1. Mentoring Our Members A Human Resources Directorate Program
Commodore Robert Smekta
Deputy Director
Commodore Sigurd Murphy
Assistant National Commodore, FORCECOM

2. What is Mentoring?
Mentoring is a traditional method for orienting and training those new to the Coast Guard Auxiliary and a valuable means for supporting the development of all members to keep them involved.
Individuals who share knowledge,
experiences, and skills to benefit
someone else provide valuable
service to all involved.

3. Who is a Mentor ?
A person within an organization who has the knowledge and skill to provide counsel and guidance.
A mentor relationship is one where the outcome of the relationship is expected to benefit all parties in the relationship for personal growth and goal achievement.
A Mentor extends a helping
hand to those that want and
need assistance.

4. Who is the Mentee?
The role that a less experienced Auxiliary Member assumes when working with a mentor.
The role requires and assumes a willingness to actively work with and to learn from the experience and wisdom of the Mentor.

5. How Does the Mentoring Process Work?
A developmental process in which a more experienced Auxiliary member commits to working and learning together with a less experienced member for the purpose of professional development.
The mentoring process includes a series of phases in which the Mentor's leadership of the
process is adapted to the developing
strengths and changing needs of the
mentee.

6. Mentoring Relationship
The developmental relationship of a Mentor and Mentee that is characterized by confidentiality, trust, caring, and mutual support and challenge for growth.
The mentoring relationship creates the necessary context of safety and confidence for the Mentor and Mentee to take the risks of trying new work strategies and of learning
in front of each other.
This context is necessary for accelerated
professional growth.

7. Formal Mentoring An agreed to beginning and end.
A method for no fault termination.
A formal matching of the Mentor(s) and Mentee; and,
Agreed to goals, objectives and/or checkpoints.

8. Informal Mentoring
This partnership usually occurs when one Auxiliary member (the Mentee) seeks another for advice or to be their guide. It can also occur when a person (the Mentor) reaches out to someone they know could benefit from their experience. These relationships tend to
grow over a long period of time and are
effective and rewarding.

9. Auxiliary National Mentoring Program
The Auxiliary uses the applicable portions of the Coast Guard Mentoring Program, COMDTINST (series).
The intent of the Program is to help
all Auxiliary members become more
Involved thus creating a cadre of
future leaders, staff, and engaged
members resulting in higher mission
accomplishment and retention.

10. Mentoring
Mentoring is an inherent responsibility of leadership and the Coast Guard expects that Auxiliary leaders will ensure the Auxiliary National Mentoring Plan is in place for all members.
Every Mentor should work with their Mentee to create and use an Individual Development Plan that outlines expectations and feedback. Usually, most mentoring is informal, related to day-to-day guidance for current activities.
Leaders will ensure that members are mentored
to achieve the maximum benefit from the energy
and time devoted by the Mentor(s).

11. Responsibilities
All Coast Guard active duty, reservists, Auxiliarists, and
civilian employees are highly encouraged to use the mentoring program as a method for increasing job satisfaction, professional development and advancement.
However, while leaders are responsible to utilize Mentoring, each member is ultimately responsible for his or her own professional development
and advancement; participation
in mentoring is voluntary.

12. Roles and Responsibility
The Role of the Mentee is that of:
The Learner
The Planner
The Communicator
The Driver
The Role of the Mentor is that of:
The Teacher
The Guide
The Counselor
The Challenger

13. Benefits of Mentoring

14. Benefits of Mentoring
Mentoring is a partnership where both partners learn and grow.
For the Mentee it:
Helps show how to set and pursue goals more effectively
Helps create plans to reduce distractions that interfere
Helps understand the mission of Auxiliary program areas and why our work matters
For the Mentor it:
Can renew enthusiasm
Demonstrates that mentoring helps retention and building on the future
As the Mentee increases knowledge and the ability to improve professionally, so does the Mentor
Both learn there is more than one way to get something accomplished
Increases vertical communication
Increases cross-functional communication

15. How Do I Get Started?

16. Successful Mentoring Partnership
To have a successful mentoring partnership, it has to have:
Clarity of Purpose
Explicit Expectations
Commitment
Respect and Appreciation of Differences
Confidentiality and Trust

17. What Makes a Good Match
Mentors and Mentees who are very similar in knowledge and personality may not result in the best match.
The best matches are often where there are key differences between the participants.
Often the differences offer the greatest potential for learning for all participants.
Besides having the needed knowledge and skill, the Mentor must be patient and personable.
The Mentee must have the desire to learn, grow professionally and be responsive to the Mentor’s impute.

