Reverse Mentoring

Small companies and start-ups can often introduce new ideas more rapidly and therefore adapt more easily to innovative ideas. Whereas, the large company finds it problematic to introduce innovation and share new ideas. But what large corporates can do more successfully is to implement reverse mentoring to get a wider well qualified and trained minds to enrich the idea. Reverse mentoring can not only enrich the idea but make implementation and testing so much smoother. Jack Welch is largely credited to have thought about reverse mentoring first by basically paring a young and an old employee together to teach each other. 

We need a mindset for reverse mentoring. 

We need to do away with the notion that the one works the more experience they gather and have more to learn. However, newer and younger staff and even fresh graduates entering the workplace also come with knowledge of new tools can give a fresh perspective, and even speed up current practices which can benefit the existing staffs and the company. Scope for improvement is always there. This makes top-down learning great not only because it upgrades technologies but brings fresh ideas too. These junior teammates create a new fusion of skill updates and knowledge and experience of senior team members. This article is to explore reverse mentoring discuss how you can use it to build our skills and bridge generational gaps. Unlike conventional mentoring where a mentor is more senior and experienced than his mentee, in reverse mentoring the two persons understand their skill gaps and close with each other’s help.  

Structuring a reverse mentoring program. 

Here a senior and a newcomer are paired together for a defined number of sessions. To begin with, both, share their interests and knowledge freely and even some shortcomings. This helps them both to plan design a mentoring program for the other. A degree of honesty and frankness will enable great learning between the two. 

 The benefit of reverse mentoring

 Reverse mentoring bridges the gaps between older knowledge and newer knowledge. It promotes an environment of free flow learning and an environment of knowledge share to the team’s benefit. A blend of ideas with continuous learning and innovations besides boost camaraderie and collaborative spirit across the team. A highly looked-for partnership of the old and the new, but it may not happen without a struggle.