Mentorship Program

1. OPNAVINST 1500.78
N134
OPNAV INSTRUCTION 1500.78
From: Chief of Naval Operations
Subj: NAVY MENTORING
Ref: (a) NAVPERS 15878J
(b) OPNAVINST 1040.11C
(c) CNO WASHINGTON DC 140017Z Feb 08 (NAVADMIN 043/08)
Encl: (1) Mentoring Recommended Reading
1. Purpose. To institute a Navy mentoring culture in support
of the Navy total force mission to develop, assign, and retain a
highly skilled workforce for the Navy.
2. Discussion
a. This instruction provides overarching guidance and
outlines a multi-faceted strategy intended to create a mentoring
continuum to serve throughout the careers of Navy personnel.
All hands are encouraged to use the instruction as a resource
for the range of mentoring opportunities and tools available and
to take action to continue to develop, implement, utilize and
support these mentoring opportunities and tools. This
instruction is not a mentorship checklist, but instead
indentifies different types of mentoring to assist Navy leaders
in ensuring that mandatory forms of mentorship are being
conducted and that optional forms of mentorship are fostered and
encouraged.
b. Mentoring is widely recognized as a beneficial career
development tool that not only affects career health and
longevity, but also positively impacts mission accomplishment.
As the documents in enclosure (1) demonstrate, mentoring is a
difficult term to define as it manifests itself in many forms.
One useful definition of mentoring is as a mutually beneficial
relationship between a mentor and protégé in which resources,
time, experiences, and expertise are exchanged to help with
personal and professional growth. Regardless of the formal
definition, the positive influence quality mentoring has on the
success of an individual’s career cannot be overstated.

2. OPNAVINST 1500.78
c. All Navy leaders must be involved and take an active
interest in supporting mentoring. Everyone in a leadership role
must make a point of reaching out to their subordinates and
ensure that all members of the command have access to mentors.
d. The Navy’s mentoring program is designed to develop and
retain talent within the Navy and give participants the
opportunity to reach their full personal and professional
potential. Navy’s mentoring program is expected to:
(1) Provide a means for all personnel to examine options
and make informed decisions about future career steps.
(2) Allow senior personnel the opportunity to share
experiences and insights with those junior to them while
learning from their perspective.
(3) Provide junior personnel access to senior leadership,
affording them the opportunity to interact and learn from those
who have achieved significant career milestones.
(4) Enable personnel to successfully integrate life and
work, with access to adequate resources for personal decision-
making.
(5) Encourage those with similar interests and
backgrounds to share their successes and lessons learned.
(6) Enable under-represented individuals to become part
of the culture and develop meaningful mentoring relationships.
3. The Mentoring Continuum Construct. The Navy will take a
multi-faceted approach to mentoring that will allow flexibility
in its implementation. A mentoring program should combine
elements of five distinct mentoring “circles” – chain of command,
enterprise/community, professional associations/affinity groups,
one-on-one, and social networks – while utilizing the
appropriate communication tools. These circles will provide the
support necessary to meet the personal and professional needs of
protégés throughout their careers. The following relationships
define the mentoring continuum:
a. Chain of Command. This mentoring is designed to assist
Sailors in achieving their professional goals and to positively
influence their desire to remain on active duty or transition to
the Navy Reserve. Much of the chain of command mentoring is
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mandatory and guided by existing instructions and directives.
For example, the career management tools outlined in reference
(a), including career development boards, the command sponsor
program, and command indoctrination program, are the foundation
of this element. Execution of these programs is outlined in
reference (b). Commanders shall ensure these career development
tools are maximized at their commands. Additionally, chain of
command mentoring opportunities arise during normal operations
such as unit training, deployments, or other command events. A
key component of chain of command mentoring is ensuring that
from the bottom up, the Navy is “brilliant on the basics”
(reference (c)).
b. Enterprise/Community. This is mentoring designed to
ensure key career milestones are achieved. This mentoring
requires tracking individual careers of the members of an
enterprise/community to ensure career milestones are met. Each
enterprise/community lead will develop and implement a system
for tracking the professional growth and milestone achievements
of their individual members tailored to the specific needs of
the enterprise/community. Individual requirements should be
clearly articulated and performance measured. Metrics must be
in place to ensure members are progressing as expected. In
instances where members are not achieving key milestone
accomplishments, a formal mandatory mentoring intervention
should be employed. Detailers and community managers play a key
role in the mentoring continuum, and can be instrumental in
determining the course of an individual’s career and ultimate
success. These individuals must be cognizant of the need for,
and desired results of, mentoring and work with enterprise/
community leadership to ensure mentoring opportunities are
afforded to those in need. Informal enterprise/community
mentoring programs are highly encouraged as well, for example
the “Leading Edge” online forum for female aviators.
c. Professional Associations/Affinity Groups. These
associations connect mentors and protégés of similar interests,
backgrounds, cultures, or fields to support each other
personally and professionally. Professional associations meet
periodically to share best practices and to afford junior
personnel access to senior members who have succeeded in their
careers. These meetings provide exceptional forums for career
development guidance on both an individual and group level.