18. How to find a mentor First: Mentee sets preliminary Mentoring Goals
Second: Mentee determines their ideal mentor
Third: Mentee creates a list of potential mentors
Fourth: Mentee select five potential candidates
Fifth: Mentee, with the concurrence of their unit leader,
arranges meetings with their top five choices
Sixth: Mentee selects one or more Mentors
Seventh: Mentoring process begins

19. Mentor’s Initial contact with Mentee
First: Clarify your mentoring goals
Second: Explore time commitment
Third: Determine Mentee’s goals
Fourth: State your willingness to mentor
Fifth: Explore the candidate’s background
Sixth: Arrange an exploratory meeting
Seventh: If all agree that working together will produce a
good relationship, with unit leaders concurrence,
begin mentoring.

20. Proceeding with the Relationship
Once a Mentor and Mentee have agreed to work together, it is suggested that they dedicate time to planning. The reason is simple – it helps them stay focused and on track and clarifies expectations, defines roles, and establishes milestones by which they can measure progress.
Some find plans constraining and would rather keep things open-ended. While this has some benefits, the pitfall is that it become difficult to assess accomplishments when specific plans have not been defined and followed.
Good planning is your best tool in avoiding problems down the road.
Most effective plans have two major components:
A Mentoring Development Plan
A Mentoring Agreement

21. The Mentoring Development Plan
What does a Mentoring Development Plan consist of:
Outlining the mentees learning goals and activities
Document the goals of the mentoring relationship
Mentor and Mentee review the plan to ensure the mentoring process will address the goals
Once the goals and plan have been agreed upon
Determine how to measure success.
How will you know that the goal has been reached?
Make a specific plan for learning activities and timeframe
What is the best way to learn? Classroom, Shadowing, Observation and Feedback, Detail Assignment or Self Study and Research?

22. The Mentoring Agreement
What does a Mentoring Agreement consist of:
Outlines how the Mentee and Mentor will work together. It should spell out:
When you will meet or talk
Roles and Responsibilities
Back up plan for missed meetings
Mentor’s availability between scheduled meetings
Confidentiality, what if anything of the mentoring conversations can be shared with others.

23. The Mentoring Meetings
What needs to be considered for meetings:
How will you meet?
In person
Teleconference
Video Conference
At a business meeting
Do you need an agenda
Using an agenda will keep you on task
Periodically review how the mentoring conversations are going
What is working
What can be done better

24. Staying on Track
Successful mentoring partnerships continually evaluate the mentoring process to see if the effort is working and make any adjustments when needed. Having regular discussions about the mentoring progress helps to maintain the momentum. Having periodic assessments does not need to be an overwhelming process. There are three areas the assessment should evaluate:
Time Commitment
Mentoring Relationship
Accomplishments
While the three areas help evaluate the mentoring relationship and its outcome, it is also a good idea for each partner to look at their own contribution to the mentoring process.

25. Trouble-Shooting ??
Are there signs that the partnership is in trouble? Look for the following:
Conflicting goals or values
Confidentiality agreement violated
Lack of Interest
Lack of trust
Infrequent interaction
No longer learning and growing
If these symptoms crop-up, addressing them early can get the partnership back on track and revitalize the relationship

26. Closing Out
How you finish your mentorship is just as important as how you started it. The end marks a passage, a completion. If possible set up a face-to-face meeting. It can be formal or informal such as meeting for coffee or lunch. Some of the questions to explore:
How have we benefited personally and professionally?
What were our accomplishments? What did we learn?
What did we like best about our mentoring partnership?
What did we most appreciate about each other?
How might we use what we learned about mentoring in the future?
Do we plan on staying in contact?
Provide your unit leader with a final written Mentoring Report.

27. Additional Information
Additional information about the:
Mentoring Development Plan
Mentoring Agreement
Unit Leader Mentoring Report
can be found on the H Directorate Website

28. Questions?