2003 IMTA Proceedings - International Military Testing Association

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higher in rank other than the rater or senior rater, peer, subordinate) and the kind of behaviors
their mentor exhibited.
The focus group interviews addressed why Soldiers perceived certain people to be their
mentors and not others, the behaviors they were looking for from mentors, and barriers that
prevented individuals from being seen as mentors. In addition, the focus groups addressed
participants’ views on how to increase the amount of mentoring in the Army.
Results
The survey results from 2,802 Army officers and 4,022 enlisted Soldiers are shown in
Table 1. The percentages in this Table are for the set of respondents who said that they have a
mentor now or have had one in the past. Of those who had a mentor now or have had one in the
past, most (92% of the officers and 86% of the enlisted) reported that the mentor was someone
higher in rank than them. In the case of both officers and enlisted Soldiers, the mentor was more
likely to be someone higher in rank, but not their rater or their senior rater. Also as can be seen
from the Table, only 12% of officers and 9% of enlisted Soldiers reported that their senior rater
was their mentor.
Very few officers and enlisted Soldiers reported that their mentor was a peer at their same
rank (3% and 5%, respectively) and very few said that their mentor was a person lower in rank
(3% of officers and less than 1% of enlisted Soldiers). Few officers and enlisted Soldiers (2%
and 9%, respectively) said their mentor was not in the military at the time the mentoring was
provided.
Table 2 shows the percentage of individuals who said their mentors exhibited various
behaviors and that each of these mentoring behaviors were very/extremely helpful. The Table
also shows that when mentors who are higher in rank than the mentee (raters, senior raters, and
others at higher ranks) exhibit some behaviors, these behaviors are somewhat more likely to be
seen as helpful than when mentors who are lower in rank exhibit these same behaviors. Some
examples of this include teaching job skills, helping to develop skills for future assignments,
providing support and encouragement, assigning challenging tasks, providing
sponsorship/contacts to advance careers, and assisting in obtaining future assignments. In
addition, senior raters are seen as more helpful than raters when they exhibit some behaviors
such as advice on organizational politics, personal and social guidance, sponsorship/contacts to
advance careers, and assistance in obtaining future assignments.
Focus group participants strongly advocated that mentoring as part of the leader
development process remain voluntary and not be mandated or assigned. In addition, Soldiers
clarified issues surrounding the perceived overlap between leadership and mentoring. It appears
that both share many behaviors in common, however, mentoring is seen as a more
individualized, one-on-one relationship wherein their mentors exhibit a broad range of mentoring
behaviors (as opposed to a few selected ones).
45 th Annual Conference of the International Military Testing Association
Pensacola, Florida, 3-6 November 2003