ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Ill. – To some degree, nearly everyone has had a mentor in their lives. Parents are usually our very first mentors, teaching social skills, guiding their children in decision-making skills, setting parameters for learning and living. But mentoring goes far beyond our parents, family and friends.
Army Sustainment Command takes the role of mentor and mentee very seriously, said Ms. Cris Arduser, who is ASC’s Leadership, Development and Training specialist. Arduser is ASC’s Mentoring Program manager.
“Mentorship is essential in both professional and personal development,” said Arduser. “Mentoring offers an opportunity for teammates to be seen and heard, while receiving and learning from other’s work experiences.”
Arduser said ASC has offered formal mentoring in the past and encouraged the workforce to take part in mentoring offered through Army Career Tracker (ACT). She said the program went well, but ASC was not reaching the number of participants it was hoping for. So, the program was revised.
Under the new program, according to Arduser, mentors, and mentees, will be able to match up with each other instead of being matched by the program directors. They will also be able to continue their mentor-mentee association for as long or as little as they need to.
“As the command evolves, so must our mentoring program,” said Arduser. “ASC now offers an informal mentee-driven program through the ASC Mentoring Program (AMP) SharePoint site.”
Arduser said ASC is also including “Reverse Mentoring” in AMP. A senior leader in the command might want to select a junior employee to learn from them, as junior employees often are more tech savvy and can provide the senior workforce with additional technological skills.
“Most participants in the program have found the experience to be very rewarding,” said Arduser. “Currently AMP is only open to ASC personnel. However, many other commands, such as AMC, JMC, JMTC, ACC, and TRADOC, just to name a few, have used ASC’s Mentoring Program as their template to set up and create their own version of mentoring.”
For more information about the ASC Mentoring Program, go to ASC Mentoring - Home (army.mil). There you can sign up for the mentoring program, and find information on mentoring, reverse mentoring, and many other resources.
“No matter where or when you participate in mentoring,” said Arduser, “you will come out with improved active listening skills and the ability to communicate better with a Worldwide multigenerational workforce. ASC is seeing that the participants are creating a lifelong partnership of mentoring in both directions.”
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