Mentoring in the Army Medical Department: advice for senior leaders

The purpose of this article is to provide suggestions about mentoring for the senior AMEDD leadership that I have gleaned through ongoing research and personal experience, as both a mentor and a protégé. Key points include resisting the temptation to initiate mandatory mentoring that forces junior and senior officers into mentoring pairs. Since mentoring is so very important, it should be clearly articulated in AMEDD vision statements. Senior AMEDD leaders should promote and encourage mentoring whenever they can by being strong champions for mentorship and sharing their own mentoring stories. The establishment of a reward system for mentoring may inspire more senior officers to become effective mentors and show that the AMEDD truly values mentoring. Identifying critical times for mentoring in the careers of junior officers will assist in the development and retention of these future AMEDD leaders. Mentors must be trained if they are to be effective in mentoring and better prepared to develop their own personal style of mentorship. Providing resources to mentors, most notably time, is critical to ensure that mentoring opportunities are made available. Periodic feedback from those being mentored is essential to be sure that the junior officers are getting what they need. When effective mentoring is taking place, senior leaders should stay out of the way and let the process unfold. Finally, the senior AMEDD leadership should be perpetual students of the evolving field of mentoring in order to guarantee that our junior officers are being properly groomed to one day take the reins of AMEDD leadership.