Moving Forward with Reverse Mentoring

No one wants to grow old, we all want to remain young as long as possible, and businesses are no exception.

There are so many interpretations of Wordsworth’s invaluable thought, “The Child is father of the Man,” expressed by him in the timeless classic, My Heart Leaps Up. In a professional business institution, this line esoterically sheds light on the importance of Reverse Mentoring (RM). 

RM, which is all about the amalgamation of experience and exposure for efficacious learning was introduced by Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric (GE) in 1999. Welch’s novel experiment of shared learning, which he has done by pairing 500 senior employees with junior ones, was later emulated by various inspirational brands such as Cisco, HP, Fidelity, and Bharti Airtel, one of India’s leading conglomerates. They have implemented RM very successfully to address various pressing issues, including high attrition rate of young talent, rising skill gaps among senior managers, lack of cohesiveness in teams, and communication gap with the millennial audience.    

Not just unlearning, great leaders always keep themselves open to reverse mentoring.

When the smartness of young talent is backed by the wisdom of senior executives, the organization experiences a heck of a lot better learning culture and reaps enormous benefits of RM. While senior leaders at the helm of the organization drive it towards the vision, the familiarity of junior executives with contemporary changes in technologies, demographics, and market dynamics help an enterprise to keep it unique, relevant, and young.

Undoubtedly, a long tenure or inning of grey heads in the industry triggers their grey cells to prepare plans with in-depth analysis and precision, but many times, their junior fellows show more receptivity and quickness while adapting to futuristic technologies and trends. The former group seems better at steering the company towards its long-run goals, the latter one offers desired speed and momentum to achieve targets within the stipulated time. However, for reaping maximum benefits from RT, the right pairing is quintessential. The pairing should be based on the alikeness of personalities and behaviors of senior professionals and their younger counterparts. Hereby, the HR should take care of all those aspects in advance which keep the learning free from all sorts of behavioral distractions. 

Learning to refresh knowledge and skills from the fresh minds and with a fresh mindset should be the focus of every reverse mentoring program.

Of course, learning is a lifelong process and excelling in it is as important for senior members of the organization as it is for the juniors. As everyone possesses some special qualities, exchange of skills and attributes between mentors and mentees makes learning a holistic process, a formula to stay young and competent. Besides, to stay relevant to the demands and expectations of the young audience, seasoned or matured brands should adopt reverse mentoring as an integral part of marketing plans.