Commanders should make every effort to support their Sailors’ or
employees’ participation with these groups. Wardrooms and
chiefs’ messes play a similar role to more formal professional
associations, and commanders should additionally help facilitate
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employee resource groups, family readiness groups, and other
groups that have personal and professional development
implications. In addition to military-focused groups, many
federal and civilian-sponsored professional associations exist.
Membership and participation in these associations further
develops individuals personally and professionally.
d. One-on-One. These are voluntary mentoring relationships
of a professional nature. One-on-one mentoring happens when one
person reaches out to another and a career-aiding relationship
develops. To establish a one-on-one mentoring relationship,
often mentors and protégés will meet for a finite period to
accomplish agreed-upon objectives that are designed to assist
the protégé in accomplishing a particular goal (for example,
command acclimation or finishing a training program or
qualification). The mentorship may end when the initial goal is
achieved, or a longer-term relationship may result with new
career objectives. These relationships can be established
between peers or near-peers, allowing individuals with similar
experiences and backgrounds to share successes, challenges, and
lessons-learned with individuals newer to the command, team, or
career path. They may also develop between senior and junior
members of an organization, and are often a means by which
junior personnel can seek direction, support, and motivation to
achieve the next level.
e. Social Networking. Social networking refers both to the
relationship-building that occurs in social and non-official
situations as well as to types of technology that facilitate
relationship-building leveraging the Internet. Mentoring that
occurs as a result of social networking may be between two
individuals or within a group. Connections may be established
through various activities. Mentors can be found in casual
settings, through purposeful introductions by a shared
acquaintance, or through self-introduction. Virtual communities
are a means by which individuals can connect with others that
may share their background and are seeking to achieve similar
goals.
4. Mentor Matches. Throughout a career, a person will likely
serve as both a mentor and a protégé, and may have multiple
mentoring relationships, both formal and informal. A strong
relationship can be ensured through proper matching of the
mentor and protégé. Additionally, it is desirable to ensure
access to forms of mentoring outside of the chain of command to
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foster more transparency and encourage maximum personal and
professional development. Deputy Chief of Naval Operations,
Manpower, Personnel, Training, and Education (N1) will be
responsible for ensuring mentor-matching tools and training are
available to support one-on-one mentoring relationships. It is
incumbent upon commands to make their members aware of these
tools and afford them the opportunity to participate. Further,
specific “high-touch” attention should be paid to individuals
who appear to be without mentor support with the goal of
engaging them more fully in the mentoring continuum. Some
examples include members of minority groups, women, those with
unique skill sets or education, or individual augmentees.
5. Mentoring Tools
a. Navy Forms, Policies, and Programs. See references (a)
and (b) for more information. This also includes midterm
counseling, evaluations, and fitness reports.
b. Center for Personal and Professional Development (CPPD)
Training Resources. This includes in-residence, virtual, and
locally facilitated options, running the gamut from formal
classroom leadership courses to Navy Knowledge Online (NKO)
offerings.
c. Mentor Matching. Software, “speed-mentoring,” personal
recommendations, planned or chance introductions, or assignment
can be used to match mentors and protégés.
d. Electronic Media
(1) Social Networking Sites. These include virtual
communities on sites such as Google groups, Facebook, Surface
Warfare Officer’s Network, Twitter, Leading Edge, Sailor Bob,
Defense Connect Online, Defense Knowledge Online (DKO), or
others. There are options for live interaction, time-delayed
interaction, or one-way communication.
(2) Blogs. These are hosted Web pages that allow
individuals to comment on a topic and can be used to push out
materials.
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(3) Other. Podcasts, Web pages, rich site summary feeds,
Webinars, teleseminars, wikis, and other electronic distribution
mechanisms can be useful in ensuring broad distribution of
messages or training.
6. Responsibilities
a. N1
(1) Oversee and monitor Navywide mentoring program
establishment and progress.
(2) Identify and establish relationships with those
professional associations that best support Navy Sailors.
(3) Identify a standard mentor-matching tool and make
this tool available to the fleet.
