Reverse Mentoring: Mentoring Comes Full Circle

By Marc Rayfield

We are in the midst of an industrial revolution, unlike anything we’ve seen since the early twentieth century. As quickly as a company adapts to new technology, it runs the risk of becoming obsolete.

Is it any surprise that the skills of many successful business leaders and entrepreneurs are in need of a refresh at a time when the playbook is constantly being rewritten? That’s why many now seek the help from “reverse mentors.”

Reverse mentoring simply means that a junior team member enters into a professional relationship with someone more senior for the purpose of exchanging skills, knowledge, and understanding. The practice has many benefits within an organization, serving both sides of the relationship. New employees have an opportunity to work alongside senior leaders, build relationships and create faster routes up the ladder, while senior leaders acquire new skills. Reverse mentoring also allows for a two-way exchange of feedback and ideas, creates honest dialogue, better communication, more collaboration, inclusiveness, and diversity.

Former GE CEO Jack Welch was widely considered to be the “father” of reverse mentoring. In 1999, he famously mandated that his 500 most senior leaders meet with new hires to learn about new tools and technologies.

I had the opportunity to spend a few hours with Mr. Welch about ten years ago, and he explained his belief to me.

“The internet had been transforming business at a rapid rate,” said Welch. “Many of our younger employees were more able to teach us than we were to teach them. The senior leaders had skills and wisdom that the younger ones did not yet possess, but they also had know how that we needed, particularly as it related to technology.”

Young job seekers understand that those who came before them have knowledge and experience beyond their own. If the experienced did not share that knowledge with the inexperienced, where would we be as a society today? Would there be innovation? Would we find cures for diseases? Probably not.

With this coin flipping so rapidly, it has created vast opportunities for a knowledge exchange. Smart leaders are acknowledging where they have fallen behind and are seeking those who can bring their skills up to date. Particularly in small and medium size companies, it becomes necessary to reach out beyond the existing workforce. Companies like Coca Cola, Target, Mastercard, and KPMG have developed their own reverse mentoring programs. They understand that millennials are simply not interested in jobs in certain sectors of business, and that offering reverse mentoring will help retain them. Much of this centers on connecting with the younger generation, and how to attract them to companies.

I have always believed in the value of mentors. Traditionally, I sought leaders older than myself who had a wealth of wisdom and life experience. I’m fortunate to have learned from many of the best and brightest: Joanne Harmelin, the founder of one of America’s largest female owned media companies, Dick Vermeil, the Super Bowl winning head coach of the St. Louis Rams, Lew Klein, the ABC- TV executive for whom the Klein School of Communications at Temple University is named, and David Watson, the Chief Operating Officer of Comcast. With the exception of Lew Klein, who passed away last July, I still speak to my personal “Board of Directors” frequently, as well as a handful of others.

Today, I also seek counseling from younger “reverse mentors,” including a twenty-six-year-old social media expert. When I accepted my position as Executive Vice President, Sales at OTG, an airport-based hospitality, and OOH Media company, I had a very basic understanding of social media, which was an important part of the company’s solution platforms. Other than maintaining a LinkedIn page, I had put little effort into learning how to navigate any other social media platforms. While at CBS, I’d had a full staff of social media experts who handled the digital responsibilities for all of our brands, and never felt the need to invest much time into learning about the intricacies of the platforms. This was not the case at OTG, a much smaller company where social media skills were essential. If I was going to successfully pull my own weight, I had to get up to speed as quickly as possible, so I sought outside counsel to better understand just how social media fit into our customer’s marketing strategies.

With the guidance of my ‘reverse mentor’, I learned the impact that social media has on commerce today, much of which is driven direct to consumers. OTG’s “secret sauce” has been, amongst other things, the thousands of iPads used to improve the customer ordering experience at our restaurants and markets in airport terminals across North America. By connecting platforms like Instagram and Twitter, we gave partners, and therefore guests the opportunity to download QR codes to receive discounts, aggregate data, play free video games while accumulating virtual coins redeemable at our stores, and use facial recognition software to drive online offers. Thanks to my reverse mentor, I now feel confident leveraging the power of social media. Leave it to someone half my age, along with the help of my teenage daughters, to bring me up to speed!

Reverse mentoring will only become more important as digital technology continues to replace the old way of doing things. The business world is constantly changing. In order to remain relevant, it is important to get on board, whether we want to or not. The other option, of course, is obsolescence.

Marc Rayfield is a member of the Eleven Canterbury network where he is a Revenue Expert. Most recently he was the Executive Vice President at OTG Management. Before that Marc was with the CBS Corporation for over 27 years where he served as a Senior Vice President/Market Manager.