Reverse Mentoring: 7 Tips for an Effective Reverse Mentorship

Reverse mentoring is a process by which a younger mentor shares advice and input with an older mentee at their company. Different generations have different perspectives—baby boomer employees might have spent a longer time in the workforce, whereas millennials and Gen Z junior team members might have more expertise with new technologies and social trends.

Reverse mentoring can supplement traditional mentoring rather than outright replace it. In this way, the process enables everyone at a company to learn from one another, regardless of their age or background.

Reverse mentorship enables people of all generations to profit from one another’s input. Here are three key benefits to implementing a reverse mentoring program at your workplace:

• Greater employee engagement: Reverse mentorship is a form of leadership development and can especially engage younger employees. Someone might have spent fewer years at a business or in the workforce in general, but that doesn’t mean they’re a less experienced person in every capacity. Giving everyone an opportunity to make a difference and lead helps boost engagement and potentially increases your employee retention rate.
• Improved camaraderie: When you invite both older and younger workers to participate in a reverse mentoring relationship, you help close the generation gap and create a more inclusive company culture. When you pair reverse mentoring with more traditional mentoring programs, everyone can feel like they’re both learning and teaching in equal measure. This helps level the playing field, improves the sense of egalitarianism, and boosts morale among all employees.
• Increased skill acquisition: Younger mentors can help older employees learn valuable digital skills. Along the way, these young employees also work through leadership skill development of their own. Senior leaders can benefit from listening to their younger staff as well. In all cases, reverse mentoring can go a long way in helping people both acquire new skills and refine current ones.

Reverse mentoring might feel counterintuitive, but it will come naturally if you keep a few core precepts in mind. These are seven tips to remember when pursuing this type of mentoring:

1. 1. Communicate considerately. For both the younger and older generations, a reverse mentorship program is a great way to practice communication skills. Both parties in any mentor and mentee relationship should address each other respectfully, kindly, and openly. Everyone has something to learn from one another, so it’s essential to communicate with this in mind rather than to pursue a more pedantic or condescending strategy.
2. 2. Define goals clearly. A successful reverse mentoring relationship relies on clearly defined goals. Both parties should know what to expect from the relationship, including what their roles and end goals should be. For example, one employee might help another learn how to use new software, but that doesn’t mean they should share unsolicited advice about their personal life, too. Senior executives and managers can help clarify these goals when laying out the stipulations of the program.
3. 3. Establish metrics to measure success. Reverse mentoring works best when everyone involved has a clearly defined measure for the relationship’s success. Senior managers and junior employees can work together to create a rubric to ensure every reverse mentorship proves beneficial for all parties.
4. 4. Encourage mutual mentorship. The junior mentor can still learn plenty of things from the senior mentee. Try to build a relationship in which learning and teaching go in both directions for both parties. Reverse mentoring working in tandem with more traditional mentoring can prove effective for everybody.
5. 5. Keep an open mind. Approach your reverse mentorship program with a fresh perspective, whether you’re a mentor or mentee. By remaining open-minded, older employees can take a moment to truly glean wisdom and advice from younger employees. The reverse remains true as well—younger mentors can still gain insight from their older mentees.
6. 6. Pair partners well. Try to match junior employees with senior employees based on personality and need. For instance, you could pair an older sales executive with a younger marketing professional to talk about what trends are most appealing to the younger generation.
7. 7. Target specific skills for improvement. When spearheading reverse mentorship initiatives, try to define what specific skills you hope older employees can learn from younger ones. The goal is often to instruct the older generation about how to use new technology. Other times, you might hope for a younger employee to help an older one with softer skill sets—perhaps instructing someone older about new cultural norms and expectations.

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