Mentoring Guide

Mentoring is a traditional method for orienting and training those new to the Coast Guard Auxiliary, as well as a valuable means for supporting the development - even accelerating the professional growth – of experienced employees, middle managers and executives. Individuals who share knowledge, experiences, and skills to benefit someone else provide valuable leadership. Mentoring is one of the Coast Guard’s 28 leadership competencies, and is found within the Leading Others category of the Leadership Framework.

Mentoring partnerships are a means to keep people in an organization in a continual state of learning. The process can unlock underutilized talents, encourage responsibility for one's own career growth, and nurture flexibility and adaptability in the midst of a chaotic environment. By taking a time-tested resource and applying it to the challenges of today's Auxiliary, members will be better positioned to deal with changes in their work and personal lives.

All Auxiliary members regardless of responsibility level, can benefit from mentoring any time during a career. Just as we need to be mentored in order to be continually learning, we also learn through teaching others. Ultimately, the Coast Guard Auxiliary improves as an organization through the performance improvements of our people.

Research, as well as the Coast Guard’s experience since establishing a formal mentoring program in 1991, confirms that mentoring increases productivity and career satisfaction among mentors and those whom they mentor. In addition to strengthening performance and increasing retention, mentoring directly contributes to the career planning and personal growth objectives of the Individual Development Plan (IDP). 

Click here for the Auxiliary Mentoring Guide.