Reverse mentoring pairs young professionals with a member of the leadership team to mentor them on various topics of strategic and cultural relevance — the young professional being the mentor and the person in leadership being the mentee in this relationship. This is not a new concept. In the late 1990s, GE’s Jack Welch used reverse mentoring to teach senior executives about the Internet. Reverse mentoring today can help leaders think about strategic issues, leadership guidance, and a mindset toward firm culture and project work. For young professionals, it is a way to extend their reach into the office workflow, expand their network, grow people skills, and work on their visibility within the profession.
In this relationship, the mentor and mentee are both invested. The relationship is crucial to the success of reverse mentoring. Sometimes reverse mentoring happens naturally, while some firms create formal programs. It is important to make sure that regardless of the approach, the pair is matched appropriately, both understanding the benefits and acknowledging it is crucial to have honesty and trust.
What are the benefits?
Enhances Relationships and Improves Employee Retention
Relationship building is as integral to the profession as the design work. Cultivating a relationship with a leadership team member helps young professionals increase their overall engagement with the firm, learn to give direct, honest feedback, and practice building relationships and networking. For the mentee, it builds relationships with younger professionals, offers a fresh perspective on potential initiatives, and fosters a connection that improves staff retention.
Promotes Diversity
There is no hiding the lack of diversity in leadership positions in the architectural profession across the nation. But it is promising to see more diversity in the younger professionals joining the industry and in academic programs. However, this dynamic means there is a lack of senior mentors with diverse backgrounds available for the more diverse young professionals, when looking at traditional mentoring. Reverse mentoring helps pull younger minority professionals up, giving them a seat at the table while they learn and grow with the profession. It helps to improve leaders’ understanding of minority issues, especially when the leadership is lacking diversity. It empowers emerging leaders.
Encourages Sharing of Digital Skills
Those coming out of university programs have vast knowledge of a variety of digital platforms that enhance the design process and that leaders did not have at the time of their graduation. This will be a continuing disparity as new technologies surface without enough time to learn the new programs on the job. But there are opportunities to teach others new technologies along the way. For instance, when I was a year out of school, I helped a senior professional learn InDesign. He writes the monthly newsletters for the local CSI chapter. I worked with him to set up templates and taught him how to use the program. It helps reduce the time he needs to work on the newsletter and gives him more design freedoms. That is a simple example of how technology sharing from a younger professional to a senior leader can improve workflow.
Drives Firm Culture
The future of business and this profession cannot live in the past. As technologies change, so does marketing, advertising, business development, and firm culture. What is important for firm culture varies based on the generation and will continue to be different for future generations. The relationships built through reverse mentorship help break down barriers between the levels within an office and allow the company to be more agile. The mentor in this instance is building a trustworthy relationship with the mentee, which can provide insight into the values of younger staff members. This may guide changes to workflow, schedule, work-life balance, etc.
As we have seen in 2020, many young parents are learning to balance working from home, caring for children, and the daily changes to routines and life dynamics. This presents a chance for mentors to propose changes that can help younger parents, not only during this time, but also in the future, without jeopardizing their value to the firm and professional growth.
Boosts Productivity, Engagement, and Overall Job Satisfaction
The other benefits listed above all add up to this overall benefit. When those within a firm feel heard, listened to, respected, and integral to the overall organization, it improves their work ethic, mindset, and professional growth. A reverse-mentoring program exemplifies how young professionals, as mentors, can add value to a company through their current skill sets.
You need not be in leadership to make a difference in an organization and help it succeed. Talk to your leaders about how reverse mentoring can help empower the next generation of leadership and strengthen the company.
Written by
Katelyn Rossier, AIA, LSSBB
Original Released 10/15/2020 at AIA YAF Connection Magazine
Resources:
SHRM
Considering Reverse Mentoring? Check Out These Tips
Kromatic
Reverse Mentoring: What Millennials Can Teach Executives and Managers
HBR