Employee diversity and inclusive leadership are goals for most organizations today, but how do we get there? Try a “reverse mentorship” program, which sets up junior team members to guide senior staff. Here are 6 tips to make reverse mentorship work, from executive coach and personal development advocate Patrice Gordon.
| 1) | Make your match thoughtfully | Find someone who has a pulse on the key spokespeople in the organization to help you make your match. This doesn’t have to be someone in human resources, just someone who knows you and your teams well, because chemistry really matters.
Also make sure that your mentor isn’t a direct report or part of your team, because it will be really difficult to elicit honest feedback from someone who you also have to review at the end of the year. If you’re in finance, find someone creative in marketing, or if you’re in engineering, find someone in customer service. This will ensure that you develop perspectives from outside of your immediate team and different perspectives make better leaders. |
| 2) | To make things simple, set some ground rules | The first meeting should be offsite in a neutral location. If you’re the mentee, you should set the agenda. What is it that you really want to learn? Maybe you’d like to understand your mentor’s career journey or perhaps whether they’ve had any major obstacles they’ve had to overcome, or maybe you’d like to understand how specific company policies impact them either directly or indirectly.
Agree that your conversations together will be confidential and whether there are any topics which are off limits, such as family life or specific feedback on individuals. |
| 3) | Start with an icebreaker | Think of this as a long elevator pitch of your life stories. Who are you? Poignant moments in your life. What are your hopes and dreams? Pivot to seek differences and not similarities because that’s the real power of reverse mentoring. |
| 4) | Beware of role reversion | remember that as a mentor for this very short period of time, your insights are actually more valuable to the organization. |
| 5) | Make time for reflection | Agree the key takeaways from each of the sessions, either at the end or through follow-up email and schedule your sessions to allow time between for reflection. We found that three to four weeks provided a great rhythm. |
| 6) | Give credit where credit is due | In the traditional mentoring relationship, the mentor isn’t expected to be given credit. However, in reverse mentoring where the mentee actually holds a lot of the power accurate credit really counts. |
Forward-thinking organizations use reverse mentoring as one of the tools to help them build a more inclusive environment. And studies have shown that when organizations embrace reverse mentoring members of those underrepresented groups feel more confident in sharing their perspectives. And when accompanied by a comprehensive diversity and inclusion strategy, it leads to higher retention amongst these groups.