(4) Incorporate formal mentor training into all career
milestone leadership courses, for example: Command Leadership
School, Senior Enlisted Academy, Basic Officer Leadership Course,
Intermediate Officer Leadership Course, Prospective Commanding
Officer and Executive Officer courses, Petty Officer
Indoctrination, and instructor training courses.
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(5) Ensure the NKO and DKO mentoring Web pages provide
up-to-date mentoring information and tools that support the
requirements of this instruction and the Navy’s overall effort
to establish a mentoring culture.
(6) Ensure mentor course content and NKO and DKO
mentoring Web page content align.
(7) Act as the bridge and the source expert on Navywide
mentoring efforts. Track and compile enterprise/community
mentor program information. Identify and share the best
practices of each mentoring program.
b. Fleet readiness and enabler enterprises and communities
will develop and implement a formal mentoring program suited to
their unique leadership, career development, retention, and
diversity challenges. Enterprise leaders will:
(1) Develop the construct for executing the enterprise/
community mentoring circle of the continuum as defined in this
instruction.
(2) Actively encourage all personnel to participate in
the mentoring continuum as a method for increasing job
satisfaction, professional development, and career advancement.
The opportunity to have a mentor must be provided to all.
(3) Include a diversity component that fosters the
mentoring of minorities and women. Ensure collecting data on
milestone attainment is part of this component. Enterprises
with few minority and or women mentors should coordinate with
other enterprises, ideally within the same geographic area, to
develop mentor networks within these Navy populations regardless
of community affiliation.
(4) Support outreach and partnership efforts with
professional associations to ensure this circle is available to
enhance the mentor program. Place particular emphasis on
supporting minority- and women-focused professional associations.
Encourage and resource the participation of enterprise members
at these association events.
(5) Include guidance to subordinate commands defining
their roles in supporting the mentoring continuum.
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(6) Ensure subordinate commands implement existing
career management and development tools as defined in the chain
of command mentoring circle.
(7) Use the tools developed and provided by N1 to assist
in meeting mentoring objectives, including mentor-matching tools,
CPPD courses, and NKO mentoring tools. In addition, take
advantage of Department of Defense and publicly available social
networking tools and sites.
(8) Incorporate a means to proactively identify those
who would particularly benefit from the guidance of a mentor and
take the necessary steps to identify mentors who meet the needs
of these potential protégés.
7. Records Management. Records created as a result of this
instruction, regardless of media and format, shall be managed
per Secretary of the Navy Manual 5210.1 of November 2007.
M. E. FERGUSON III
Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy
Deputy Chief of Naval Operations
(Manpower, Personnel, Training
and Education)
Distribution:
Electronic only, via Department of the Navy Issuances Web site
http://doni.daps.dla.mil
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Mentoring Recommended Reading
Bell, Chip R. Managers as Mentors: Building Partnerships for
Learning. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers,
2002.
Clutterbuck, David and Belle Rose Ragins. Mentoring and
Diversity: An International Perspective. Woburn:
Butterworth-Heinemann, 2002.
Colley, Helen. Mentoring for Social Inclusion: A Critical
Approach to Nurturing Mentor Relationships. New York:
Routledge Falmer, 2003.
Colon, Norman H. The Mentee's Guide to Mentoring. Amherst:
HRD Press, 1999.
Cottrell, David. Monday Morning Mentoring: Ten Lessons to
Guide You up the Ladder. New York: HarperBusiness,
2006.
Doyle, Mary K. Mentoring Heroes: 52 Fabulous Women's Paths to
Success and the Mentors Who Empowered Them. Geneva:
3E Press, 2000.
Elmore, Tim and John Maxwell. Mentoring: How to Invest Your
Life in Others. Singapore: Campus Crusade Asia Ltd, 2003.
Ensher, Ellen and Susan Murphy. Power Mentoring: How
Successful Mentors and Proteges Get the Most Out of
Their Relationships. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2005.
Johnson, W. Brad and Charles R. Ridley. The Elements of
Mentoring. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
Kram, Kathy. Mentoring at Work: Developmental Relationships
in Organizational Life. Lanham: University Press of
America, 1988.
Maxwell, John C. Mentoring 101. Nashville: Thomas Nelson,
2008.
Enclosure (1)

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Peddy, Shirley. The Art of Mentoring: Lead, Follow, and Get
Out of the Way. Corpus Christi: Bullion Books, 2001.
Stone, Florence M. Coaching, Counseling, and Mentoring: How to
Choose & Use the Right Technique to Boost Employee
Performance. New York: AMACOM, 2007.
Zachary, Lois J. Creating a Mentoring Culture: The
Organization's Guide. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,
2005.
2 Enclosure (1)