DAF stresses importance of mentoring during National Mentoring Month

  • Published
  • Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs

As part of National Mentoring Month, the Department of the Air Force will host a series of virtual live events focused on educating Airmen and Guardians on the importance of mentoring, how to be an effective mentor/mentee, and how to register on the MyVECTOR Mentoring platform.

Mentoring is a relationship in which a more experienced person shares their knowledge and skills with a person with less experience in an effort to help them grow, develop and gain new perspectives. Often this relationship is between a senior and a junior member.

National Mentoring Month was launched in January 2002 to connect people invested in the mentoring movement and to help people accomplish their life and professional goals.

“Mentoring helps Airmen and Guardians discover their strengths while achieving their full potential through a structured, trusting mentoring relationship,” said Melissa Pagar, DAF Mentoring Program manager. “Mentorship is a critical strategy in developing the Airmen and Guardians we need to become more diverse, agile and inclusive personally and professionally.”

The DAF’s overarching theme throughout National Mentoring Month is “Everyone Wins with Mentoring.” Additionally, both services hope to motivate Airmen and Guardians to use the mentoring capabilities of MyVECTOR. Recent updates allow members to search for mentors with new attributes such as Exceptional Family Member status, race and ethnicity. Race and ethnicity were specifically added as an effort to overcome the lack of mentorship options addressed in the Racial Disparity Review.

To kick off National Mentoring Month, senior leaders participated in an “Inclusion Talks!” panel sponsored by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Leaders provided insight on the importance of mentoring and the benefits for the mentee, the mentor, and the organization as a whole. “Mentorship is like a bridge that gets the mentee from where they are to where they want to be,” said Chief Master Sgt. Anthony Thompson Jr, 361st Recruiting Squadron senior enlisted leader. “Without that bridge, the mentee may swim or even kayak from point A to B, but it’ll take a lot longer and be a lot harder.”

Three more virtual events are available to Airmen, Guardians and civilians. All events start at 11 a.m. EST:

Jan. 25 – Virtual mentor-centric mentoring workshop
Jan. 27 – Virtual mentee-centric mentoring workshop

In addition, a recorded MyVECTOR demonstration is available on the CAC enabled MyVECTOR Mentoring Resources page and a new public-facing website, with mentoring resources, was launched Jan. 10 at https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Mentoring/.