Engaging and Up-Skilling GenZ With Reverse Mentoring

I’ve been both a mentor and a mentee. Typically, I mentor people that I have more experience than, and I'm mentored by people with more experience than me. That how these things usually work. When I first heard about reverse mentoring I was curious to give it a go. Could it be that much different? What would I learn? Would it be better?

Yesterday I spoke at Essex County Council ’s LearnFest alongside Ife Obasa and Dan Sullivan . Over the next few minutes I want to share what Reverse Mentoring is, my experience of being a mentor to someone older than me, and key takeaways for both #GenZ and other generations.

A brief Introduction

You’ve probably all heard of mentoring by now. It’s when a senior professional offers advice, support and guidance to a young person. But what about the other way around? Reverse mentoring (RV) is when a junior professional (GenZ) mentors a senior professional, offering them advice, support and guidance.

My experience

There are a certain group of GenZ that are actively looking for mentors, advice and support with their career. I happen to be one of them now. But the thing is I know what I am looking for. Often that’s the kind of person who is in a position that I want to be in some five or ten years from now…

At the start of the reverse mentoring program ran by Gen Z Talks I was partnered with someone that I may not have approached or connected with in traditional mentoring. Even though we used some similar skills day-to-day, they worked in a different industry to me. Little did I know that would actually become one of the biggest value adds of the programme.

Since I was pushed out of my comfort zone, I got to learn about a new industry (Banking), and a new way of working. I was also able to learn techniques from BD that I could apply to my own work. I learnt a lot. But I also offered a lot. In traditional mentoring, the onus is on GenZ to be a sponge, to just learn, and there’s an expectation for the mentor to only get a warm fuzzy feeling and perhaps not learn anything. Reverse mentoring is different and I shared insight into education and CEIAG industries that my mentee didn’t know about. Ontop of that, I was able to support my mentee with advice on how GenZ think and act.

Reverse mentoring can be a two way street of value.

What's good and what's different

One key benefit that I see for young people is a growth in confidence. Especially from COVID, we know that GenZ have a skills gap. They are (generally) missing key social skills and have a different expectation of what working life will be like. But equally there is a skills gap for older generations in the workplace. Digital skills and innovation to name a few.

Isn’t it interesting that these are the skills GenZ have in abundance?

During the talk Ife Obasa also added how reverse mentoring can be a powerful tool for innovation (for both GenZ and senior staff). If we silo ourselves into the ‘GenZ’ crowd or the ‘engineer crowd’ how will we learn new ways of thinking? RV offers a ‘fresh pair of eyes’ and a new approach, questioning:

“Why do you do it like that?”

“Have you always done it that way?”

How valuable would it be to create meaningful change within your organization?

GenZ have skills to share and they can learn whilst doing. If you can give them to responsibility to be a mentor of someone senior to them, it shows that you trust them. It shows that they have value. And it shows that you are confident in their ability.

Even though you're still ambitious about their potential.

Next Steps

If you have GenZ staff, you may have already considered a mentoring programme. Hell, you may even have one! But have you considered reverse mentoring? It’s a chance to go above and beyond by engaging GenZ in meaningful ‘professional’ friendships rather than expecting them to soak up a wealth of experience. It helps GenZ become more confident and your organization become more innovative – as well as closing skills gaps.

Give it a try and let me know what you think?

Jake