Workplace benefits of reverse mentorship

One of the key benefits that comes from reverse mentoring is that it brings together a multigenerational workforce, says Garth Byrne, head of learning and development at Employment Hero.

“With four different generations in the workforce, you can imagine there’s some very different perspectives,” he told HRD Australia. “So creating a more common culture, common language, way of working amongst those groups of people is probably the big one. It breaks down that barrier; encourages a lot more dialogue between senior leaders and junior employees.”

Reverse mentoring involves senior employees learning from their junior counterparts in a formal work setting.

Byrne highlighted that the younger, less experienced employee gets an immediate connection with a senior leader to build their leadership style as well as receive career advice, guidance and support. And in turn, the senior leader receives a different perspective on how the workforce should be from the junior employee.

“Mentoring is always a two-way relationship,” Byrne said. “So even when we go into it as a mentor to teach someone else, we're going to learn things ourselves. And so there is that immediate benefit of that direct line to a senior leader. [Of] that individual building a brand, credibility, demonstrating their experience that then allows them to be considered for upcoming opportunities.”

Byrne added that it could also lead to employee retention.  

The benefits and potential challenges of mentoring

Byrne described how he has seen reverse mentoring work.

“Where I've seen reverse mentoring used quite effectively was around the adaptation of social media, technology, customer demographics, ways of working,” he said. “Especially companies that want to perhaps change their culture or their environment to be less traditional, more contemporary.”

And while there are benefits to having it, Byrnes also acknowledged the challenges that reverse mentoring could bring.

“We're now talking about a senior audience who are very experienced and experts in the fields that we're partnering with someone that they may potentially view as less experienced, less capable of teaching them,” he said.

“So that can be one of the barriers that we have to overcome, is how do we sell this to senior leaders and make them understand that they will gain something from this. There's benefit to their own skills, knowledge and expertise that they'll develop.”

In addition, it could mean providing support to the mentor.

“The mentor may require some coaching, some training to be able to effectively lead that conversation,” Byrne added. “But it also means that the senior leader needs to be prepared to sit back and be the participant and not control the conversation or not jump in and try to dictate the course of action.”

Implementing reverse mentoring programs

For HR teams considering a reverse mentoring program, Byrnes said it requires a lot more planning upfront.

“That planning is typically made up of creating a purpose for the program and getting senior leaders on board with what that purpose is,” he said. “It can also mean that you're taking a senior leader away from a very busy job with very high expectations where they're going to have to carve time out for this. So there's a lot of prep and there's a lot of setup.”

But it could also lead to lifelong career relationships, Byrne said.

“The reason I think every organisation should be doing this is it becomes a unique, tailored experience for the two individuals involved,” he said. “No two reverse mentoring relationships are going to be the same. It provides a development opportunity that we wouldn't necessarily normally get.”