MENTORING
By Robert Vernon© 2008
The career of a police officer is largely determined by the
mentoring that person receives (or lack thereof). Mentoring is now
recognized as a very essential component in the development of new
members to any profession; but especially law enforcement.
Traditional training with groups of inductees must be done and can
be very effective. However, mentoring takes it to the next level. It
is a powerful tool that transfers values, principles and develops
character.
I was fortunate to have several powerful mentors. Early in my
career, a street savvy veteran police officer, Nick Najera, decided
to accept me as a challenge. He was eight years my senior, a veteran
of the battle of the bulge and a Silver Star recipient. He chose to
mentor me. He not only gave me strategic, tactical and technical
insight, he infected me with his passion and enthusiasm for police
work. He made the job fun and fulfilling. He got me so committed to
our role of protecting the community that we averaged over twenty
solid “obs” (observation), felony arrests per month. Crime dropped
dramatically in our area of responsibility. He inspired me to
prepare for promotion. He believed in me. Soon, I began to believe
perhaps I did have something to offer. All of that happened through
effective mentoring.
I experienced several other mentor relationships as I moved into
leadership positions. I owe all of these men a debt of gratitude.
They had much more impact on my life than I realized at the time.
Each of them chose to pour their lives into mine. They gave me their
wisdom, understanding and discipline.
So what is mentoring? Mentoring is more than just the passing of
facts, skills or techniques. Mentoring involves the transference of
values, principles, ethics and attitudes. Mentoring is character
development. As such, mentoring takes time, a close personal
relationship and patience.
First mentoring is selective. The mentor should make the final
decision for the relationship. We must prioritize the demands made
on our time. You cannot effectively mentor more than a handful of
people in your lifetime, therefore choose wisely. Carefully select
those that you have determined possess potential and a strong desire
for pursuing excellence. You are passing on your legacy.
Encouraging:
Mentoring involves reinforcing. All of my mentors were great
encouragers. First, they made me believe I could accomplish
ambitious goals. I remember Nick saying: “We can cut the burglaries
in this neighborhood to a handful if we can just get all the “hypes”
(heroin addicts) in the slammer and all the truants off the streets
and back in school. You have a “nose” for this kind of work. We can
do this.” In the earlier days of my career, I was not secure in my
job. I needed someone to see some apparent potential and push me
out. I needed reinforcement.
Guiding:
New members in a tightly knit social group (and police are that),
need a compass. Peer pressure can be great. Lines of right and wrong
get fuzzy in the matrix of the criminal world. Sometimes it seems
the ends really do justify the means. The strong desire to be
accepted in an elite group, highly dependent upon one another for
life itself, can be overwhelming. Mentoring involves providing that
reasoned, clear and stable plumb line of right and wrong. It means
taking the time to thoroughly discuss and model the very best of
professional ethics. We live in a world of relative morality. In
such a world, mentoring means courageously drawing the line when and
where it must be drawn. It means providing a moral/ethical compass
when the way can appear uncertain..
Restraining:
This is the gutsy part of mentoring. It usually involves some action
to stop your colleague from going down the wrong trail. It is the
natural “end game” of guidance. Once the line has been drawn, it
means having the courage to do something about it when you see your
colleague begin to cross that line. It can be as practical as
literally physically stopping your partner from using excessive
force at the end of a pursuit. It can mean ordering that potential
future chief to get home when you know their family is suffering
from their out of balance life and their compulsive and excessive
addiction to “The Job.” In mentoring, restraining means correction.
It means action.
All of mentoring must involve patience. Character development – and
that’s what mentoring is – takes time. Few people enjoy being
prodded to achieve higher levels of accomplishment. Most people have
some resentment when confronted about something that deep inside
they know is unethical. A wise proverb applies here: “There is one
who speaks rashly, like the thrusts of a sword; but the tongue of
the wise brings healing.” (Solomon circa 900 BC). True mentors bring
healing.
How do you demonstrate gratitude when you benefit from a mentor?
Words of thanks are very appropriate and will be appreciated. But a
true mentor will encourage you to express your gratitude by becoming
a mentor yourself . . . on the point.