[July 24, 2017] An interesting development in the area of leadership growth in the U.S. military occurred last week when a gathering of colonels and navy/coast guard captains was convened to discuss how to more effectively develop leaders. For the uninitiated in military affairs, there has been a wide-ranging dialogue on matters related to the criticality (or not) of mentors and their overall value to leadership.
In the commercial world the issue is always on Return on Investment (ROI) and the U.S. military has the same concerns about mentors. Mentors are long recognized as one of the requirements for any leader to be successful. The discussion among those colonels was about the genuine effectiveness of mentors on the future of all military service men and women.
Studies conducted in association with The National Mentor Partnership show that one in three young people will grow up without a mentor and that it has powerful positive effects on young people in all aspects of life; personal, academic, and professional situations.1 To illustrate, young adults with mentors had a 55% greater chance to enroll in college and 130% more likelihood to hold leadership positions.2, 3
One part of this senior-level military gathering revolved around the idea that mentoring is necessary now more than ever because of the decline in parenting and centrality of family life. Others stated that the changing social environment demands it. Regardless of the reason why, it was clear to all present that good mentors make a valuable contribution to anyone but also to the smartest and brightest; whether they be children or adults, leaders or followers.
While the importance is recognized that a good mentor can make a big difference, an nation-wide effort is now underway to better train and assist mentors. While that effort is far reaching and encompassing there is no standard or government-backed information center that helps. Perhaps that is best since each aspect of a person’s life differs from all others; each unique individual requires unique help.
There are many requirements the gathering of military leaders discussed that day. I covered ten of them in an earlier post (see link here). The minimums like building trust, providing guidance, providing networks, are only a few that have been discussed. Those colonels might be onto something that will improve their leaders. Next for them should be a practical plan of action.
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- http://www.mentoring.org/why-mentoring/mentoring-impact/
- I’m not sure how they get 130% but that is what they report at The National Mentor Partnership with the same reference as above.
- A number of mentoring organizations have been created nationally over the past few years. One of them, the National Mentoring Resource Center, provides free technical assistance to youth mentoring programs. Others providing resources include Management Mentors, the U.S. Department of Education GEAR UP program, and Youth.gov just to name a few.