Reverse Mentoring: Embracing What Millennials Can Teach Others

To all the Millennials: Hola! Now, put on your mentor hat!

Mentorships are an excellent developmental tool for organizations, especially those with multiple generations co-existing within the workplace. But the mentoring landscape is changing, and successful organizations are embracing these changes.

Mentoring is about guiding development or workers and the transfer of knowledge. While historically, mentors have been older and more experienced than their mentees, the mentors of today can be younger but more tech savvy. So, what does this new mentoring relationship look like? More important, what are the benefits for organizations that use them? 

In this new relationship, the younger employee wears the mentor hat, but provides the more experienced industry expert with technology know-how. In some circumstances, these young mentors provide valuable insight on navigating various social media applications, including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Pinterest—all of which have become essential modes of organizational communication and can be overwhelming to individuals from the Traditionalist or Baby Boomer generations. This phenomenon, known as reverse mentoring, has been championed by companies like General Electric and Ogilvy & Mather.

For example, I had one “younger” client persuade her organization to decrease the number of paper newsletters it delivered to customers in favor of creating a Twitter account to communicate the organization’s message to customers. She was given the responsibility to manage the content on the account based on information obtained from regular team meetings led by the company’s president.

Since making the change, the organization has been able to reach a larger target market.  Additionally, with the decrease in costs used on the print newsletter, the company has been able to repurpose funds to other critical areas. The point: Although younger than some of her colleagues working in marketing and communication, the Millennial mentor was able to teach her older co-workers a thing or two about using social media to reach customers. 

Bottom line: Millennials, who are typically motivated by challenge and change, thrive in situations that allow them to take ownership of their work. In this turbulent economy, in which organizations are challenged by tightening employee development budgets, reverse mentoring relationships can be used to build morale and improve retention.

A mentoring program that gives Millennials the opportunity to use their technical savvy to teach an industry expert how to navigate the world of social media will keep them motivated to succeed. At the same time, the industry expert is able to impart their industry knowledge to their younger co-worker. The result is a win-win for all parties involved, especially the organization.   

A meaningful mentorship program—including a reverse mentoring program—fosters employee development by building on the strengths of a diverse and changing workforce. Remember: Employee development is a journey, not a destination. Therefore, it is imperative to embrace changes along the way.

Resources:  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203764804577060051461094004.html

http://www.careerstonegroup.com/z-media/wp-mentoring.pdf