Editor’s note: This article is part of a Corrections1 Special Report on the 2009 ACA Summer Conference. You can check out the whole report by clicking here.
By Luke Whyte
We all need someone to look up to.
It seems silly to note that the children of physicians have a better chance of success in life than the children of meth dealers. So why do we frequently fail to recognize the same relationships in the process of career development?
In corrections — where mistakes can lead to liability vulnerabilities, public safety risks and issues of life and death — the failure to establish solid role models is the occupational equivalent of the Deadbeat Dad.
For, if we aren’t giving young officers good role models, then what are we giving them?
Military models
One of the most fascinating workshops at this year’s ACA summer conference was titled “Preparing Leadership — A Military Model.”
Sergeant Major Richard Gardner of the U.S. Army Military Police School led attendees through an introduction into military leadership training programs. It was clear that corrections institutions could benefit immensely form implicating similar programs.
The military “leader development model” is split into three parts: Operational, Institutional, and Self-Development. In the coming weeks, Corrections1 will tackle each of these parts separately. Today, we’ll focus on building solid mentorship programs, one important aspect of self-development that should be an ongoing goal in every institution across the country.
Water your seeds
“You’ve got to get them young and get them convinced to invest in their future,” Gardner said. “Otherwise, you’re dead in the water.”
Initially, self-development is a narrow pursuit as young officers become familiar with their strengths and weakness, Gardner explained. However, as their skills develop, it becomes the duty of higher ranking officers to step in and help guide them down their chosen path. An efficient mentorship program is a great way of standardizing this pursuit.
Gardner said that he sits his young officers down once a month and talks with them. Once he thinks they are ready, he begins discussing the prospect of finding a mentor.
“You can’t assign a mentor,” Gardner said. “I tell my guys, ‘it doesn’t have to be me, but it does have to be someone.”
Gardner tells his young officers to go out and look for someone that “operates the way they want to operate.”
“Sit down and have coffee with someone who exhibits the traits you respect and seek to emulate,” he said. It’s a fantastic way for sharpening new institutional leaders and defining individual goals.
Accepting the challenge
Of equal importance in a mentorship program is mentors who are willing to embrace their newfound position as a role model.
A mentor needs to get to know the young officers that reach out to them. They need to take an interest in their goals and learn about their skills and weaknesses. They should utilize their years of experience and wisdom to provide young ambition with clear channels to sharper skills and goal achievement.
Mentors should ask themselves, “does this guy have character or is he a character?” and then react accordingly.
Tell them about your path, Gardner said, the challenges you faced and how you overcame them.
“You’ve got to be candid,” he said. “Sometimes people get far down a road and find they’re ill-prepared. That means somewhere along the line someone didn’t call it like it is.”
If a mentee is struggling to achieve their goals, it’s the role of a mentor to tell them so, and show them how to improve. Further, if they continue to fail, they need someone they trust who can pat them on the back, thank them for all their efforts, and send them in a new direction.
“The seniors have to invest in their juniors,” Gardner said. “I was once faced with a major decision in Iraq and called my mentor in Pennsylvania to help me get through the funk.”
That’s the value of a career-long mentorship program; something that’s beneficial and rewarding on both ends of the spectrum.
So ask yourself, who’s my mentor? And, perhaps more importantly, ask yourself who’s mentoring that young guy watching my back?