Young talent isn’t the only resources in the office who need training. The digital revolution has also transformed the way of learning: if once skills were handed down from top to bottom, following a specific level of seniority, today the flow is reversed.
It’s called reverse mentoring and it’s the process that makes l ‘education a two-way phenomenon : while senior colleagues can pass on their baggage of professional experience to juniors, young Millennials do not just take notes, but respond by sharing their digital knowledge.
The entry of Millennials and Generation X resources, connected since birth, is, therefore, an extraordinary opportunity to bring l into the company the embodiment of technology , ready to be spread to the corporate population.
Ryan Holmes, founder and CEO of Hootsuite, knows that in a recent article about his experience in reverse mentoring.
An approach that began, by chance, on the occasion of the creation of a company newsletter: Holmes wanted to create a communication to periodically get in touch with his employees and had identified in the newsletter the most effective means for his objectives.
During a coffee break, however, a young resource allowed herself to give her opinion to the CEO, showing courage and initiative: “no one will read an entire newsletter, boss” – the junior may have said – “better try a less boring and more dynamic content, like a video ”.
Winning intuition: Holmes changes course and, since then, has been sending its employees a weekly video message, gaining approval and adhesions.
A success associated with Holmes’s open attitude: how many CEOs would have trusted the hi-tech advice of a young new employee?
Yet this is reverse mentoring: an occasion in which young and senior resources come together , without prejudice or status barriers, to exchange knowledge and skills on an equal footing.
In what areas? Here are some… from a very long list.
Reverse mentoring: this is when it is convenient to take lessons from juniors
Young recruits bring the fresh wind of novelty to the company that every enlightened leader should make sure they embrace. Especially when the market you work in is contaminated with innovation and change. The hottest topics to take lessons from juniors on? Without a doubt artificial intelligence , the world of apps and digital communication in mobility.
Let yourself be guided by the Millennials also in matters of big data , blockchain and cryptocurrencies , 3 elements that alone promise to lead the business world in the coming decades.
Not just hard: juniors have a lot to teach in terms of soft skills.One of the many? The ability to enhance diversity and capitalize on the human and cultural variety typical of the contemporary context.
The good habit of reverse mentoring
There will come a day when seniors will teach juniors how to run a meeting or lead a negotiation, while juniors will educate adults about the dynamics of the network and the world of bitcoin.
That day is today: don’t miss the opportunities of reverse mentoring and integrate this phenomenon with internal business processes. In order not to lose the rhythm, be sure to set specific moments dedicated to the generational meeting and invite resources to exchange knowledge.
Whether they are formal – like a weekly recurring – or casual – like a light talk during the coffee break – whether they are short – like a lunch with digital – or structured – teams like an annual hackathon – don’t underestimate the importance of opening up to the new things every day.
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