Speed Mentoring Builds Connections at Space Systems Command

Published Jan. 29, 2025
By Lisa Sodders, SSC Public Affairs

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Good things can come in small packages, as Space Systems Command (SSC) leaders, Guardians, Airmen and government civilians found Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, during a speed mentoring event held at Los Angeles Air Force Base during National Mentoring Month.

The event was the third in a series of speed-mentoring events at SSC organized with the help of the Space Force Association (SFA)-Los Angeles Chapter. It paired Guardians and government civilians with mentors from SSC and space industry partners for four 10-minute mentoring sessions conducted over the span of ninety minutes. Between 30 and 40 people participated in the event.

“The space ecosystem across El Segundo and the larger Los Angeles area is a massive industry and consists of a lot of prior military service members,” said Hector Pelayo, Group President for Air, Space & Sea at Tyto Athene and SFA board member. “One of our core objectives at SFA-LA is to bring together Space Industry leaders and Space Force military and civilian personnel to strengthen relationships and enhance collaboration.”

Jason Lamb, director of coaching and mentoring for SSC, said speed mentoring events are a great way to introduce mentors and mentees alike to the many benefits of mentorship.

“Mentees can come in with general or very specific questions and talk to more seasoned and experienced leaders from a variety of different career fields,” Lamb said.

“Many civilians and officers don’t have a lot of experience with enlisted members,” Lamb added. “These speed mentoring events give them an opportunity to ask all sorts of questions about the enlisted force.”

“Mentorship can drive meaningful outcomes, building rich connections and guiding mentees to uncover talents and opportunities never before seen,” said CMSgt. Jacqueline Sauvé, senior enlisted leader at SSC and one of the participating senior SSC speed mentor volunteers.

“It motivates me,” said Col. Michelle Idle, SSC deputy director who also participated as a speed mentor. “The young folks are excited, they ask great questions, they’re enthusiastic - it’s phenomenal. They also give me good feedback – this is my chance to ask those questions: how can we better support you? What can I do for you from a headquarters perspective?”

“When you have a culture where you feel comfortable having these conversations with the people above you, below you, around you, it leads to better communication,” Idle said. “Someone might be more willing to share an idea that might be a game-changer. If we have that environment, we’re not afraid to speak up, we’re not afraid to say, ‘Hey, here’s a concern that I have or here’s an idea, or something I’d like to do to try to make things better.’ It’s a focus on continual improvement in a community that cares and is willing to have those conversations.”

In addition to CMSgt Sauvé and Col. Idle, SSC mentors included Col. Andrew C. Dermanoski, commander, Space Base Delta 3; Col. Robert Davis, program executive officer for Space Sensing; Shannon Pallone, program executive officer for Battle Management Command, Control & Communications; Col. Heather Bogstie, deputy, Space Systems Integration Office; Col. Matthew Flahive, chief and senior materiel leader, Mission Solutions Delta; Col. Peter Mastro, Space Futures Command Task Force; Natalie Riedel, director of Contracting, and Lt. Col. Daniel Kimmich, materiel leader, Global Mission Data Dominance.

Mentorship is particularly critical when it comes to military service, noted Kimmich.
From short-term plans, such as discussing what a mentee’s next assignment should be, to long-range planning to help the mentee become a well-rounded individual who has served through a wide breadth of assignments, mentors can help identify where someone might fit best and where they might need some additional coaching to attain their goals.

As a mentor, “what’s so valuable from my perspective is to hear what their challenges are,” Kimmich said. “What are they not getting exposed to? What training are they missing – and look to fill those gaps – and also to hear what’s important to them so we can truly shape the future of the U.S. Space Force, determine how we can best maintain talent, and prepare them to the point where they’re ready to lead the next generation.”

Mentoring also can help mentees develop their “why” and their purpose, Lamb said. The Japanese concept of ‘Ikigai’ or “reason for being” holds that “we as humans are going to be most successful and happy if we can find a way to get as close as we can to the intersection of (a Venn diagram of) four different circles: what we’re good at, what we enjoy doing, what the world needs, and what we can get paid for. In the dead center of where those four circles overlap is where we need to be.”

“People are more satisfied when they understand why they’re doing what they’re doing and how it fits in,” continued Lamb. “It increases people’s performance and aids in retention and engagement. It helps prevent unrealistic expectations or having people not continuing to pursue development and growth opportunities and leads to a workforce that is just more connected and informed, with a feeling of serving a greater purpose and not just doing a job to collect a paycheck.”

One of the mentees, Emilia Khalifeh, a contracting specialist at SSC, said she came to the event looking for honest feedback and advice from a variety of perspectives.

“I’m an intern with Copper Cap (a contracting career internship) and I could essentially use any kind of suggestion I can get at the moment to excel in my career,” Khalifeh said.

“I think it was really well done,” said Capt. Kendra Kirkland, who also came looking for a variety of viewpoints. “Ten minutes feels like it went by really fast, but that just shows that you’re getting some great information from folks. And the fact that they had almost matched mentors to mentees was awesome.”

“It was fantastic,” said Joseph Patsch, a program manager with Atlas X. “I think Jason (Lamb) put on something that gave me everything that I wanted and more from this experience. The people I talked to were interesting, their background and experiences were all useful and relevant, and it really made me think about the future and my career here as well.”

According to Lamb, the greatest mentors don’t tell mentees what they should or shouldn’t do, but rather help their mentees figure out what’s best for them and help inform their journey, stay on track, and focus on that center. “When it’s done right, mentorship can help people make choices that fit their goals and leave them happy with where they end up, not wondering after a 20-year-career how they got there,” said Lamb.

While this latest speed mentoring event literally came and went in minutes, Lamb is building a more permanent coaching and mentoring site on SSC’s Sharepoint for people in the SSC community who are seeking mentorship or want to become mentors themselves. In the meantime, people interested in mentoring can contact him at jason.lamb.6@spaceforce.mil

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Speed Mentoring Builds Connections at Space Systems Command

Speed Mentoring Builds Connections at Space Systems Command

Speed Mentoring Builds Connections at Space Systems Command