Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, TX –
Karen Perkins, U.S. Army Installation Management Command
human resources director, posed an intriguing question to 43 mentors and 36
mentees as they met in-person for the first time during the Headquarters
Centralized Mentoring Program orientation Jan. 12 at the College of the Installation Management on Fort Sam Houston.
“Did you know that you could have a big impact on someone’s
life without even realizing it,” she asked before showing a video entitled
“TEDxToronto – Drew Dudley ‘Leading with Lollipops.’”
Dudley, the video’s speaker, told a story about the
remarkable impression he left on a college peer after he persuaded another
student to give her a lollipop during a campus registration event.
“How many of you guys have a lollipop moment, a moment where
someone said something or did something that you feel fundamentally made your
life better?” Dudley said.
“We need to redefine leadership as being about lollipop
moments, how many of them we create, how many of them we acknowledge, how many
of them we pay forward, and how many of them we say thank you for.”
The command’s mentoring program provides an opportunity for
employees to find and give those lollipop moments. It is designed to build the
bench for junior to mid-level civilian employees to become future leaders and
future mentors that influence and shape the future workforce.
“The year-long program is comprised of unique developmental
experiences,” said Amanda Rodriguez of IMCOM G1’s Workforce Development team.
“It includes an orientation phase and a job-shadow week, then culminates in a
group project capstone event – all of which are aimed at building a
multi-skilled and adaptive workforce.”
New to the program this year is an active-duty Soldier
pairing, according to Perkins.
Sgt. Maj. Lon Culbreath, IMCOM G1 team member, agreed to
mentor Sgt. 1st Class Sherri Queen, a detachment sergeant at U.S. Army Garrison
Japan, after reviewing her application.
Although the program was initially opened to only civilian
employees, the IMCOM G1 staff believed active duty Soldiers assigned to the
command should participate.
“We all have a common mission to take care of Soldiers,
Families and civilians,” Culbreath said. “As we move forward into the future,
it’s important that we, as Soldiers and civilians, are integrated
together.”
Even though the pair are stationed in different countries,
they plan to regularly communicate through phone and email.
Culbreath’s focus will be developing Queen’s promotion
eligibility for her next grade. She hopes to eventually become a sergeant major
like him.
“I think it’s critical for senior noncommissioned officers
to have a mentor who can show them the path to achieving their goals,”
Culbreath said. “There are certain steps that she needs to get done in order to
accomplish those goals, and I’m excited to help her reach them.”
In the year ahead, the mentors and mentees will be seeking
to give and receive those lollipop moments as they build a strong relationship
which will hopefully last beyond the program.
“Although this is a year-long program, it doesn’t mean that
the mentor-mentee relationship ends then,” Rodriguez said. “Mentoring can last
a lifetime.”
For more information about the Headquarters Centralized
Mentoring Program, contact the IMCOM G1 Workforce Development at
usarmy.jbsa.imcom-hq.list.g1-workforce-development-owner@mail.mil.