and trusted advisor.

“When you mentor someone, you’re like cloning them,” Hart said. That being said, Soldiers and Airmen, make you sure you are following the Seven Army Values and the Air Force Core Values when mentoring for a more vigilant MDNG, state and nation.

Before you take a step toward looking for a mentor, you should:

• Seek someone who works in your desired career field or has your desired status in life.
• Conduct a self-evaluation. This step can be executed before or during the initial meeting between the protégé and mentor.

“The first thing I normally do when someone ask me to be their mentor is tell them to bring me their bio,” Hart said. “When you write your military bio, you’re really doing a self evaluation. You’re breaking down your past and your present. So you can say, well, I didn’t deploy, I need a deployment or I need my degree, or I need this level of experience.”

The protégé could determine their strengths and weaknesses by reading through their bio and determining what they have accomplished and what they haven’t. “What I’ll do is, through networking, pair them up with someone who can help them in their weak spots,” Hart said.

Hart then said once he learns his protégé’s strengths, he can now place them in the seat to teach someone else. Self-evaluation is the first step toward mentorship, but it will help you learn more about yourself and likely to lead you to a productive relationship with a mentor.

The protégé and the mentor relationship:

Both parties win if they communicate and work as a team.

Communication is the key to a healthy and constructive relationship with your mentor. Hart suggests that there should be constant communication between the protégé and the mentor. Communication may not be face-to-face, but both parties should agree on a system that doesn’t conflict with their work or
family schedule.

Hart also said that the mentor should give homework assignments to the protégé that aims them towards a particular goal. Just as the mentor needs to be proactive in developing the young Soldier or Airman, that protégé needs to be serious as well and complete the assignments for their own self-development.

The mentor wants to teach while the protégé desires to learn; both parties win if they practice communication and work as a team.

Your Accountability Partner:

Seek encouragement and inspiration when aiming for a specific goal

Find someone on your level who you can motivate and whom you can seek motivation from. Hart said you and your peer, or accountability partner, should be motivating each other and bouncing ideas off of one another. Seek someone who serves as an encourager for bad days.

“You’re going to have good days and bad days and it’s nice to have that support group,” Hart said.

Taking advice from inspirational speaker, John C. Maxwell, Hart said he finds an enthusiastic service member when he feels he needs some encouragement. “I walk around the armory and I find some young person that’s got stars in her eyes who says ‘One day I’m going to make E-7 or I’m going on this deployment,’ they make me feel good,” Hart said.

You should seek a peer or accountability partner who is an encourager.

The Mentor:

Mentorship is a team effort that improves the organization

Your life doesn’t just center on your work or personal goals. You should have at least one mentor for every function of your lifestyle. “I say three mentors because you’re going to get different perspectives,” Hart said.

Multiple mentors will keep you well balanced in your goals. Those goals may be excelling in your civilian job, family and school or simply excelling in three different areas of the
Army/Air Force.

“They [Soldier/Airman] should have a strategic view of what’s going on and how their specific MOS or AFSC [Air Force Specialty Code] plays a big picture to get the mission done,”
Hart said.

Mentorship is a team effort and the mission is to not only improve themselves, but their organization as well. Mentorship should act as a succession of development amongst the Soldiers and Airmen in the MDNG. The one being helped today should aspire to become the helper for tomorrow. Hart’s method of connecting mentors to network becomes a cycle and an equation for success. A developed Service member plus another developed Service member is likely to equal to a developed Army and Air Force.

Reverse Mentorship:

You’re never too old to be mentored and don’t be afraid to be mentored by a subordinate

Seek help, even if it’s from someone of younger age. John F. Welch, Jr., chief executive officer of General Electric from 1981-2001, is said to have discovered the method of reverse mentoring. He describes it as the younger generation teaching the older generation. According to Technopedia, reverse mentoring refers to an initiative in which older executives are paired with and mentored by younger employees on topics such as technology, social media, and
current trends.

“That [reverse mentorship] is a term used in the civilian world,” Hart said. Hart mentioned that he read an article about this method and how people are using it in civilian organizations. To him, what he read made sense and he decided to put it to the test in the MDNG.

After practicing some of the things he learned, Hart realized that it works. You should not allow pride to get the best of you when seeking mentorship. “You’re never too old to be mentored,” Hart said. and don’t be afraid to be mentored by a subordinate,” Hart said.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]