28 Oct Could reciprocal mentoring be one of the solutions to tackling the big people and organisational challenges now and in the future?
The world of work has drastically changed since the global pandemic and now we have all just about learned how to adjust to this new way of working and living, the big “people” challenges facing organisations are coming back to the top of the to-do list again. Namely, Talent – attraction and retention, D, E & I and employee experience. This calls for a different approach and I believe there is a unique opportunity to use a different, not so popular or well used type of mentoring to address these challenges – Reciprocal Mentoring.
Mentoring is not a new concept. Many organisations across the globe have created traditional/development mentoring programmes and initiatives to address people and organisational challenges in the past, such as, career development, career progression, leadership development, diversity and many more. This type of mentoring still has its place and will continue to be valuable. However, as we’ve learned throughout the last 20 months we need to start thinking differently and explore different ways to solve the problems we face now and in the future.
Context – the why?
Let’s look at the post pandemic context and what we know from research conducted. We have a multi-generational workforce and a workforce who is getting younger and therefore expect different things from work. Many organisations are experiencing a mass exodus of employees, it’s even got its own label in the US with it being called “The Great Resignation”! Whilst UK unemployment has fallen, there is a record rise in the number of job vacancies. We also know from various pieces of research that an organisation’s purpose is becoming increasingly important to employees, in that they want to work somewhere where they can be recognised, grow and, most of all, is inclusive.
In their September 2021 article Shaping the “new-possible” through employee experience McKinsey state that “leaders have a unique opportunity to listen to their employees and engage them on what matters — now and into the future”. I don’t think there could be a better time than to use Reciprocal Mentoring as a valuable method to listen and engage with employees on what matters.
Why not Reverse Mentoring?
Whilst Reverse Mentoring is being used more widely by organisations to help break down the barriers that exist between their most senior and their most junior employees, organisations need to be brave and committed to do reverse mentoring well. It takes a certain type of organisation to engage and implement a reverse mentoring programme – because firstly it requires senior leaders who are prepared to be mentored by someone more junior to them and who are genuinely wanting to participate. These leaders need to be willing to listen and hear things they may not like to hear. Secondly, it requires the reverse mentors to be confident and capable of mentoring someone senior to them otherwise the mentoring relationship will reverse and slip back into a traditional mentoring relationship. Finally, and most importantly the organisation needs to be willing to implement the ideas and changes that have been generated otherwise it will just be seen as a “nice to do” exercise which has no tangible outputs. It is for these reasons outlined that many organisations eschew reverse mentoring which could explain why reciprocal mentoring is on the rise.
What is Reciprocal Mentoring?
Reciprocal Mentoring is often confused with Reverse Mentoring because whilst at its core it follows the same philosophy and methodology as reverse mentoring (usually pairing two people together one of whom is senior and the other who is more junior), there are many key differences. Firstly, the more junior person plays a bigger role than in traditional, developmental mentoring. Secondly, it encourages both mentor and mentee to take ownership and accountability for the relationship, what is discussed and the ideas and actions that come out of these conversations. This culminates into a more equal, mutual and therefore reciprocal experience in its nature compared to other types of mentoring. Finally, it is usually implemented to drive not only individual but also organisational change and create greater awareness of issues within the workplace.
How can it be used to address some of the top organisational challenges?
Earlier this year, a client asked if I could support them with setting up a mentoring programme. The first question I asked was “what were they trying to achieve from this programme?” The answer was to create a more inclusive workplace. I knew that traditional or developmental mentoring wasn’t the right type of mentoring for this agenda. We explored reverse mentoring but concluded this also wasn’t the right type of mentoring. Having explored the process of reciprocal mentoring with them, along with the potential gains, they agreed this was exactly what they needed. They wanted to bring different people with different perspectives together to have discussions, share their experiences, perspectives and views to ultimately co-create and collaborate to identify changes and actions they can take as individuals and as an organisation to achieve a more inclusive workplace. I suspect as the conversations continue the ideas generated will extend beyond inclusion and include attracting and retaining the next generation and employee experience.
What is the value that reciprocal mentoring brings to an organisation?
In all honesty, so little has been written about reciprocal mentoring and there is no real research that tangibly outlines its benefits or provides data/metrics on its value. However, from my experience, I can share with you the benefits that I’ve witnessed and that organisations have realised:
- It opens up the dialogue around issues that are important to the next generation that senior leaders and the organisation may or may not be aware of
- It’s inclusive as people that wouldn’t necessarily have a voice now have one. They are able to represent not only their views and perspectives but also those of their peers
- It’s about hearing different perspectives and raising awareness
- It’s about listening and being listened to outside the usual channels such as employee engagement surveys
- It’s about building a greater understanding of what needs to change
- It’s about shared ownership and joint responsibility as to what happens next – no one person is responsible for coming up with the ideas or implementing the changes.
- It demonstrates commitment from the organisation that they are willing and wanting to listen and change
As Matthew Syed says in his book Rebel Ideas 2019 – “pretty much all the most challenging work today is undertaken in groups for a simple reason: problems are too complex for any one person to tackle alone” which supports the need for initiatives like reciprocal mentoring, using the collective intelligence and diverse thinking of a group of mentors and mentees to come up with solutions to tackling complex problems like how to make workplaces more inclusive.
Like any good mentoring programme or initiative, it’s important that a reciprocal mentoring programme has a specific aim or objective. In the example I provided earlier, the (client) organisation had a clear reason for doing reciprocal mentoring – “to build a greater awareness and understanding of inclusion to enable them to grow a sustainable business”. They recruited their most senior leaders to participate and paired them with a diverse group of talented junior employees. The conversations these reciprocal mentoring pairs are having are focused on how they, as a pair and a group of employees and leaders can make a difference and make their workplace more inclusive.
As one leader said, “we don’t know it all and need to listen and understand what the next generation thinks and wants” Another leader described the upcoming mentoring conversations as being “delightfully awkward” and I think that’s a great description of what reciprocal mentoring is. Not knowing what is going to come out but being brave enough to listen in the first place.
We need a different approach if we are going to solve the people and organisational challenges being experienced now and in the future and I believe that reciprocal mentoring could be one of the ways to do this.
Call to Action
Please leave a comment as I’d love to hear your thoughts, especially if you are using reciprocal mentoring in your organisation.
If you would like to find out more about reciprocal mentoring and how to implement it in your organisation, then please get in touch with us at info@talentology.consulting
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