How I tackled the first 100 days of my new role with reverse mentoring

This June, I expanded my role as head of corporate communications at LinkedIn to also serve as the company’s Chief Marketing Officer. After a twenty-year career in corporate communications, I had mostly mastered key skill sets needed for the new job, such as storytelling, building global teams, and managing complex internal and external situations. But that was only the beginning of what I needed to really succeed as CMO.

After approaching a few trusted colleagues from my professional network for advice on the best ways to get up to speed, my friend Melissa Selcher, Cisco’s Chief Communications Officer, suggested I try something she had been doing with her own team.  She called it “reverse mentoring,” and she recommended it as a great way to learn about an unfamiliar topic.

Unlike traditional mentoring, reverse mentoring flips the model. Instead of a senior person advising a junior person, it’s precisely the opposite. While many people in a new position tend to go in and try to flex their muscles, I decided I needed to let my guard down and be upfront about what I didn’t know. So, I asked members of my team to give me a crash course in their fields of expertise in a low-stress environment where I could ask with as many questions as possible.

The Specific Ask:  In an effort to get smarter about what teams do on a day-to-day basis, I asked them to prepare for one-hour deep dives on several essential topics were relatively foreign to me, ranging from SEO and SEM to demand generation from product marketing to marketing automation. My objective was to gain a deeper understanding of the internal and external landscape on each topic, as well as any relevant best practices. I asked for volunteers from different business lines to collaborate and put together the materials, and I provided a general outline of what I wanted to hear. I also asked people to keep the slides to a minimum and instead tell a story – not read words from a PowerPoint deck.

The Surprising Outcome:  The results have been fantastic. Not only did I learn the fundamentals of each discipline, but I learned about the industry landscape and our approach at LinkedIn. The teams showed me their work flow, examples of campaigns, and how they are making an impact. We were also able to identify a few roadblocks that have prevented us from realizing the full potential of an opportunity in the past. And as an unplanned outcome, I got to know some of the talented people in my organization with whom I don’t get to interact regularly, so I now know a lot more names and faces, and overall, I came away feeling better connected, more informed, and well-equipped with a list of priorities.

The Unexpected Benefits: In the end, I wasn’t the only one who left these sessions feeling newly energized and excited. My entire marketing team benefited. In many cases, the expertise for a topic stretched across multiple teams, and we were able to foster deeper relationships among colleagues as marketers joined forces to present a shared (or differing) point of view. One of the presenting teams has even begun collaborating regularly as a result of their prep for the session. Watching me take copious notes and try to understand something new in record time, the teams felt valued and understood that I truly wanted to know more about them and what they do. When they raised a few hot-button issues, those items ended up on my radar of things to go wrestle down and fix. And now people on the team better know me, my style, and my habit of asking questions until I fully understand how something works.

Looking ahead, I see great value in continuing the reverse mentoring program well beyond my first two quarters in the role.  Just as we completed our first wave of sessions (11 meetings in two months), I’ve added a few more topics to the list of things about which I want to learn. Next up: pricing strategy and customer segmentation.

I’m an ardent fan of any opportunities that so effectively empower the team and me to build a more effective marketing and communications powerhouse together.

Have you had experiences with reverse mentoring? Or do you think the concept wouldn’t work at your company? I’d love to hear your thoughts.