Reverse mentoring

The rise of mentoring in recent years has made way for a wide range of new types of mentoring. Reverse mentoring is one such type of mentoring that has seen a huge increase lately. 

Mentoring is sharing of knowledge, skills, and experience from one person to another. Mentoring is a reciprocal learning relationship which a mentor and mentee agree to a partnership, where they work collaboratively toward the achievement of mutually-defined goals that will develop a mentee's skills, abilities, knowledge, and/or thinking.

What is reverse mentoring?

Reverse mentoring is not very different in a lot of respects. Reverse mentoring is defined as one individual typically considered less experienced, more junior or younger, sharing knowledge, experience and skills in a specific area where they are more knowledgeable, with someone more senior, older or typically more experienced. Examples of reverse mentoring could include a student or recent graduate, mentoring a senior director in their late 50’s or early 60’s about technological trends seen by the younger generation. Intergenerational learning through reverse mentoring can be incredibly powerful.

Why reverse mentoring if effective

Increased retention of Millennials. Reverse-mentoring programs provide Millennials with the transparency and recognition that they’re seeking from management. When a junior employee is given the responsibility to mentor a senior employee, they feel:

• Engaged with their work as they get to share their knowledge and skills
• A sense of achievement once their mentees learn something new from them
• Recognized, respected by coworkers

Employees who feel happy, engaged and valued at work stick around for longer.

Sharing of digital skills. While digital skill development should not be the focus of a reverse-mentoring program, many of the companies we researched mentioned that it was a meaningful part of the relationship.

In the fast-paced modern world, keeping up with technological advancements can be a bit difficult for senior executives. Learning about social media, cloud-based computing, and other modern digital skills can be overwhelming for them. Even most tech-savvy employees like software engineers require a lot of reading and training to stay up to date with new technologies.

Upward mentoring allows junior employees to share their digital skills with senior executives and help them stay up to date. Not only that, it also helps executives tackle ageism and increase their confidence when discussing digital topics at work

Driving culture change. The millennial mentors  educate senior executives on the importance of social media influencers for the overall shopping experience, strategy.”

Promoting diversity.  Despite being diverse, many organizations fail to cultivate a sense of belonging among employees. If an employee does not feel welcomed at the workplace, it takes a big toll on their mental health. This can lead to lower productivity and higher turnover. 

Mentoring helps employees feel engaged and creates a sense of belongingness. As younger employees are more likely to be ethnically and racially diverse, reverse mentoring can be the best option to promote diversity in the workplace.

Empowers New Hires To Speak Up   Entry-level employees are more interested in pleasing their managers and senior executives than criticizing current practices. Organizations need each individual, especially entry-level employees, to be more collaborative and fearless to speak up for the betterment of the company. Because in upward mentoring, junior employees need to mentor senior employees, they get the chance and power to speak up. They practice leadership in a low-risk environment which helps them develop their career as leaders.

Improves Critical Business Skills     While senior employees lack in technology advancement, they have more business skills than new workers. Upward mentoring not only helps the mentee learn new technology and social media trends, but mentors also gain deeper understanding of company culture and learn critical business skills from their mentees. They get to learn inside information such as how the company works, the right terminology to use when discussing a business concept, and what to do and what not to do. These kinds of skills are crucial for surviving in the corporate world and for career development.

What care to be taken

The right match is crucial. First, emphasize diversity, matching across region, department, and location. Also match for diverse personalities (e.g., it is better to have an introvert paired with an extravert than to pair two introverts). Second, consult mentees before making the pairing formal. While most Millennial mentors accepted any pairing (as long as the mentee was committed), executive mentees were more selective, as they were concerned about crossing supervisory lines and any appearance of conflict of interest.

Address mentees’ fear and distrust. Many executives are fearful of revealing their lack of knowledge to junior employees. But if the fears are addressed explicitly, open sharing can be incredibly rewarding.

Ensure strong commitment from the mentees. The number one reason that reverse-mentoring programs fail is that the executives don’t prioritize the relationship; after a couple of cancelled sessions, the momentum quickly dwindles. But it’s the Millennial mentors who should drive the program through sharing best practices, helping to select new cohorts, and training mentors.          

I am remembering having read in one book about ChandraGupta.  Chanakya and Chandragupta wanted to defeat the powerful Nandas and win over their kingdom, so they strategized and pulled off a surprise attack directly on Dhana Nand in Magadh itself. But they were defeated and had to run away to be spared.

They needed to devise a better strategy but were unable to zero in upon one. One night after dinner while Chanakya was returning back to his home, he heard a mother scolding her child while they had just started the dinner of hot dal and rice. She was telling him “Don’t start eating from the centre of the rice heap which has hot dal poured over it. It is hot in the centre and you will burn your fingers just like Chandragupta did. Start eating from sides”. This was the guidance Chanakya was waiting for. He and Chandragupta then left Magadh and travelled to outskirts of Nanda kingdom. They raised a huge army and started capturing the regions of Nanda kingdom from outside moving towards the core (Magadh) with each win. Thus they gained huge success and territories while their popularity grew with each success. Then by the time they reached Magadh, the people of Magadh were so much in awe of the young Chandragupta that they welcomed him with open arms leading to Dhana Nand's defeat.

This is also form of reverse mentoring as the great King Chndragupa and Chanakya lean an important war strategy from a citizen of the state and implement it for their victory.

Conclusion

Reverse mentoring represents an extraordinary opportunity for businesses and individuals to unlock their full potential in the ever-changing work landscape. By staying open to fresh perspectives and being willing to collaborate across generations and levels of experience, we can build more inclusive, dynamic, and, ultimately, more successful organizations.

Source: Internet