Time to find your mentor

WOFF Irene Leurs discusses her mentoring role with CPL Gerard Hodges from the Directorate of Military Administration- Air Force (DMA-AF).

Photo by CPL Simone Liebelt

AIR Force administration officers and clerks have been provided a valuable opportunity to enhance their personal and professional development.

The Director Military Administration-Air Force, Group Captain Alan Lyons, recently launched a mentoring program for them at RAAF Base Richmond.

According to Group Captain Lyons, the reduction of experienced Air Force administrators after the Defence Reform Program resulted in a loss of corporate knowledge and created serious challenges for the Air Force’s uniformed administrative capability.

“The use of mentoring is a key part of our vision for the professional and academic development of all RAAF administrative staff,” he said.

“Mentoring is one means of providing opportunities for administrative personnel to share information, rebuild corporate knowledge, discuss new ideas and assist with personal and professional development. While it is not a panacea for improving performance, a well-structured mentoring program can be a useful management tool to create a learning culture and assist with continual improvement.

“There are clear personal and organisational benefits in a mentoring program. Not only does mentoring facilitate personal and professional development and growth, it also provides insight into many of the cultural and environmental issues within the organisation by drawing upon personal experiences.”

He said that mentoring relationships do not replace or lessen the commanders’ and supervisors’ roles. Mentors are not involved in the assessment of the mentee’s performance, as there is no formal assessment of mentoring relationships within the chain of command. Rather, participation in mentoring relationships is voluntary and requires the commitment of all those involved.

“For many, mentoring will result in additional work to an already busy workload, but the dividends are worth the extra effort.”

Mentoring relationships can be established in many ways. These include discussions among colleagues, local gatherings, and accessing published lists of interested personnel.

To help personnel develop mentoring relationships, Group Captain Lyons is asking personnel interested in becoming mentors to fill out a nomination form so their details can be placed on the RAAFWEB DMA-AF site. Other administration personnel will then be able to access the site and choose a suitable mentor.

“I am extremely pleased that we are adopting a mentoring system, and that we are leading other specialisations and musterings in this endeavour,” he said.

“I strongly believe that our collective professionalism and ability to contribute to Air Force capability will be increased as a result of mentoring, and in turn, our reputation and value to the Air Force will be enhanced.

“I acknowledge that mentoring may not be taken up by all of our administration officers and clerks. However, I am confident that the great majority will become aware of the extensive benefits of mentoring, not only at a personal level but also on a collective/organisational level, and thus, most will become actively involved in mentoring.”

“The implementation of mentoring on bases is recognised as a contributing factor to the professional and academic development of all administrative staff.”

DMA-AF has produced a brochure and other materials on the Administrative Mentoring Program, which are available on the DMA-AF intranet site: http://intranet.defence.gov.au/raafweb/sites/DMA-AF/

Additional information can also be obtained from the Air Force Adaptive Culture Program intranet site at: http://intranet.defence.gov.au/raafweb/sites/AFAC/

The DMA-AF point of contact is Wing Commander Katrina James on (02) 6266 5141, or e-mail katrina.james@defence.gov.au

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