The 2-way street of mentorship

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Scott Warner
  • 386th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron commander
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  When I was a young lieutenant, I had no idea what I was getting into when I joined the Air Force.

I was not a military brat, nor had I had any experience with the military other than my college ROTC. I was assigned a sponsor, who did a great job of getting me settled at the base and into my daily routine. After the first six months in, I was comfortable in the job, but not as comfortable with the Air Force.

I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be doing. Should I pursue a master's degree, get my professional engineer rating, or volunteer for deployments?

It felt like everyone else knew what they were doing and what they were to do next. I was uncomfortable and unsure of what I should be doing, so I began to ask questions of the major who was my supervisor. He took pity on the poor lost lieutenant and introduced me to what I now know to be mentorship.

To me, mentorship is a powerful type of relationship. It is more than that of a student/teacher relationship that is more of a one-way relationship where the teacher teaches and the student learns. Mentorship is more of a two-way relationship; a more appropriate example for me comes from the karate dojo.

When I was studying karate in Hawaii, we were required to learn the different levels and relationships in the dojo. The instructor, who in my case was a seventh-degree black belt, is called a sensei. The senior students in the class, normally the brown and lesser black belts, were called sempai. The junior students in the class, all the lower belts from white through green, were called kohei.

As a shodan, I was considered a sempai in the class. Of course, the other sempai in the class were considered to be my peers, much as you would consider the Airmen in similar ranks. The relationship between a sensei and a sempai was more than just that of student/teacher; a sempai is expected to do more than just learn. They have responsibilities to help with the class, to teach the kohei as well as pursuing their own learning. In my case, I spent at least as much time teaching other students their basic katas and positions as I did learning my new ones.

Mentorship is similar to that. It is not just a matter of receiving, it is a matter of giving as well.

Even if you are the chief of staff of the Air Force or the youngest airman basic in the Air Force, you have people around you that are more experienced or less experienced. Mentorship is the responsibility of each and every person to learn from those more experienced than you and to help teach those less experienced than you. Mentorship also implies a special relationship, a personal one that is similar to friendship or that of an older brother/sister to a younger sibling. In the Air Force, we refer to it as the wingman concept.

Having a mentor senior to you is an opportunity.

As a military member interested in your own career, a mentor offers you the opportunity to benefit from someone else's experience. Ask them questions, get their advice and use them as a sounding board for your future plans, whatever you want advice on. And the real beauty of it is, you don't have to have just one mentor. You can have as many as you want. In fact, it can be a real benefit to get the viewpoints of multiple people when you are looking to make an informed decision. Seek those out who you have respect for, who set an example you identify with, or that are on a path you are interested in traveling down. Engage them in conversation, ask their advice and you are well on you way to cultivating a new mentor.

Being a mentor to those junior to you is a responsibility.

As you progress through your military career, you acquire knowledge. I'm not just talking about the kind of knowledge you get from attending school and training; I'm referring to what my Dad calls the "School of Hard Knocks." A lot of this knowledge is taken for granted. It seems so basic or maybe the importance fades as the years go by. However, to an Airman junior to you, this might be crucial information that can help them make a touch decision or resolve a difficult situation.

As stewards of this information, you have a responsibility to assist your more junior members by allowing them to learn from your experiences, both positive and negative. Find those more junior to you who could benefit from your experiences and offer them the opportunity to learn from them. Not only will you be helping them, but also you will find it personally rewarding as well.

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