Mentorship is at the core of military professional development and is a crucial aspect in making the military an elite developer of leaders. Often what makes mentorship successful is a personal and professional kinship shared among the individuals. I look around my work environment and can find no shortage of combat arms officers to engage and learn from.
For women in the military, a pool of available mentors is not so easy to find. Sure, male service members can mentor women service members…but a same-gender mentor provides unique perspective and understanding.
That’s why the Women’s Mentorship Network is such a valuable organization.
WMN is a volunteer program that is open to men and women, civilian and military, who support the cultivation of military leaders. It is not an official Department of Defense organization but is facilitated by military women. The program’s purpose is:
To increase the relative availability of female mentorship by congregating those willing to share their experiences, providing them with specialized training as mentor-facilitators, and opening a forum for senior leaders, to include both officer and enlisted to mentor junior leaders.
The powerful aspect of WMN is that it creates Mentoring Circles wherever the members are and connects professionals that would not have otherwise engaged. The program also incorporates personal and professional development content and connects senior military leaders with a group passionate about mentorship.
WMN is growing strong and promises to add significant value to our profession.
Find the Women’s Mentorship Network on Facebook and look for events at the WMN Meetup.com page.