Features
Reverse Mentoring Empowers Emerging and Established Leaders
Alexia Vernon, 05-10-2009
Branded creative, collaborative and tech savvy, as well as disrespectful, entitled and downright whiny, Millennials will be the largest generation in the workplace by 2012.
Even in the recession, Millennials are being recruited for positions in health care, education, public service and energy independence. Growing up, this group was told it was privileged to be educated in the most diverse classrooms in America’s history and to have constant access to technology. Raised primarily by baby-boomer parents, Millennials heard they should use their values and resources to make a social impact.
As they arrive in the workplace, iPhones and MacBooks in hand, they often yearn to effect change, but often lack the experience, professional relationships, interpersonal communication and leadership skills to do so.
Meanwhile, senior leaders are realizing “that by the time you’re in your 40s and 50s, you’re not in touch with the future the same way the young 20-somethings [are],” said Alan Webber, co-founder of Fast Company magazine.
A reverse mentoring relationship — popularized by former GE Chairman Jack Welch, who in 1999 instructed 500 of his top managers to partner with emerging technology leaders and learn from their expertise — can create opportunities for senior organizational leaders to stay competitive in an increasingly Millennial-driven marketplace. It exposes these leaders to the assets, experiences and challenges of emerging leaders.
By preparing the next generation for senior leadership, it also ensures organizations can thrive once current leaders transition out. Such programs particularly benefit young female and minority professionals who often lack access to the informal mentoring networks available to their white male colleagues.
Procter & Gamble (P&G) implemented a reverse mentoring program called Mentor Up that paired senior male executives with emerging female leaders. As a result of the program, senior male leaders began to respond to their female employees’ needs through effective cross-gender communication. P&G lowered its female employee turnover rate by 25 percent, bringing it on par with its male rate.
For a reverse mentoring relationship to be beneficial for the senior leader, the emerging leader and ultimately the organization, several features must be in place.
First, each party must articulate its expectations of the other and commit fully to the mutually agreed upon rules. Will the two parties meet once a month, face-to-face, for six months? Who will take the lead on which projects? How will each partner provide feedback to the other? The more fully the pair fleshes out the mentoring contract, the more the two can have their needs and desires met.
Second, both parties should genuinely want to learn from and share with the other. In a reverse mentoring partnership, each party serves as mentor and mentee. While one mentor, because of rank or skill, might wear one hat more than the other, both parties have a responsibility to swap hats as appropriate.
Third, each party must trust the other. Mentoring thrives when mentors and mentees push one another outside of their comfort zones and try new ways of thinking, working and being. For a mentor to feel safe making such a request, and a mentee to be prepared and eager to embrace it, both parties must believe that each is acting in the other’s best interest.
Finally, both parties must be transparent. If something about the relationship feels off, discuss the discomfort head-on, before dissatisfaction builds and commitment and trust to the partnership wanes. When professionals across generations work together, a period of negotiation is often necessary to adjust to different communication, learning and working styles. Confronting these moments and feelings proactively can facilitate important insight and growth for both parties. «
Alexia Vernon is an ICF certified coach, trainer, speaker and president of Catalyst for Action, a leadership development company. She is an adjunct professor at CUNY/John Jay College and New Jersey City University and is a featured blogger with Brazen Careerist. She can be reached at editor@diversity-executive.com.
