Trend watch: Reverse mentoring

During a Live Chat on this website last week, personal branding specialist, author and mentor Timothy Maurice Webster spoke about a trend that is quickly catching on in the corporate world.

“Reverse mentoring is a huge trend. Younger professionals advising older executives in technology is taking over,” he said.

Webster shared a link to an article on The Wall Street Journal website. The article explained that in an effort to school senior executives in technology, social media and the latest workplace trends, many businesses were pairing executives higher up the career ladder with younger employees in a practice known as reverse mentoring.

The trend was taking off at various companies, particularly advertising and technology firms.

Originally the idea was meant to teach managers about life outside the corner office but soon it became apparent that there was a secondary welcome outcome – it reduced staff turnover among younger employees.

Through the mentoring project brightsparks attained a sense of purpose, access to the top brass and  a rare glimpse into the world of management.     

While chief executive of General Electric (GE) between 1981 and 2001, Jack Welsh championed reverse mentoring and urged 500 GE executives to reach out to their charges to learn about the Internet. Welsh was matched with a 20-year-old who taught him how to surf the web.

Multinationals like Ogilvy & Mather, Hewlett Packard and Cisco Systems are some of the firms that have set up projects for mentors to teach mentees about Facebook, Twitter, Skype, etc.   

Click here to read Webster's blog.