Last Word | Catalyst
Going into reverse
Reverse mentoring; upward mentoring; mutual mentoring,
just plain old mentoring with a twist. Whatever it’s called, it’s
clear that traditional mentoring models, based on an older and
supposedly wiser mentor imparting wisdom to a more junior
mentee, are increasingly sharing the stage with models where
both parties are doing the learning.
It was Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, who
popularised the concept of reverse mentoring in the late 1990s.
His focus was on what more junior employees could teach their
elders about new technology and tools. A pilot project paired
500 senior and junior employees, ‘tipping the organisation
upside down’ with ‘the youngest and brightest teaching the
oldest’. It worked. The senior workers learned about the
latest tech; the juniors met people who could champion and
sponsor them, gaining a sense that they had a direct line into
top management.
Since then, the idea of pairing senior and junior colleagues
for mutual development has grown and adapted. These days,
the focus is as likely to be about diversity as technological
upskilling. As well as providing an effective route for executives
to catch up on skills they may never have learned, programmes
allow participants to walk in each other’s shoes, challenging
stereotypes and biases by exploring differences in age, gender,
ethnicity, disability or sexuality, while also giving more junior
employees a real sense of what their leaders actually do and
how they think and operate. Programmes that successfully
access wider perspectives have been credited with everything
from millennial and female talent retention to better cross-
generational engagement and improved inclusivity.
According to University of Minnesota professor,
Sanghamitra Chaudhuri, reverse mentoring works best when
tied to a strong business need. Her research shows that, because
reverse mentoring requires cultural shifts, especially for the
executives involved, successful programmes need buy-in from
the top, careful thought and serious commitment. Companies
also need to set clear ground rules and make expectations clear.
Widening the scope of mentoring effectively requires three ‘Ps’:
purpose, planning and preparation:
1
Purpose
What do you want your reverse mentoring
programme to achieve? Be strategic in setting
objectives in line with wider organisational goals. How will
it contribute to your D&I work, for example, or updating the
skills of your senior people? Are you looking to empower
and engage millennials or any other group? Be clear about
the learning expectations at the micro-level too: what
learning/shifts in attitudes or behaviour are you expecting
to see from participants? Clarity of purpose will help with
communication around programmes, and support better
engagement too.
2
Planning
If your organisation is new to reverse mentoring,
it’s probably best to start with a smaller-scale pilot
to test how it’ll all work before a wider roll-out. Think
about the criteria you’ll use to pair people up; how you’ll
prepare them; how you’ll monitor and measure progress;
how learning will be shared more widely, and how you’ll
use any themes and patterns that emerge. Get your most
senior leaders involved: starting at the top will show how
serious you are about the programme and encourage other
managers to take part. Leading HR consultant Professor
David Clutterbuck advocates a “significant hierarchical
gap” between mentor and mentee to overcome the
possibility that those nearer the top will fear jeopardising
their next career move by giving robust feedback. Start
with partnerships likely to be able to balance challenge
with respect, and where both parties really want to learn.
3
Preparation
Reverse mentoring deliberately puts people into an
unfamiliar and possibly uncomfortable situation,
so it’s crucial to prepare everyone involved. Explore and
define expectations. Train both parties to manage what
Clutterbuck calls “power distance issues”. Senior people
need to dial down their managerial personas, show
themselves to be open to challenge, to confront their
own assumptions and stereotypes, and – crucially – to
encourage the junior mentor to be honest and forthright.
Junior partners need to learn how to “speak truth to
power” in ways that encourage reflection and open
dialogue. As you monitor progress, participants may need
‘top-up’ coaching to explore the issues that come up.
Reverse mentoring may not entirely lead to Jack
Welch-style organisational ‘flipping’, but re-thinking
traditional mentoring hierarchies will open up your
organisation to new learning possibilities. Everyone
brings their unique experiences, capabilities and
talents to work; effective reverse mentoring provides
a framework for these to be shared and deployed.
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