DETROIT ARSENAL, Mich. - Tiera Fuhrmann and Margaret Hill sat together in the Collaboration Café on the Detroit Arsenal, discussing what a typical day is like for a sustainment planning specialist.
Fuhrmann is at the beginning of her federal career. In about five years, Hill will be eligible to retire.
The women are connected through the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) Mentorship Program, which fosters professional growth at any career stage.
“As a mentor, you always learn when you teach. Some of the best lessons come from that,” Hill said at a Jan. 29 event kicking off the program’s fifth cohort.
Over the next eight months, mentors and mentees will have several one-on-one meetings and participate in group workshops on topics such as goal setting, personal accountability and career mapping.
The cohort has 37 mentors and 37 mentees – the largest group to date.
Organizer Julie Green, a training specialist with the TACOM Talent Development Program, said the mentor program closely aligns with U.S. Army Materiel Command’s mission and priorities around strengthening the workforce. That, in turn, helps enhance overall readiness.
“Now more than ever, it’s important to focus on our own professional development as we modernize and as things continue to change,” she said. “We have many great mentors in this cohort; there’s just so much knowledge that people can give to each other.”
Civilian and military employees who have worked at TACOM for at least one year are eligible to apply. The program is held annually.
Most members of the current cohort are based at the Detroit Arsenal. There are also participants from every one of TACOM’s depots and arsenals, the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Systems Center, Fort Drum and Vicenza, Italy.
They work in all sorts of areas and have varying amounts of experience. Three of the mentors are colonels: Col. Lisa Rennard, TACOM chief of staff; Col. Dennis Fajardo, commander of Red River Army Depot; and Col. Gregory Turner, chief of facilities and engineering.
“You have directors, colonels and commanders here,” said another mentor, internal control administrator Lloyd Burns. “It’s cool to get that communication between very different levels of the workforce.”
Once selected for the program, participants agree to meet with their mentors or mentees at least twice a month and attend monthly group sessions. They’re encouraged to remain engaged, have an open mind and “commit to self-development.”
At the kickoff event at the Detroit Arsenal, Green presented a series of lessons inspired by the TV show “Ted Lasso.” She urged people to step outside of their comfort zones and face failure unafraid.
“Really take the time throughout your cohort to maximize your strengths,” she said.
After Green announced the mentor-mentee matches, attendees paired up and got started on an ice-breaker activity. Later, they reconvened for a goals workshop.
Ashton Cohill, a maintenance management specialist at Anniston Army Depot, was matched with Eric Howay, a lead logistics management specialist for the Army Preposition Stock (APS) team in the TACOM Integrated Logistics Support Center.
A federal employee for nearly two decades, Cohill said he hopes to gain new skills in program management. This is Howay’s second time serving as a mentor.
“It stretches me a bit. It challenges me a bit,” Howay said. “I have a very busy schedule training folks within my own organization because we have some new hires. But it’s always good to get outside of that and see what other people are challenged with, or want to challenge you with.”
While many mentors and mentees met for the first time at the kickoff, others, like Fuhrmann and Hill, already knew each other. Both women work at Sierra Army Depot.
Fuhrmann, a production controller, aspires to transition into Hill’s field of sustainment planning and business development.
“Her knowledge is astronomical,” Fuhrmann said. “I want to be that way one day.”
Hill said at a small depot like Sierra, it’s important to think about succession planning.
“Tiera has the incentive, the motivation and capabilities, and the skill sets necessary to carry on the type of work that I do,” she said. “I hope her abilities and perspective will take us to the next level.”
Tia Watson, an integrated logistics support manager and first-time mentor, said she’s looking forward to learning and growing through the program – and helping her mentee do the same.
“I just wanted to take an opportunity to give back and share some of the knowledge I have gained here,” she said.
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